ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL

1 Isaakievskaya ploshchad 190000 St. Petersburg
Open: 11am - 7pm
Closed: Wednesdays
Tel. 315-9732
Nearest metro stations: Nevsky prospekt, Sennaya ploshchad and Sadovaya

St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg's main cathedral before 1917, is an outstanding monument of Late Neoclassicism, and a museum of history and art from 1937. Its history goes back to the year 1710 when a small church dedicated to St. Isaac of Dalmatia, whose memorial day, May 30 (Old Style) coincided with Peter the Great's birthday, was erected near the Admiralty. A second St. Isaac's Church then followed, built in stone on another site. Finally, construction of a third church, designed by Antonio Rinaldi and Vincenzo Brenna, began in 1768 and continued until 1802, but the cathedral was not completed. The present St. Isaac's Cathedral was built between 1818 and 1858 by Auguste de Montferrand. It is one of the world's largest domed buildings (the diameter of the dome is 21.8m).

In addition to its striking architectural and engineering features, the design of the dome and the mounting of the monumental columns, each weighing 100 tons, the cathedral is remarkable for its artistic decoration. Here the Russian visual arts of the time are shown at their very best. The cathedral is adorned with decorative sculptures executed in the galvanoplastic technique that was invented in 1838. Some 20 varieties of decorative stone, including porphyry, malachite, lapis lazuli and marble, were used, transforming the cathedral into a museum of coloured stone.

The murals and mosaics were created by leading painters and sculptors such as Karl Briullov, Fedor Bruni, Peter Basin, Vasily Shebuyev, Ivan Vitali, Nikolai Pimenov and Peter Klodt. The total area covered by mosaics is about 600 sq.m.

Special models and displays are used to illustrate the construction and restoration of this amazing example of architectural and technical achievement, as well as the distinctive features of the cathedral's monumental decor. A magnificent view of the centre of St. Petersburg is to be had from the upper colonnade of St. Isaac's Cathedral at a height of 43 metres.