Saint Petersburg Guide

ST. ISAAK CATHEDRAL

The St.Isaak 's Cathedral is the great monument of St.Petersburg (1818-1858). The architect is Montferrand.

It is one of the largest domes structures in the world. The building, being rectangular in its layout, rose 101,5 high.

The story of its construction goes back to the period of Peter the Great. The history of the construction began in 1710, when the first wooden church was put up in honor of St.Isaak of Dalmatia; it was on St.Isaac's day, according to the Orthodox calendar, that Peter I was born. The present Cathedral is the fourth existed on the place. In the early 19th century a contest was arranged for the best project of a new cathedral, in which the most well-known architects took part. Alexander I approved a project submitted by A. Montferrand, a talented drawer, who had just arrived from Paris. The cathedral took forty years to build. The Cathedral, that stands out for its grandeur, was sacrified in 1858 and became the main church in St.Petersburg.

St.Isaak was the saint of Peter the Great. In this architectural monument everything strikes the eye - its the grand colonnade, the sculptures, reliefs, gilt-work, marble. St. Isaak Cathedral was constructed several times, but only Montferrand made the best plan of the Cathedral, he died after the construction was finished. You can see his monument inside of the Church.

• Open: Thur-Mon 11.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
• Location: 1, Isaakievskaya Pl

SIGHTS OF SAINT PETERSBURG
Alexander Nevsky Lavra Amber Room Cruiser Aurora Dostoevsky Museum Gatchina Hermitage House of Peter Great Isaak Cathedral Kazan Cathedral Kunstkamera Nabokov Museum Nevsky Prospect Novgorod Oranienbaum Peter and Paul Fortress Pavlovsk Peterhof Pushkin Museum Russian Museum Savior on the Blood Cathedral Tsarskoye Selo Vodka Museum Vyborg Yusupuv Palace