The cathedral dominates the city skyline

St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia is the largest cathedral in that city and was the largest church in Russia when it was built (101.5 meters high). It was dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great who had been born on the feast day of that saint. St Isaacs in the 19th century. ... St Isaacs in the 19th century. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... A cathedral is a Christian church building, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy (such as the Roman Catholic Church or the Anglican churches), which serves as the central church of a bishopric. ... Saint Isaac of Dalmatia was a Byzantine monk who was imprisoned for denouncing the Roman emperor Valens for the heresy of Arianism and predicting that Valens would die in flames because of his actions. ... Peter I Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia Peter I (Pyotr Alekseyvich) (9 June 1672–8 February 1725 [30 May 1672–28 January 1725 O.S.1]) ruled Russia from 7 May (27 April O.S.) 1682 until his death. ...

History

The church was ordered by Tsar Alexander I, to replace an earlier Rinaldiesque structure. A specially appointed commission examined several designs, including that of the French-born architect Auguste de Montferrand (1786 - 1858), who had studied in the atelier of Napoleon's designer, Charles Percier. Monferrand's design was criticised by some members of the commission for the dry and allegedly boring rhythm of its four identical colonnades. It was also suggested that despite gigantic dimensions, the edifice would look squat and not very impressive. The emperor, who favoured the ponderous Empire style of architecture, had to step in and solve the dispute in Monferrand's favour. Aleksandr Pavlovich Romanov or Tsar Alexander I (The Blessed), (Russian: Александр I Павлович) (December 23, 1777–December 1, 1825), Emperor of Russia (reigned March 23, 1801–December 1, 1825), King of Poland (reigned 1815–1825), son of the Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, afterwards Paul I, and Maria Fedorovna, daughter of... Rinaldis cathedral in a provincial Russian town, 1764 Antonio Rinaldi (1710-1794) was an Italian architect, trained by Luigi Vanvitelli, who worked mainly in Russia. ... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person involved in the art of planning, designing and overseeing the construction of buildings, or more generally, the designer of a scheme or plan. ... Monferrands cathedral was the largest Orthodox church in the world at the time it was completed. ... Charles Percier (Paris, August 22, 1764 - Paris, September 5, 1838) was a neoclassical French architect, interior decorator and designer, who worked in such close partnership with Pierre Francois Leonard Fontaine, originally his friend from student days, from 1794 onwards, that it is fruitless to disentangle artistic responsibilities in their work. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ...

The cathedral took 40 years to construct, under Montferrand's direction, from 1818 to 1858. Under the Soviet Russian government, the building was abandoned, then turned into a museum of atheism. The dove sculpture was removed, and replaced by a Foucault pendulum. During World War II, the dome was painted over in gray to avoid attracting attention from enemy aircraft. Worship activity has since resumed in the cathedral, but only in the left-hand side chapel, and in the main body of the cathedral on feast days only. 1818 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1858 is a common year starting on Friday. ... Soviet Russia is sometimes used as a somewhat sloppy synonym to the Soviet Union — although the term Soviet Russia sometimes refers to Bolshevist Russia from the October Revolution in 1917 to 1922 (Although Russian communists officially formed RSFSR in 1918). ... Atheism is the state either of being without theistic beliefs, or of actively disbelieving in the existence of deities. ... Foucaults Pendulum in the Panthéon, Paris A Foucault pendulum, or Foucaults pendulum, named after the French physicist Léon Foucault, was conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth; its action is a result of the Coriolis force. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air, August 9, 1945. ...

Exterior

Vasily Surikov's view of the cathedral and the Bronze Horseman in front of it.

The severe neoclassical exterior expresses a traditional Russian-Byzantine formula: a Greek-cross groundplan with a large central dome and four subsidiary domes. It is similar to Andrea Palladio's Villa La Rotonda, with a full dome on a high drum substituted for the Villa's low central saucer dome. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (Василий Иванович Суриков) (January 24, 1848 (Julian calendar: January 12) – March 19, 1916 (Julian calendar: March 6)) was a Russian painter, born in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. ... The Bronze Horseman is a poem by Aleksandr Pushkin which is widely considered to be one of the most significant works of Russian literature. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Illustration from a 1736 English edition of I Quattro Libri dellArchitettura. ... Villa Capra La Rotonda is correctly but seldom known as Villa Almerico-Capra. ...

The exterior, which barely hints at the riotously rich interior, is faced with gray and pink stone, and features a total of 112 red granite columns with Corinthian capitals, each hewn and erected as a single block: 48 at ground level, 24 on the rotunda of the uppermost dome, 8 on each of four side domes, and 2 framing each of four windows. The rotunda is encircled by a walkway accessible to tourists. 24 statues gaze down from the roof, and another 24 from the top of the rotunda. For other meanings of the term, see column (disambiguation). ... The Corinthian order as used for the portico of the Pantheon, Rome provided a prominent model for Renaissance and later architects, through the medium of engravings. ...

Interior

The cathedral's doors are covered in reliefs, patterned after the celebrated doors of the Battistero di San Giovanni (Florence) in Florence, designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti. Suspended underneath the peak of the dome is a sculpted dove representing the Holy Spirit. Internal features such as columns, pilasters, floor, and statue of Montferrand are composed of multicolored granites and marbles gathered from all parts of Russia. The iconostasis is framed by eight columns of semiprecious stone: six of malachite and two smaller ones of lazurite. The four pediments are also richly sculpted. Exterior of the Battistero di San Giovanni from the north east The Battistero di San Giovanni (Baptistery of St John) is believed to be the oldest building in Florence. ... Location within Italy Florence (Italian, Firenze) is a city in the center of Tuscany, in central Italy at 43°46′ N 11°15′ E. The city on the Arno River has a population of around 400,000, plus a suburban population in excess of 200,000. ... Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378 - December 1, 1455) was an important Renaissance artist, specializing in sculpture and metalworking. ... The Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, in Trinitarian Christian belief, is God, the third Person of the Holy Trinity; the word Spirit commonly translates the Greek New Testament word pneuma. ... Granite is a common and widely-occurring group of intrusive felsic igneous rocks that form at great depths and pressures under continents. ... Marble This page is about the metamorphic rock. ... Iconostasis of Elias prophet church, Yaroslavl In Eastern Christianity an iconostasis (the plural is iconostases, whose last syllable rhymes with ease) is a wall of icons, religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church. ... Malachite from the Democratic Republic of Congo Malachite is a carbonate mineral, copper(II) carbonate hydroxide Cu2CO3(OH)2. ... A block of lapis lazuli Lapis lazuli is one of the oldest of all gems, with a history of use stretching back 7,000 years. ...

The interior was originally decorated with scores of paintings by Carlo Brullo and other great Russian masters of the day. When these paintings began to deteriorate due to the cold, damp conditions inside the cathedral, Montferrand ordered them to be painstakingly reproduced as mosaics, a technique introduced in Russia by Mikhail Lomonosov. This work was never completed. Karl Pavlovich Briullov, called by his friends the Great Karl (December 12, 1799, St Petersburg - June 11, 1852, Rome), was the first Russian painter of international standing. ... Mosaic is a medium of art that may embody the most meaningful iconography in a cultures most important settings, as in the cathedral of Monreale (below), or it may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration. ... Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (Михаи́л Васи́льевич Ломоно́сов) (November 19 (November 8, Old Style), 1711 – April 15 (April 4, Old Style), 1765) was a Russian writer and polymath who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. ...

Technologies

The cathedral is a Late Neoclassical rendering of a Byzantine Greek-cross church

Many technological innovations were used in the construction of the building. The massive portico columns were raised with the use of enormous wooden frameworks before the walls were erected. The dome was gilded by a technique similar to spraypainting; the solution used included toxic mercury, the vapors of which caused the deaths of an unknown number of workers. Over a dozen gilded statues of angels, each six metres high, face each other across the interior of the rotunda. They were constructed using galvanoplastic technology, making them only millimeters thick and very lightweight. St. Isaac's Cathedral represents the first use of this technique in architecture. Photograph taken by Smack. ... Photograph taken by Smack. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... General Name, Symbol, Number Mercury, Hg, 80 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 12 (IIB), 6, d Density, Hardness liquid 13,579 kg/m3 solid @ −39 °C 15,600 kg/m3 1. ... The metre, symbol: m, is the basic unit of distance (or of length, in the parlance of the physical sciences) in the International System of Units. ...

See also

• Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Moscow)
• Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg

View of the cathedral in 1905 The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Russian: Храм Христа Спасителя) is the largest Orthodox church in the world. ... Our Lady of Kazan (16th century). ...

External link

• St Isaac's Cathedral