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St.Isaac's cathedral
Isaac's cathedral in St.Petersburg
is the most impressive construction of 19th century Russia.
Once the main church of St. Petersburg,
St. Isaac's Cathedral went through four incarnations
(the first in 1710) before Alexander I commissioned the
current structure in 1816. It was the young French architect
Auguste Ricard de Montferrand who introduced the Czar with
the best sketch in the course of a strong competition with
many other talented architects. However, Czar Nicolas I felt
a grand structure needed alterations. As a result the
cathedral wasn't completed until 1858.
St.Isaac's is at the moment
the forth largest domed cathedral in
Europe after St.Paul's in London, St.Peter's
in Rome, and Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.
Everything about the cathedral is done on a
grand scale. Heavy granite columns of the porticos (40000
pounds each), tug on barges from Finnish quarries and
manually installed on the site (special scaffolding and man
power used for lifting), massive bronze doors and gilded
dome (220 pounds of gold was required).
The interior of the cathedral is as
impressive as the exterior: walls and columns lavishly
decorated with malachite, lapis lazuli, marble, precious
stones and minerals; an enormous stained-glass figure of
Christ by the Iconostasis; mosaic images of saints. In
fact, an idea of the megalomania of the czars can be gleaned
by taking a close look at the saints chosen to be included
in the iconostasis. Apart from Jesus and Mary (who were
obligatory) all the figures were chosen because their names
coincided with a member of the Romanov family. Even the
cathedral's namesake, St Isaac, was chosen because Peter the
Great was born on the church calendar day of this saint.
All major religious services in the country
were held in the cathedral. It could hold up to 14,000
people.
After Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 the church
was closed to worshippers and in 1931 was opened as a
museum. The physicist Foucault's pendulum hung here to
demonstrate the axial rotation of the earth until the late
20th century. Instead of it now you can see a
diminutive dove at the top of the dome (the symbol of holy
spirit) and learn that it is, in fact, six feet long.
During Leningrad siege, cathedral
suffered enormous damage. Some of the granite
columns in the west portico still have traces of Nazis
artillery shelling.
Be
sure to save some strength to mount over 300 steps to reach
the 270-foot/90m high observation platform of the Colonnade.
Viewing St. Petersburg at dusk is one of the great pleasures
of travel. Here is a city that was founded to display
cultural riches.
open:
Summer (1st May - 15th, September)
-
Cathedral 10.00 - 19.00 (ticket office closes at 18.00)
Night excursions (1st May - 30th,
September) - 18.30-22.00
-
Colonnade - 10.00-17.00, Night excursions (1st,
June - 31st, August) - 18.00-4.00
Wednesday - day off
Rest of the
year
- Cathedral 11.00 - 19.00 (ticket
office closes at 18.00)
-
Colonnade
11.00 - 17.00
Wednesday - day off
Tourists' remarks
" ... St. Isaac's Cathedral
is one of the most beautiful Christian structures east of
the Vatican. Among the contents of the cathedral, which cost
more than five times what it cost to build the Winter
Palace, is a cupola covered with pure gold. For a bird's-eye
view of the city, climb atop the colonnade, but be sure to
go inside the cathedral for a look at the soaring ceiling,
stunning mosaics and pure malachite and lapis columns ..."
"...
No question the best church we went to in
Russia. Worth the admission price and more. I would say you
can spend from 2 to 5 hours here without getting bored.
Great mosaic art all around. ..."
" ... An absolutely lovely
Cathedral with the best views of St. Petersburg anywhere.
Well worth seeing if it Petersburg along with the Hermitage
(absolutely amazing -- could spend over a week and not see
everything) and the Peter and Paul fortress ..."
" ... Last night, we went to
a beautiful choir concert in St Isaac's church - it was all
choral music by Rachmaninoff, and all of it was amazing! It
was great to see the inside of St Isaac's as well - it's
pretty intense. Our conversation teacher was talking about
it the other day, and she said that heaps of people died
while they were building it! It's really beautiful, but
while the concert was on all the lights were dimmed, so it
was really gloomy..... possibly the perfect place to listen
to sacred music! ..."
" ... We stopped at St.
Isaac's Cathedral. This is a church in the western style, no
onion domes here. The architect was French. Like St.
Petersburg, the church may look western European on the
outside, but inside it is pure Russian, though still
different in appearance. The interior is a blending of
sculpture, mosaic, paintings and murals. The facing of the
iconostasis is carved white marble, fronted with pillars of
malachite and lapis lazuli. Some of the icons are
traditional paintings, others are mosaic ..."
" ... It is the largest church in St.
Petersburg, and it takes your breath away. You can't
possibly know where to look when you're inside (luckily, you
don't have to worry about tripping over pews as you're
looking up at the ornate ceilings...Russian Orthodox
churches do not have places to sit, as standing or kneeling
only is allowed). This church is so beautiful that the
French architect who designed it, a Catholic, requested to
be buried here.
He was denied that request, because of his
religion ..."
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