Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac’s Cathedral is one of the main high-rise dominants of St. Petersburg and a symbol of the Northern capital. Built in the first half of the 19th century, the Cathedral became the embodiment of the spiritual strength of the Russian Empire, which at that time was at the historical peak of its power, defeating Napoleon’s “great army” and becoming the strongest European power for three decades. St. Isaac’s Cathedral is more than a religious building, it is a monument to a great era, which has absorbed the best achievements and highest spiritual impulses of our entire Fatherland.

The temple is named in honor of the Byzantine monk of the 4th century AD. - Isaac of Dalmatia, who had the gift of foresight and is revered by the church. The day of his memory, May 30, coincides with the birthday of Peter the Great according to the Julian calendar, it was Isaac of Dalmatia that the emperor revered for his heavenly patron, and one of the first churches of St. Petersburg was consecrated in honor of this saint.

This cathedral is the fourth St. Isaac's Cathedral of St. Petersburg. The first St. Isaac’s Church was consecrated in 1707. It was here in 1712 that the wedding ceremony of Peter 1 and Catherine 1, the future Empress, took place. The church was located in front of the Admiralty, where the fountain beats.

The stone in the foundation of the second St. Isaac’s Church was laid personally by Peter 1 in 1717, and it stood on the site of the current Senate Square, exactly where the famous monument to the Copper Horseman is located. In appearance it resembled the Peter and Paul Cathedral. This resemblance was further enhanced by the slender bell tower with the chime clock brought by Peter 1. However, being so close to the river, the foundation of the church was greatly eroded, and after the fire it was completely dismantled.

Catherine II ordered to move the cathedral further from the Neva, to its modern place. The project was created by Antonio Rinaldi, the Empress’s favorite architect. “Master of marble facades”, as Rinaldi was called, a similar technique was used in the construction of the third St. Isaac’s Cathedral.

But by the time of Catherine II’s death, the walls were only half their height and lined with marble. The new owner of the Russian land, Pavel Petrovich, did not like his mother, and he tried to nullify all her undertakings. But he had his reasons for that... Vincenzo Brenna was asked to complete the construction as soon as possible, so the walls and vaults were finished from brick, and the four Rinaldi domes were decided to abandon altogether.

Of course, we can agree with the author of this sharp epigram. The cathedral turned out to be squat, unsightly and completely did not correspond to the status proper to it. But this circumstance forced to look for ways out of the situation. The short reign of Paul 1 ended, and “the days of the Alexandrovs a wonderful beginning” promised changes, including in matters of urban planning and development of St. Petersburg. Alexander 1, raised by his grandmother Catherine the Great, considered himself a continuation of her affairs. St. Isaac’s Cathedral was not overlooked either. There were competitions for the remodeling of the cathedral, the main condition of which the king decided the maximum preservation of the foundations and walls of the cathedral, which managed to build under Rinaldi. The entire color of Russian and even world architecture (A. D. Zakharov – the creator of the modern Admiralty, A. N. Voronikhin – the builder of the Kazan Cathedral, C. Cameron – the creator of the residence of Paul 1, etc.) presented their projects, but each of them was rejected, because did not meet the main condition – the preservation of the walls or at least the altar part of the Rinaldiev Cathedral. The outbreak of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaigns of the Russian army, distracted attention from construction, but returned to the issue later. Augustine Betancourt, head of the Committee for Buildings and Hydraulic Works, proposed to consider the project of the young architect Auguste Ricard de Montferrand. Montferrand prepared more than 20 sketches, and Alexander liked one of the projects. Montferrand agreed to fulfill the condition – the maximum preservation of the walls of the old cathedral. The career of an unknown Frenchman in the Russian service went well: he was appointed an imperial architect and developed a detailed project for the reconstruction (and in fact the construction of a new) cathedral.

On February 20, 1818, the highest approval came, and in the summer of the following year a bookmark was made.

The main efforts in construction fell on the shoulders of serfs. Work was carried out in the most difficult conditions, 13-16 hours a day, including on holidays and Sundays. More than 400,000 builders from all over the Empire took part in the works at various times. For starters, more than 10,000 piles were hammered to strengthen the marshy soil. After that, the construction of porticoes began. Each column is a granite monolith carved from the rock, weighing 114 tons and height of 17 meters. Using special scaffolding designed by Betancourt, one column was installed in just 45 minutes. All columns were erected from 1828 to 1830.

Then it was time for the walls and the dome. They are made of brick, lined with various stones. The thickness of the walls reaches 5 meters. The dome actually consists of 3 domes: internal round, medium conical, external parabolic. The interior designs are made of metal to lighten weight, which was a novelty at the time. Inside the dome for thermal insulation and acoustic improvement, 10,000 ceramic pots are placed in a special way.

The colonnade is also decorated with the outer drum of the cathedral, whose diameter is 25.8 meters. By the way, the famous building in Washington, the capital of the United States – the Capitol, architecturally very reminiscent of St. Isaac’s Cathedral. And it's no accident. The American side was provided with drawings of the cathedral and the structure of the dome was made in a similar manner.

The height of St. Isaac’s Cathedral is 101.5 m, 111.3 m long and 97.6 m wide. It is the fourth largest domed cathedral in the world. The porticoes are decorated with bas-reliefs on biblical subjects, as well as images of the pages of the life of Isaac of Dalmatia: eastern ("Isaacius of Dalmatia stops Emperor Wales") and western ("Isaacius of Dalmatia blesses Emperor Theodosius"). Each architectural detail of the exterior and interior decoration is deeply symbolic and it is necessary to talk about them separately, which is impossible in this format. Sculptures were created by the best architects of that time – Klodt, Vitali, Loganovsky, etc. The kneeling angels at the corners of the cathedral hold torches in their hands. Before the revolution of 1917, they were used for their intended purpose – on holidays, special gas burners were lit in torches, which made the building even more monumental and stunning.

A miracle awaits us inside the temple. The best artists painted vaults and walls (K. Bryullov, T. Neff, etc.). Master mosaicists and stone cutters created a magnificent interior. Karl Bryullov, the author of the famous painting “The Death of Pompeii”, beautifully painted the dome (Our Lady surrounded by the apostles) ... at the price of his own life. Work went at a high altitude, the master often personally climbed the forests, caught a cold and fell ill. After unsuccessful treatment in Italy, Bryullov died without returning to Russia. At the top is a dove, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

The walls are lined with marble, and the iconostasis is decorated with columns of Ural malachite, made in the style of Russian mosaic, the royal gates are decorated with two priceless columns of Afghan lapis lapis. In such quantities, lapis lapis lazuli was not used anywhere else in the world.

Painting in the damp St. Petersburg climate remains poorly and at the suggestion of Nicholas 1 began work on replacing painting with mosaics. This work was carried out from 1851 to 1917, but was never completed. More than 12,000 shades of smalt (alloy of glass and metal) were used to create mosaics. At one of the World Exhibitions of the second half of the 19th century, the mosaics of St. Isaac’s Cathedral were recognized as inimitable and perfect works of art.

The only one of its kind is the stained glass. For Russian church architecture, this element is not typical and cannot be found anywhere in churches. But Nicholas 1 was fond of European Gothic and at the suggestion of the German architect Leo von Klenze (builder of the New Hermitage and court architect of the Bavarian Kingdom), it was decided to make a stained glass window. A special permission from the Holy Synod was required for this idea to be realized. The German master Einmiller made this stained glass window, placed behind the royal gates, in the altar. During the divine services, at the climax, when the royal gates were opened, the image of Christ appeared before the parishioners, as if descending from heaven. Special solemnity and trepidation was given by the stained-glass lighting system - gas burners were placed behind it, and the stained-glass window against the background of flames just came to life.

The consecration ceremony took place on May 30, 1858, the day of memory of Isaac of Dalmatia. It took forty years to build this magnificent temple. Auguste Montferrand fully realized himself as an architect in this project, he received recognition during his lifetime, built magnificent buildings (the Alexander Pillar, the Lobanov-Rostovsky mansion and other buildings in the cities of Russia). The great architect died a month after the consecration of the temple. The irony of Clio (the muse of history) passed through the life of this man: Montferrand, as part of Napoleon’s army, fought against Russia, then came to our country, became an imperial architect and even created a magnificent monument to the victory over France (the Alexandrian Column), the grandiose St. Isaac’s Cathedral; but after the death of the master, his wife decided to move his body to France, where the grave was lost. Montferrand is completely unknown in his homeland, but he managed to make his way here in Russia. The architect treated our country with love and warmth, with his work he consciously worked for its benefit, believed (this is reliably confirmed by correspondence and documents of Montferrand) that the creation of monuments and buildings should serve the purpose of educating people of higher moral principles, and did it.

St. Isaac’s Cathedral became the main temple of the Russian Empire. After the October Revolution of 1917, the cathedral remained active until 1928. Then there was an anti-religious museum. During the Great Patriotic War, the cathedral was not destroyed, but seriously damaged. In his basements were stored valuables from suburban palaces. After the victory, restoration work began, and since 1990 church services have been held. However, the building of the cathedral, fortunately, remains under the jurisdiction of the museum.

An amazing feeling of awe and upliftment appears in the heart of everyone who visits St. Isaac’s Cathedral. The perfection of proportions, the best creations of masters, the genius of the architect are united for the high purpose of the temple to be the place where heaven and earth touch. To feel this, it is worth visiting St. Isaac’s Cathedral.

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