in 1977, as the sixtieth anniversary of the russian revolution approached, the politburo decided to take action, declaring that the house was not of "sufficient historical significance", and ordering its demolition. the task was passed to boris yeltsin, chair of the local party, who had the house demolished in september 1977. he later wrote in his memoirs, published in 1990, that "sooner or later we will be ashamed of this piece of barbarism." however, despite this action, the pilgrims kept coming, often in secret and at night, leaving tokens of remembrance on the vacant site. after the dissolution of the soviet union that was complete by 1991, the church on the blood was built on the part of the site and is now a major place of pilgrimage.