The largest church in St. Petersburg and one of the largest Orthodox churches in the country. Before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, it was a cathedral and a true religious center of the country. The building, designed by the architect Auguste de Montferrand, lasted 40 years and the result was a church with a good presence in the taste of classicism.
The colonnade of this early 19th-century cathedral can be seen from Nevsky Prospekt, the city’s main street. It is the calling card of the Church and cannot be with any other Church in Russia. The concept of building such a temple belonged to Paul I. He wanted it to resemble the majestic St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican. It is dedicated to the icon of Our Lady of Kazan.
This church was built on the site of Emperor Alexander II’s mortal wound. In 1881, terrorists threw a bomb under the monarch’s feet. Inside the church, part of the sidewalk and the fence of the canal, where the event took place, are preserved. The church is unique both in the ornamentation of the façade and in the interior, where every wall is covered with mosaic images.
It is the first naval cathedral of the Russian Empire, whose parishioners were army sailors. The church was built in the mid-18th century and is the most striking example of Elizabethan Baroque, quite different from the architecture of the Russian church that preceded it.
The cathedral was built in the early 18th century in the Peter and Paul Fortress and is one of the oldest buildings in the city. From 1725, Russian emperors were buried in this temple. The spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral towers above all other buildings in St. Petersburg’s historic district. The strict geometric shapes of the church demonstrate the architectural taste of Peter the Great.
The huge blue dome with gold stars can be seen from other parts of the city. The temple was built with the money of Nicholas I and he liked to paint the dome this way. The structure was completed in 1835 and the imperial flavor of this church shows the most powerful European influence.
Empress Isabella ordered her favorite Baroque architect and scholar, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, to build a convent and institute for noble women on this site. Thanks to him, the Grand Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo and the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg were also built, so the comfortable Blue Cathedral in Smolny looks a lot like those sumptuous residences. However, construction was delayed for nearly a century due to wars and client death. The church was already completed during the reign of Nicholas I.
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