St. Isaac's Cathedral - a unique monument
domestic architecture and one of the finest cathedrals in Europe. History
Cathedral begins with 1707,
when near the Admiralty was built a small
wooden Church in honor of St. Isaac of Dalmatia. Day
Holy (30 may) coincides with the birthday of Peter 1. Modern temple built in
1818 -1858, project O. R. de Montferrand. Its construction began in the era of the Emperor
Alexander I, and was completed during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I. on 30 may 1858 the Church was
consecrated by assigning him to the status of Cathedral in Russia. In Isaac
the Cathedral baptized members of the Royal family, were the most important holiday
worship services. Internal
the temple area is more than 4 000 m2 . The outer diameter of the main
the five-domed dome of the Cathedral - 25 m, inner - 22,15 meters. Completes
the dome light Golden Greek cross. At the corners of the main volume of the building
located in the belfry, bells are cast from an alloy of copper, tin and silver. On
for its size, the Cathedral is second only three cathedrals in the world. This is the Cathedral of St. Peter
in Rome, St. Paul's Cathedral in London and St. Mary's Cathedral in Florence.
Besides the impressive architectural and engineering solutions,
associated with a Grand dome and installation of granite columns weighing 100 tons
each Cathedral is interesting with its artistic decoration, widely representing
Russian art of the first half of the nineteenth century - more than 150 murals and paintings.
In the Cathedral three
altars: the Main dedicated to St. Isaac of Dalmatia, right and left, the Holy
Great Martyr Catherine, and to the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky.
In
the main altar is a stained glass window "the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ",
role altar icons.
The Cathedral is decorated with decorative sculpture, made in
the technique of electroplating processes. For the decoration of the temple used about 20 species
decorative and ornamental stone porphyry, malachite, lapis lazuli, various
the marble and gilded bronze and mosaic. The total area of the mosaic
decoration of about 600 square meters
In the decoration of the Cathedral was attended by such famous
artists like K. P. Bryullov, F. A. Bruni, P., Simkin, T. A. Markov, V. P. Vasin
and other artists. The sculptural groups, statues, bas-reliefs worked
great sculptors: P. K. Klodt, And Vitali, F. J. The Lemer, A. C. and Loganovsky
other.