Saint Isaac Cathedral

The cathedral takes up the northern side of St. Isaac's Square (it got its name from the Cathedral). Opposite the cathedral is the Mariinsky Palace, home of the St. Petersburg Duma. In 1859 a monument to the Russian ruler Nicolas I (pedestal by Auguste Montferrand and sculpture by Piotr Clodt) was established in the middle of the Square.

The history of St. Isaac Cathedral dates back to the construction of the small wooden church commissioned by Peter the Great. The church was built in 1710 on the place where nowadays the Bronze Horseman stands. The temple was consecrated in the memory of Saint Isaac Dalmatian, the saint patron of Peter the Great. The saint's day (May, 30) coincides with the birthday of Peter the Great. In this wooden church on the 19th of February, 1712 Peter the Great and Ekaterina Alexeevna, the future Empress Catherine I (1725-1727), got married.

After the death of Peter the Great some attempts to reconstruct the church and erect a cathedral were made but due to many reasons none of the constructions was completed and approved. For example, the temple of St. Isaac, founded in 1768 by architect Antonio Rinaldi, didn't serve for long. During a sermon a part of the plaster fell from the ceiling. After the detailed inspection of the temple it became clear that the building is in very poor condition and needs thorough repairs.

In 1809, Alexander I declared the contest for the best project of the new cathedral. The winner was a young French architect and talented drawer Auguste Montferrand who had come to Russia two years earlier. Montferrand offered 24 projects of the future cathedral in different styles - in Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, and even in the manner of Indian and Chinese architecture. Alexander I approved the project of a five-domed cathedral in classic style.

The construction works were started in 1818 and lasted for almost 40 years. People joked that Montferrand was foretold that he would die after completing the construction of the cathedral that's why he didn't hurry. But in fact soon after the beginning of the works several serous mistakes were found in the designs of Montferrand who was a talented drawer but lacked architectural and design experience. The works were stopped and a special committee was formed to correct the project.

The solemn ceremony took place on the 30th of may 1858. It is interesting to know that the ominous prophecy came true: a month after the construction of the cathedral was finished August Montferrand died.

St. Isaac's Cathedral is the forth largest domed cathedral in the world, after the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome, the Cathedral of St. Paul in London and the Cathedral of St. Maria Del Fiore in Florence. St. Isaac's Cathedral, which is 101.5 meters high, has 5 domes. Both inside and outside the cathedral is decorated with sculptures. Sculptural work was created by Ivan Vitali, Piotr Clodt, Stepan Pimenov and Alexandr Loganovsky. It was for the first time that the galvanoplastics method developed by Boris Jakoby was used for making monumental sculptures. To decorate the interior a lot of valuable materials were used, among them lazurite, malachite, and all kinds of marble. The walls and vaults of the cathedral bear paintings and mosaic works made by well-known Russian artists: Carl Briullov, Fyodor Bruni, Piotr Basin and others.

Today St. Isaac's Cathedral is one of the best Russian cathedrals and one of the most popular museums in Saint Petersburg. The long spiral staircase leading up to the balustrade of the dome is open for anyone who is able to ascend it.

top