History of construction. The architecture of the Kazan Cathedral in the northern capital. The main icon of the Kazan Cathedral.

The history of the construction of the Kazan Cathedral is the most important milestone in the history of St. Petersburg urban planning art. Erected in a very short time, the majestic monument of Russian architecture amazes many generations of people with its splendor and beauty.

The Kazan Cathedral was built according to the design of the architect Andrei Nikiforovich Voronikhin from 1801 to 1811. It was built on the site of Nevsky Prospekt, where the modest Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary was located. One of the main St. Petersburg shrines was kept in this church - the miraculous icon of the Kazan Mother of God.

Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg: history of creation

The cathedral was built by order of Emperor Paul I precisely for this icon, as Cathedral St. Petersburg. At the request of Paul I, the external outline of the cathedral resembles the Church of St. Peter in Rome. A clear indication of this is the single-domed structure and the presence of an external colonnade, which is uncharacteristic for Orthodox churches of the Moscow period.

Thousands of workers were involved in the construction of the cathedral. These were mostly quit-rent serfs. Among them were many talented masons, lapidaries, and blacksmiths. The cathedral was built from materials exclusively of domestic, mainly Karelian, origin.

The working conditions were extremely difficult, there was practically no equipment. Despite this, within ten years the largest temple in St. Petersburg at that time was erected - 71.5 m high with unique internal and external columns carved from huge granite monoliths, weighing up to 30 tons each, an outstanding monument of Russian architecture.
At the same time, the Kazan Cathedral is a monument to the work of Russian craftsmen, ordinary people who did everything possible in the name of the Motherland and the Orthodox faith. The construction of the Kazan Cathedral became a major milestone in the history of St. Petersburg urban planning.

It is from here that the golden period of Russian architecture begins, and St. Petersburg finally takes on the appearance of the capital of a great empire. Nevsky Prospekt becomes not just a “prospect” connecting the Alexander Nevsky Lavra with the city center, but a ceremonial city thoroughfare.
The construction of the cathedral became a school of excellence for new generations of architects, engineers and urban planners. Without relying on this experience, it would be impossible to create such majestic architectural structures, like the creations of K. Rossi, O. Monferand, V. Stasov and other architects of the first half of the 19th century.

Competition for designs for a new cathedral.
In November 1800, Paul I ordered the erection of a cathedral church in the name of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God instead of the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. This decision was preceded by a competition for the best design of a new temple, held in 1799. This competition was attended by the outstanding architect of strict classicism Charles Cameron, the architect Jean Thomas de Thomon, who had just arrived in Russia, and the decorative painter, master of park construction, Pietro Gonzago.

However, none of the competitors was able to find a solution that would satisfy the monarch’s requirement to include a colonnade similar to the Roman one in the project. More than all the projects, Pavel liked the project of Charles Cameron, who planned to cover the area in front of the western facade of the cathedral with low colonnades without access to Nevsky Prospekt.
In November 1800, Paul instructed the St. Petersburg governor von Palen: “I instructed the architect Cameron to draw up a design for the Kazan Church in St. Petersburg. I am notifying you of this so that you can assist him by making an order. Paul, who is kind to you."

However, an unexpected turn soon took place. On November 14 of the same year, the emperor approved another project of the Kazan Cathedral, drawn up by the little-known Russian architect A. N. Voronikhin. The former serf of Count A. S. Stroganov in 1797 received from the Academy of Arts the title of academician of perspective and miniature painting, and only in 1800, at the recommendation of the President of the Academy Stroganov, the title of architect.
It is possible that Paul I’s choice between the projects of Cameron and Voronikhin was reflected in his dislike for Cameron, who enjoyed the favor of Catherine I. At the same time, the emperor took into account the opinion of Count Stroganov, who played a decisive role in approving the Voronikhin project. After a long creative search, Voronikhin finds an original solution.

Voronikhin's project is indeed very reminiscent of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. However, the colonnades of the Roman temple, added by Bernini a hundred years after the long construction of St. Peter's Cathedral, play a supporting role, only forming the square in front of the cathedral. And Voronikhin’s colonnades are organically connected with the massif of the cathedral and include the cathedral in the ensemble of Nevsky Prospekt.
The dome is slimmer and lighter than the dome of St. Peter's Cathedral, and in many ways resembles the dome of the Parisian Invalides or the Church of St. Genevieve (Pantheon). In addition, the colonnades of the Kazan Cathedral hide a certain asymmetry of the temple. According to Orthodox tradition, the main entrance to the cathedral is the western one, opposite which, on the eastern side, is the altar. Therefore, at the Kazan Cathedral, which represented a Latin (elongated) cross in plan, the main entrance is oriented not towards Nevsky Prospekt, the city’s main communication route, but towards the narrow Bolshaya Meshchanskaya Street.

The dome is not located in the center of the temple, but is significantly shifted away from it towards the east. This asymmetry is hidden by colonnades. The cathedral building itself is hidden behind them. Only the dome is visible, located between the two wings of the colonnade, creating the visual illusion of its central position in the building itself.
The project envisaged the construction of two colonnades - on the northern and southern sides of the temple and the creation of three squares around the temple - on the northern, southern and western sides. The colonnades end with side portals - passages from the embankment of the Catherine Canal and Bolshaya Meshchanskaya Street. In connection with the start of construction, the entire surrounding area was reconstructed.
The cathedral was being built south of the church Nativity of the Virgin Mary, which remained in place until the end of construction of the cathedral. Work began on November 22, 1800, eight days after Voronikhin’s project was approved.

Paul I ordered: “To build the Kazan Church according to the plan we have formulated, we order that a special commission be formed, in which the President of the Academy of Arts, Actual Privy Councilor Count Stroganov, Infantry General and Prosecutor General Obolyaninov, Privy Councilor Chekalevsky will be present, and the architect Voronikhin will carry out the construction.” .

By January 1801, a cost estimate was drawn up and construction time was determined. The commission determined the expenditure estimate in the amount of 2,843,434 rubles. and, obeying the command of the Emperor, undertook to build the cathedral in three years. Pavel personally determined the architect's salary to be three thousand rubles a year. The amount was large at that time, considering that a working mason received no more than three hundred rubles a year.

The northern capital of our homeland is undoubtedly rich in unique architectural monuments of Orthodox church architecture. Numerous cathedrals, from small to large, each with its own special history, each fascinates with its unique beauty and grandeur. One of them is the Kazan Cathedral, located in the very heart of the city, on Nevsky Prospekt. This cathedral occupies a special place in the history of St. Petersburg and all of Russia, and there are many reasons for this.

History of the cathedral

The Kazan Cathedral was built in 1811, in the same year it was illuminated in honor of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. The cathedral experienced times of severe barbarity and desecration from 1932 to 1992, as a result of which it was closed. And only in 1998 the Kazan Cathedral was revived again and became the main monastery for prayer for Orthodox residents of St. Petersburg.

The year 1812 was a special time in the history of the cathedral. After the end of World War II, it was the Kazan Cathedral that became a monument to Russian military glory. The great commander Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov was buried here, and various military trophies are kept here, as well as the keys to captured cities.

History of construction

No wonder this majestic God's temple is considered the beginning of the golden era of urban planning art not only in St. Petersburg, but throughout Russia. It was from the moment of the construction of the Kazan Cathedral that St. Petersburg began to transform and turn into a worthy capital of the great empire. Of course, the appearance of a temple radically different from typical Orthodox churches, both in its scale, in appearance and in interior decoration, marked the beginning of a new life for the city. The single-domed cathedral is almost 72 meters high, and even with huge granite external columns - the Russian people have never seen anything like this.

Amazingly, all this grandiose splendor was erected in a fairly short period of time - only 10 years, from 1801 to 1811. And initially, in this very place there was an ordinary modest church, within the walls of which the most valuable shrine of Orthodox St. Petersburg was kept - the icon of the Kazan Mother of God. It was for this miraculous icon that Paul I wanted to rebuild an entire cathedral, which would outwardly resemble the Roman Church of St. Peter. Thus, in the most difficult working conditions, in the virtual absence of any equipment, ordinary Russian men, as well as the best Russian craftsmen, combined all their efforts in the name of the Orthodox faith. The result was this grandiose monument of Russian architecture, and Nevsky Prospekt received the status of a ceremonial city thoroughfare.

Architecture Features

The Kazan Cathedral was built according to the design of the Russian architect, Andrei Nikifirovich VoronIkhin. Of course, this cathedral became his main creation. After the illumination of the temple in 1811, VoronIkhin was even awarded the Order of St. Anna of the second degree.

At the insistence of Emperor Paul I, VoronIkhin embodied the prototype of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome in the Kazan Cathedral. Thus, imitating the features of Roman architecture, VoronIkhin became one of the founders of the Russian Empire style, or, in another way, this style is also called Russian classicism. The Empire style became famous as the “royal style”, as it is characterized by theatricality and pomp in its design. These are necessarily columns, stucco cornices, antique sculptures. The main feature of the Kazan Cathedral is the outer and inner colonnades.

Externally, the temple appears to us in the form of a four-pointed Latin cross, the middle of which is crowned with a dome. The outside of the temple is decorated with bronze sculptures of saints, made by the best Russian sculptors, such as, for example, Stepan Stepanovich Pimenov. Here we can see sculptures of St. Vladimir, John the Baptist, Alexander the First-Called. A special pride and landmark of the cathedral’s external appearance is its northern doors. They completely replicate the doors that Ghiberti made specifically for the Florentine baptismal house back in the 15th century.

The interior of the Kazan Cathedral is no less beautiful. The internal form of the temple is a Roman basilica. Four rows of granite monolithic columns divide the temple into three corridors. The interior of the cathedral is also rich in a variety of relief sculptural works, but wonderful paintings occupy a special place in its decoration. The best Russian artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries painted the cathedral in the brilliant academic style of the Italian Renaissance. But the best example of painting in the temple is considered to be the work of Karl Pavlovich Bryullov - this is the altarpiece “The Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven.”

The Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg is a monument of Russian church architecture of special significance. It was here that the golden era of Russian temple art began. It was on this temple that the best craftsmen of that time, as well as numerous ordinary Russian people, worked with all their strength. This temple gave birth to a whole generation of the best city planners and architects. It was the Kazan Cathedral that became the inspiration and model for such 19th-century masters as Rossi, Stasov, Montferran and others.

Contrary to reason and offended by eternity,
And the smart ones laugh
Built it so that it will not be forgotten,
A pyramid made of dust.

Nikolai Lvov, architect and builder of the pyramids.

Today, when much is known about the technologies of the past, it is increasingly difficult for official historians to hide the truth from the people. The unthinkable conclusions of these would-be specialists about the construction of the pyramids of Giza with the help of millions of workers are becoming a thing of the past. The discovery of geopolymer concrete, or rather its return to humanity, after centuries of oblivion, absolutely explains the entire technology of the ancients. All pyramids were not built by dragging and lifting megaliths, but as a result of the formwork method. Each stone of the pyramid is a block cast from geopolymer concrete, right at its location. In such cases, neither the size of the block nor its shape affects the execution technology. Those who have built their own garage or other structure know that three men: father, son-in-law and son, can lay the foundation of any shape. And at the same time, they will not have to involve neighbors, security guards to force them into slave labor, create social and sanitary facilities, or housing for slaves. It’s simple – I mixed the solvent with buckets, buckets, buckets…. You can use stretchers, bags made of mats, in general: the need for invention is cunning.
What is geopolymer concrete and how does it differ from ordinary concrete? To obtain the industrial cement we are accustomed to, special production with high firing temperatures is required, which the ancients clearly did not have. The concept of ancient is relative. The pyramids of Giza are from the 12th to 15th centuries, and the chronology of Egypt has been greatly exaggerated.
To obtain geopolymer concrete you need:
A) maintaining the proportions of the solution
B) natural phenomenon of adhesion
B) rubbing mechanisms or devices.
D) the presence of 100-200 low-skilled workers and a dozen supervisors.
To this day, geologists in the field obtain dust from rocks for their analyzes using a simple method. They simply rub stone against stone and get powder. It is important that the stones are of the same type or that the sample being studied is softer than the one with which it is ground. In general, the principle of an ordinary mortar. Of course, the Egyptians were smarter than modern historians, who were ready to seize on this idea. Some are already seating hundreds of thousands of slaves in endless rows, rubbing stone against stone to obtain ordinary dust.
For what? The Egyptians acted differently. The brought stone was placed on a slab with a recess. On top of the stone they put a device similar to a children's swing, where our boys ride on a board fixed and wrapped around in the middle, alternately pushing off from the ground. Down-up, down-up! Remember that childhood cry?
Thus, a lever appears, which, according to Archimedes, is ready to turn the Earth over, not like a stone.
The Egyptians rode on swings, and the stone rubbed against the slab and turned into the desired dust. All this is depicted on the pyramids, only the swings are perceived as levers for lifting blocks, although not one of them is depicted there either in the process of lifting or in the process of clinging to it.
So, you can understand how the dust came about. But why is she?
There is a law of adhesion in nature. It consists in the obligatory adhesion of dust. You can observe it in the form of mud after rain, when it is impossible to pull your foot out of a construction ditch. True, there is clay there, but it doesn’t change the essence.
What happens to dust after rain? Have you seen dried lumps of dirt? You can’t even take others with a crowbar.
But if you add silt from the Nile containing aluminum oxide to the dust, an interesting thing happens - you get an artificial stone, such a solid compound appears. Today this technology can be found in cemeteries, in the form of crumb monuments. Do you want it like marble, do you want it like granite, do you want it like diorite. It all depends on the dust.
Well, then, everything was the same as during the construction of a garage - they were kneaded, into bags, on their backs and dragged to wooden boxes. To save dust, sand is added - there is a lot of it.
The reader will ask, what about the granite type of blocks? Dear Thomas the Unbeliever, today not a single cladding is made of natural stone. And at that time, a fur coat was applied to the concrete base, which was later polished. Images were extruded onto it using pre-prepared matrices, so there was no diamond cutter there, much less a laser. This explains the “mathematical precision” of the master’s cutter, which the Arab guides, who have long forgotten how to work with their hands, explain to you. It's easier to grind with your tongue!
I won’t talk about the images of submarines and helicopters on the walls of tombs. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism is not capable of such a thing as to lure the rotose people who decided to voluntarily meet New Year in the dusty desert. The geopolymer concrete business is booming. They even installed a gate there, opening the entrance to the pyramids. There is a gate, but no fence. Everyone goes and goes through the gate. At 21:00 the gates were closed, people scratched their turnips - there was nothing to do, we’ll come tomorrow!
A country that has nothing but pyramids has built modern resorts, with the money of the rotozeans and perhaps even one of them who is now reading this miniature.
I want to inform you that the pyramids are not tombs and there is nothing magical in them or in the Sphinx. Of course, there is a cemetery there, but it is away from the pyramids. And the pyramids themselves are storage facilities for the imperial treasury, standing in plain sight of everyone. Moreover, it was difficult to open it. Here you need to roll away the stone, here you need to seal the entrance, and even kill the guards. It is unthinkable to talk about undermining or undermining. Napoleon fired a cannon and fired a couple of shells into the Sphinx's forehead, but only scrunched up his nose and knocked the Coptic cross off his forehead. All! This is all that the imperial power of France was enough for.
Odd man, it would be better if you went to Baikal, to the Russian North, visited the taiga, held your hands in the Volga, saw Altai, the steppes of Transbaikalia.
In the mountains of the latter, when I was still a boy, I could wash a teaspoon of gold grains in a stream in an hour and a half. The price for it among the Guran Cossacks is not great - “just think it’s a grain, it’s not a nugget” - a jar of stinking Chinese hancha (rice alcohol) and waking you up. And you, boys, are not allowed to eat. Give me your gold, half a kilo of candy or halva. This is what accounting is like in Rus'. We earn money at home and spend it with the Chukhonians. Why! Their concrete is better - it leans against your back, which is useful for hemorrhoids. And if you place your woman on top of the pyramid, pregnancy is guaranteed. I would tell you where you need to put your wife, for the sake of the children, but I’m afraid to embarrass the female race. Remember, reader, there is no better method for procreation than the one that God advised, and has not yet been invented.
Perhaps in the future you will go to Stonehenge for this matter, trample your bodies, but it’s better to go to the Khokhlatsky farm, for honey and sour cream, closer to the hayloft, to a quiet pastoral, and heartfelt evenings. The kids turn out like hazelnuts – strong and vigorous.
Eh, you are a tourist and an all-inclusive gourmet! Take an example from the Egyptians. Place a gate with a view of Elbrus. Just have time to remove the foam and open the gates.
Odd man! You look for all your happiness in other lands, but you don’t see bliss in your own fatherland.
Okay, having woken you up, let’s talk further about how foreigners in Rus' are deceiving us.
I wrote earlier that Leningrad-Petersburg is a city older than Moscow. It was built not by Peter, but by Georgy Danilovich in the 14th century. That same St. George the Victorious, canonized by the Old Believer Church. Russian prince and khan. And he named this city Oreshek. He built it according to the Byzantine model, like the Forum of Constantine, because he himself was from the Roman dynasty of Byzantine emperors. The Kazan Cathedral, St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Peter and Paul Fortress, in general all the buildings with colonnades and even the arch of the General Staff are buildings of the 14th-17th centuries. Most of the buildings in this city were built by Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
Today you can hear from guides and read in books about the hard labor of Russian peasants in making columns of St. Petersburg cathedrals. The examples amaze with their sophisticated invention and unbridled imagination of historians.
Continuing the story about the falsification in St. Petersburg-Oreshek, I want to tell you how all these columns were made. And we will draw a conclusion together with the reader at the very end.
But first, the official version.
In the fall of 1801, the wedding of the architect Voronikhin and the draftsman Mary Lond took place in the palace of A.S. Stroganov. Today Voronikhin is considered the architect of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. IN Honeymoon the newlyweds headed to the Karelian Isthmus. Having visited these places, Voronikhin came to the conclusion that durable and beautiful Vyborg granite would be the best material for making columns in the interior of the cathedral under construction. Vyborg granite is called rapakivi in ​​Finnish, which means “rotten stone”. Apparently, it was named so due to the fact that its outcrops on the surface of the earth were often in swamps that smelled of rot.
The Vyborg rapakivi granite massif is the largest in the world. The breaking of granite near Vyborg began in 1803. People sent by a commission from St. Petersburg worked at the breaking sites. Basically, these were Russian peasants from Yaroslavl, Vologda and other nearby provinces. The number of workers at the Vyborg scrap mill reached 350 people.
Granite breaking technique at the beginning of the 19th century. not much different from the times of antiquity: metal wedges and rods for drilling, sledgehammers, gates, pulleys, log rollers. The breaking process required a lot of time, experience and dexterity of the mason. First, the top layer of rock was removed, exposed to prolonged exposure to sun, frost, rain and winds, exposing the granite in its original form. Then, in the sheer rock, the shape of a parallelepiped was outlined in size, supposed to be separated from the rock. Then came the long, painstaking and dangerous processing. With the help of rollers and wagons, the column blanks were loaded onto ships, which delivered them to St. Petersburg. The long journey ended on the banks of the Neva at the Admiralty. After unloading, the columns were again moved using rollers to the workshop on Konyushennaya Street, where, as a result of processing, they acquired a completed appearance. The removal, processing and delivery of one column with a height of 10.7 m cost 3,000 rubles. A total of 56 columns were delivered and installed for the colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral.
Tell me, reader, don’t you experience a state of deja vu? Swap Karelian granite for Aswan, ships for Egyptian boats, Yaroslavl peasants who became skilled stonemasons for fellahs of the lower Nile and the familiar picture will appear - a woman on a pyramid awaiting conception.
In general, St. Petersburg stonemasons are tough guys - in just a dozen years they have mastered millions of tons of stone and dressed St. Petersburg in granite. And everything is done in a cooperative manner, and it is dying out mercilessly. Here you have palaces, here you have the Neva in granite, here are the canals on Vasilievsky Island, first dug and then buried. And note, all this is done by hand. By the way, channels, and now arrows Vasilyevsky Island buried in vain. They were the ones who saved the city from flooding. It was such an anti-resonator of sea waves from the Marquis Puddle and the Neva. Everything was extinguished there - no floods or troubles. It was in vain that these irrigation canals were filled up, oh in vain!
Here's what I'll tell you, reader. By the time the Romanovs came to Rus', Oreshek stood in all its glory, now known to you in the panoramas of modern St. Petersburg. All these Voronikhins may have existed, but they either added to something already built, or this construction was simply attributed to them. Perhaps it was restored.
Their contemporaries, just like us, did not understand how columns of enormous weight got to St. Petersburg, and historians, by analogy with Egypt, came up with a version. Because contemporaries of construction did not observe any construction. So they wrote whatever they wanted, creating new legends. “smart” historians, trying to create a “golden age” for the enlightened Catherine, attributing non-existent great deeds to her reign.
I will return in other works to Catherine’s “genius” and explain why an incredible incident for Rus' happened to her: the habit of throwing mud at previous rulers did not work with Kato. Here such a trick was invented that to this day, many do not understand how this cup passed. I won’t consider various gossip about her women’s problems - she was a healthy woman and gave birth to children like no other. And her moral behavior is also not a subject for discussion. Every person is the master of his own destiny. Another thing is the government, during which mass falsification affected all aspects of Russian life. It was to Catherine’s rulers that the lies turned into centuries belonged. But I have no doubt that Catherine trembled all her life with fear for her life. The gloomy Pictet, supposedly her bodyguard, was in fact her guard, ready to kill the queen for violating the obligation she signed in Sans Souci to the Vatican. This Swiss was assigned to Kato forever and ever, and all the close guarding took place with his knowledge. I know who Pictet is. But more on that another time.
In the meantime, to the columns of Kazan and other cathedrals.
In accordance with the strict canons of religious construction, the altar part of the cathedral should be located on its eastern side, and the entrance - on the western side.
Today there is a version that Voronikhin supposedly conceived not one, but two colonnades. But funding failed. In this case, the colonnade conceived by Voronikhin would have been on the side of Bolshaya Meshchanskaya (now Kazanskaya) Street. It was then that Voronikhin had a brilliant idea: to build a grandiose four-row colonnade on the northern façade of the cathedral, facing Nevsky Prospekt. Historians regret that the project was not fully implemented. According to Voronikhin's plan, another colonnade was to decorate the opposite, southern, façade of the temple.
All this is speculation; Voronikhim may have restored a certain temple that already stood behind the colonnade, but did not build a cathedral. But for the second colonnade it was not the money that was missing, but the skill. In the time of Paul, the construction secrets of the ancestors who built Oreshek were already half forgotten. Perhaps they tried to cut down the columns, as in Aswan, researchers of the “antiquities” of Egypt, but they realized the pointlessness of these undertakings.
The cathedral is also missing another essential detail, conceived by Andrei Voronikhin. The colonnade on the side of Nevsky Prospekt, according to the project, was to be decorated with two powerful figures of archangels, stone pedestals for which can still be seen today. All this suggests that earlier there were sculptures on the colonnade that were thrown down by the Romanovs because they depicted something that should not be depicted and contradicted the Romanov version of the history of the city. This colonnade and cathedral are only part of the spiritual forum-complex built in the city. The colonnade was built with a clear intention - to perpetuate the name of the Virgin Mary. Obviously the sculptures were connected with this intention.
Until 1824, plaster statues of archangels stood on pedestals. They could not be replaced with bronze ones, as the architect intended. A legend was born among the people that it was the archangels themselves who did not want to take the places offered to them. And so it will be until, as the legend says, “a wise, truthful and honest ruler appears in Russia.” The people's echo sometimes conveys real events of the past. Orekhovsk residents remembered very well who had stood there before. It is not visible to the archangels that there is a place there, but to those for whom this triumphal colonnade was built.
The drawings of the approved version of the Voronikhin Cathedral project show an obelisk in front of the temple building. On the one hand, according to the architect, it determined the center of the entire composition, on the other, as some sources claim, it would indicate the location of the dismantled Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. In the book “Kazan Cathedral” A. Aplaksin noted that, oddly enough, “in the construction of the Kazan Cathedral there is no case or mention of the construction of the obelisk, and the Voronikhin drawings show only its plan. On the canvas by F. Ya. Alekseev “View of the Kazan Cathedral from Nevsky Prospect”, created in 1811, and on the watercolor by B. Paterson with the same name and from the same time, and on the famous “Panorama of Nevsky Prospect” by V. S. Sadovnikov in 1830, he is no longer there. Today there is a fountain in its place. By the way, in other engravings there is also an obelisk and a colonnade. But they are dated before the beginning of the construction of the Kazan Cathedral, that is, they stood there a long time ago.
What is an obelisk? Today it is translated as a skewer, a blade and the obelisk itself. In fact, this is the spear of Longinus, not a simple pike, but a cavalry spear, since Longinus was precisely a cavalryman. That is, the obelisk is a cavalryman’s weapon.
As you know, the spear caused the death of Jesus, and not the crucifixion. When we say that Jesus died on the cross, we understand this literally, forgetting that he was KILLED on the cross with a spear - an obelisk.
I already wrote that the cross on the church is depicted like this:
- the cross itself
- in the center there is a star with the inscription Jesus Christ
- lower at the base there is a small circle, and at the very base there is a crescent. I suspect that this is not a crescent moon, but a sign of the mother's womb. That is, the stages of Christ’s life are depicted on the cross: conception and birth - an inverted crescent, a small circle or oblique bar - the obelisk of Longinus or death, a circle or star in the center of the cross - the crucifixion and resurrection (if it’s a circle, like the Catholics, then only a crucifix, but if circle with rays, then crucifixion and resurrection).
If you draw a straight line from the obelisk (fountain) of the Kazan Cathedral, you will definitely get to the very center Peter and Paul Fortress, built in the shape of a star. The spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, breaking out like a ray from the sky into the center of this structure, means the Resurrection of Jesus. Thus, the Kazan Cathedral of Our Lady and the Peter and Paul Complex are a single whole structure and Voronikhin has nothing to do with it. Strictly speaking, this is a cross lying on the ground.
By the way, in Orthodoxy, the ends of the cross are marked with three rings - two together, one above them. These are bezants - coin symbols. Today their meaning on the cross has been forgotten, although in coats of arms they mean good luck, joy, wealth. Let's start with the fact that today the crucifix is ​​also a coat of arms belonging to one or another Christian church. Catholics have their own coat of arms, the Orthodox have their own, Adventists and other sects are designated differently, Old Believers do not know the crucifix at all, only the cross itself. The real meaning of bezants is different. The coin is an artificial non-heraldic symbol that has received limited distribution in territorial and tribal heraldry. The coin represents wealth, less often a test of faith. Three coins on each side of the cross is nothing more than 30 pieces of silver - or a test of faith.
The above proves that Voronikhin did not carry out the construction of what was built there a long time ago. But he was unable to make the second colonnade due to the fact that the peasants of the Yaroslavl province were unable to deliver the columns, cut them down, or even polish them. They didn't know how to do it easily.
How was the colonnade built, the slow-witted reader will ask. The clever one, I already understood long ago from the epigraph to this miniature, was the architect Nikolai Lvov. Now, unlike Voronikhin, he actually built a lot in St. Petersburg, for example, the Main Post Office. Not only did he build, he also solved the problem of building the pyramids of Egypt, massively constructing copies of them on his estates. And all by the hands of 5-7 craftsmen using Pi and the Golden Ratio in measurements. With the help of patterns created on the basis of these rules of mathematics, any peasant is able to build an ideal pyramid oriented to the cardinal points.
I will not go into details; those who wish will find the answer to this question themselves from Pythagoras, in the well-known theorem: “Pythagorean pants are equal on all sides.” By the way, Pythagoras is one of the many reflections of Jesus Christ in world events, along with Buddha, Charlemagne, Osiris, Isa, Andrei Bogolyubsky, Andronikos Komnenos, etc. Andronicus is a real face and a prototype of Jesus.
So the columns are built from dust, just like the pyramids.
And this is how they were built. First, parts of the columns were cast. Have you seen how in Greek and Roman ones consisting of stumps placed one on top of the other? I don’t see it clearly? Then I'll explain it more simply. Everyone in childhood had a pyramid of multi-colored rings. I hope you remember this one - the base, and a round stick sticking out of it? When you folded the rings correctly, you got a Christmas tree, if not correctly, then a baluster. So, your mother bought it for you so that you, the reader, would think and develop your thinking.
The base of the column was made in advance. A wooden stick was inserted into it, which was controlled by a plumb line. Next, a pre-prepared pattern was placed around it, tapering towards the top. The pattern designer was given the following conditions: the lower and upper size of the circle. How? And here's how! “Remember those who have trouble remembering: Pi Er is a square, there is the area of ​​a circle.”
The pattern was mounted on a stick and filled with geopolymer concrete. The first cut of the column was obtained. Then it froze and a new pattern was placed on it. For the Russian people who made barrels for cabbage, such work is a piece of cake - the technology is more complicated there. This happened until the column rose to the desired level, where it was crowned by a head. To turn it upside down just meant to topple the column. By the way, in cemeteries to this day there are circumcised or uncircumcised (with the head) columns. They mean that the person did not finish the work of his life - at the cut or broken columns, and crowned with heads, that he passed away, the person having paid off all his debts. For example, a cut column above the remains of Kutuzov’s embalmed body says that he died on the campaign and did not take Paris, and a broken column speaks of a violent death.
Finally, the column was stretched to the desired height. However she had appearance assembled product, such as we see in Athenian buildings. I think that these are not ruins, but most likely just unfinished temples.
And then the plasterers took over the column and applied a coat of artificial stone to it. Like in a modern cemetery. There was no actual grinding; apparently, patterns were again used, which were rotated manually around the applied material. However, there are many options, but the perfect fit suggests that it could not have been done without adaptations. I think that if among the readers there are builders who are familiar with plastering curved or convex surfaces, then they will comment on this process better than me. Professionals always know better. Unfortunately, I am not a builder, although I have some experience.
Well, then the ceilings on the columns and other subtleties of the craftsmanship of the architects, who, unlike modern builders, had a conscience and responsibility for their creations. That's how much has been built to last!
What was the binder in Russian geopolymer concrete, instead of aluminum oxide from the silt of the Egyptian Nile? I think chicken eggs, due to their widespread use in construction. However, this is only a version. Perhaps something else. Analysis will show. By the way, the fact that this is plaster is known from numerous photos of natural destruction of columns. This is how concrete peels off. There is a photo on the splash screen for the thumbnail.
I want to tell the reader that geopolymer concrete is seen everywhere in the world. Artificial stones in US parks, huge monoliths thrown into the sea on the beaches of Brighton, the Library of the US Congress, a lot of structures that were allegedly taken by American millionaires from Europe, where they were dismantled and then assembled in the USA, all this is geopolymer concrete. Algae does not grow on such monoliths thrown into the sea. They cannot grow on artificial stone - adhesion pushes them out. For the same reason, there is no moss on “ancient” stones in US parks. All this is the activity left over from the legacy of the Great Empire of the Slavs, Great Tartary, Rus', the Horde, which previously lay on 4 continents. The Russian Federation is the pitiful remains of a once huge empire, the common homeland of humanity, which Western separatists took into small pieces to suit their ambitions. Every whip thinks of himself as a prince and strives to circumcise his foreskin, believing that this will make him God's chosen people. Back in the 17th century, there was Rus' in the Americas, which the Anglo-Saxons conquered at the time of the fall of the empire. There were no European states either. They will appear as a result of the Peace of Tilsit, during the wars of the Reformation. The Great Troubles in Rus' are hidden under this name. And finally, the Romanovs will come to Rus', who will begin to destroy the very memory of the empire, instill legends about their achievements and successes and plunge Rus' into a state of confusion that continues to this day. The Slavs will turn from masters of the world into slaves of their cunning slaves, forgetting who they are and why such buildings as the Kazan Church, St. Isaac's Church, Peter and Paul Fortress and others were built. The Russian Nut will become St. Petersburg, the spear of Longinus will become an obelisk, Mary the Mother of God will become a Jewish girl, and Christ himself will turn from the emperor of Byzantium into a complex combination of fiction and superstition. The faith of our ancestors will follow into exile, the best books will burn, the archpriest Avvakum will die in prison, the noblewoman Morozova will suffer torment, the schismatics will burn in their monasteries, and we, the descendants of a great people, will believe the fables of historians about our past. And look like sheep at the colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral, marveling at the skill of Voronikhin, invented by the favorite of Catherine the Second, Sanya Stroganov. And we will believe that the impostor on the throne of the empire named Isaac, replaced by Peter Romanov, is the man who laid great city, Northern Palmyra of the empire, not even suspecting that the Bronze Horseman was remade from the monument to St. George the Victorious, by welding a new arm and a new head.
Remember the reader: in 1380, the Russian prince Georgy Danilovich, aka George the Victorious, canonized by the Old Believer Church, aka the Great Khan (Genghis Khan), aka Alexander the Great, aka the brother of Ivan Kalita (the king-priest (caliph, not the purse) of the khan Batu) founded a pantheon city, based on the prototype of the forum of Constantine the Great in Byzantium. All the sculptures of the cathedrals and St. Petersburg itself, made in the Roman style, and even the sculpture of Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow, are monuments taken by the Russian tsars from Byzantium. Tsars - relatives of Jesus Christ - Andronikos Komnenos through his mother, Russian princess Mary the Virgin.
The Forum of Constantine had an oval shape: from the north and south it was surrounded by a two-tiered semicircular colonnade, and from the west and east there were two large monumental arches made of white marble, connecting the square with the main street of the city.
In the north of the forum stood the city's first senate building. If you believe the description, it was a rotunda with a portico supported by four large columns. The famous bronze quadriga was kept here, which originally included a statue of the Invincible Sun (Sol invictus) driving horses. During the annual processions dedicated to the city's birthday (May 11), the quadriga was moved to the city hippodrome, and the rest of the year it was in the Senate building. When this ceremony was abolished, the quadriga was finally placed on the hippodrome, from where the crusaders took it to Venice in 1204. The seat of the Senate was soon moved to another place, and this building was not used further and probably existed until the great fire that destroyed the forum of Constantine in 1204.
In the left portico of the forum there was a chapel Holy Mother of God, built by Emperor Vasily I in the first years of his reign. Next to it they were selling church utensils.
In the center of the forum stood a large porphyry column 37 m high (now 34.8 m). She was crowned with a golden statue of Apollo. In 1150, during a strong storm, the statue and the three upper drums of the column collapsed, and soon Emperor Michael I Comnenos (r. 1143-1180) erected a cross on top of the column. During the sack of Constantinople by the Crusaders, the column was severely damaged. In 1453, when the city was captured by the Ottoman Turks, the cross was immediately thrown down from the column. In 1779, after a severe fire, the blackened and cracked column was strengthened with additional iron hoops.
The Forum was decorated with numerous ancient statues: among them figures of a dolphin, an elephant and a hippocampus, statues of Palladium, Thetis and Artemis, as well as the sculpture “The Judgment of Paris”. There may have been statues of Poseidon, Asclepius and Dionysus. However, today it is almost impossible to determine their appearance or exact location. By official version in 1204 they were all melted down by the crusaders who captured the city. This is not so, they were all delivered to Oreshek, and later passed off as the work of a certain Shubin. Look at the sculptures of St. Petersburg, reader, and find everything described above for yourself. It wasn't difficult for me. And take the Alexandrian Column as your starting point, Palace Square St. Petersburg. The same one that Apollo crowned.
It was not difficult for Russian craftsmen to restore the structures of the forum dedicated to Christ. But the sculptures brought by the Russian squads, they kept the same spiritual values ​​and put them in their places, accurately maintaining all sizes and proportions based on the Golden Ratio and the number Pi known to them. Do you know why you feel free and good in Russian churches? They are built on the living dimensions of their architects. Before construction, they measured the person who led the construction and made a pattern from his fathom, elbow, arshin, step and other things. In any Russian building, the real dimensions of the master who created it. That’s why there are no two identical huts in the village and no two identical houses in the city. Even the Moscow Kremlin is made in elbows. That’s why it’s so pleasing to the eye.
But there are no sizes of Voronikhin in the Kazan Cathedral. There is only appropriated, alien creativity, an action that is not essentially legal.
Finally, I want to say one more thing. I didn’t come across a photo from the modern Turkish Cemberlitas Square.
There is an interesting building there. Imagine a kind of concrete depression from the middle of which rises a column made of thick copper or bronze trunks. There are either three or four of them. It looks like a spring, only very powerful. I’m wondering if this is the same “wooden” stick that we used to put rings on as children? Such a stick will act as a shock absorber and will withstand a lot. The fittings were invented in our time, quite recently. However, one should not think that our ancestors were stupider than us. I wish I could probe the columns of the Kazan Cathedral with a mine detector. It wouldn't be bad. A discovery is possible that will change the world's views on construction. Hey, St. Petersburg people! Take your butts off your chairs and your eyes off your computers. Ring these columns of Isaac and the Kazan Cathedral, and write to the author. I give my word to tell your honest names to the whole world. Something tells me that I'm right.
Today anyone can check that the columns of St. Isaac's Cathedral are hollow in the middle by bringing a metal ruler and sticking it into the numerous cracks that have appeared in these columns. I also provide a photo confirming this in the intro. Perhaps they were made in two versions, depending on the load-bearing load. For example, decorative ones are simply hollow pipes covered with granite or marble. The load-bearing ones have a spring in the middle, and the auxiliary ones are just castings. In any case, we are dealing with geopolymer concrete and neither Montferrand nor Voronikhin simply saw how the Kazan and St. Isaac’s churches were built, just as Catherine’s nobles, who wrote stories about numerous slaves moving huge megaliths, did not see it. These are ordinary liars who covered up the crimes of the Romanovs and invented the Golden Age of Catherine. History is not science, but mythology, and we have just convinced the reader of this. But to consolidate the material, may I offer you one more short study?
To attribute the authorship of St. Isaac's Cathedral to Montferand, in my opinion, is stupid. Here is an excerpt from the assignment for the reconstruction of St. Isaac's Cathedral in Wigel's Notes: “In words, the Emperor asked Betancourt to instruct someone to draw up a project for the reconstruction of St. Isaac's Cathedral in such a way as to preserve the entire previous building, perhaps with a small addition, to give a more magnificent and beautiful appearance to this great monument."

Oleg Pavlukhin

Kazan Cathedral (Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God) is one of the largest churches in St. Petersburg, made in the Empire style.

The St. Petersburg temple received its name from its revered shrine - the miraculous icon of the Mother of God, patroness of the city and the Romanov dynasty:

For the shrine, Emperor Paul I, who ascended the throne, ordered the erection of a majestic temple to replace the dilapidated Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary:

View of Nevsky Prospekt with the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin from the Green (Police) Bridge. Drawing by A. N. Benois based on a drawing by an unknown artist of the mid-18th century:

A competition was announced among architects, in which such famous architects as Charles Cameron, Jean Thomas de Thomon and others participated.

However, not being satisfied with the results, the development of the project was entrusted to the then little-known architect A. N. Voronikhin. The success of the young architect was not accidental. Firstly, Voronikhin’s project corresponded to the desire of Emperor Paul I to build a temple in the capital similar to St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. Secondly, the architect was a pet of Count A. S. Stroganov, president of the Academy of Arts:

A. S. Stroganov A. N. Voronikhin

Portrait of Andrei Voronikhin in the Kazan Cathedral:

The unrealized project of the Kazan Cathedral by G. Quarenghi:

The solemn ceremony of laying the foundation of the Kazan Cathedral building took place on August 27, 1801. By that time, Paul I had already been killed and his son, the new emperor, Alexander I, participated in the laying.

Commemorative plaque with the inscription “Began 1801 by the permission of PAUL I”:

Memorial plaque with the inscription “The care of ALEXANDER I died in 1811”:

The construction of the temple lasted ten years and was ranked among the most important state construction projects. During construction, from the foundation to the golden cross, only materials of Russian origin were used, as A. S. Stroganov wished, who proposed building the cathedral as a completely national work.

The main material was porous limestone, the so-called Pudost stone, from which all the external columns of the cathedral, capitals, entablatures, carved bas-reliefs were made, the facades and partly the interiors of the temple were lined. Emperor Paul I wished that the temple being built at his behest would be similar to the majestic St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. A reflection of this wish was the grandiose colonnade of 96 columns erected by A. N. Voronikhin in front of the northern facade.

The colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral opens towards Nevsky Prospekt. This architectural solution allowed A. N. Voronikhin to solve the problem that faced all the builders of churches on Nevsky. The avenue stretches from west to east, and the Orthodox churches— in the west there is an entrance, in the east there is an altar. Because many places of worship were forced to stand sideways to the main highway of the city. The colonnade made it possible to make the northern, side part of the cathedral a front part.

On the opposite side, the cathedral was supposed to be decorated with the same colonnade, but A. N. Voronikhin’s plan was not completed:

Entrance from Nevsky Prospekt:

Icon and sculptures of angels above the western entrance:

The sculpture for the Kazan Cathedral was made in 1804-1807 by the greatest masters of that time: F. G. Gordeev, I. P. Martos, I. P. Prokofiev, F. F. Shchedrin and others:

The temple holds interesting excursions for everyone, where the guide tells in detail the history of the cathedral:

There is a long line to see the miraculous icon, as there are quite a lot of people who want to venerate the shrine:

View of the drum of the main dome. Height 62 meters:

The main iconostasis of the cathedral with the miraculous icon of the Kazan Mother of God, designed by K. A. Ton in 1836:

About 1,600 kg of silver were used to make the iconostasis, most of which was donated by the Don Cossacks of Ataman Platov. In 1922, the iconostasis was destroyed and all the silver was confiscated. In our time, the iconostasis has been restored based on surviving sketches, drawings and photographs:

Not far away, near the southwestern pillar, is the Royal Place. The emperor prayed here during the service. The stone carving was made by the famous Samson Sukhanov. Now at this place there is an icon case with an icon of Nicholas II with Tsarevich Alexei:

The central nave of the cathedral. Monolithic granite columns, combined with gilded bronze details, create a solemn impression:

The events of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the name of Field Marshal M. I. Kutuzov are most directly connected with the history of the Kazan Cathedral.

At the very beginning of the reign of Emperor Alexander I, when the cathedral was just beginning to be built, Kutuzov was the governor of St. Petersburg. He perfectly understood the significance of the grandiose plan undertaken by Count Stroganov and Andrei Voronikhin, and did everything possible for the normal work of the “Commission for the Construction of the Kazan Cathedral.” Kutuzov showed deep interest in the construction of the cathedral in subsequent years. His name enjoyed the highest authority in St. Petersburg and it was no coincidence that on July 17, 1812, immediately after the start of the Patriotic War, the St. Petersburg nobility elected him head of the St. Petersburg noble militia. Preparing to leave for the front, Kutuzov prayed in the Kazan Cathedral in front of the miraculous icon for the salvation of Russia. Subsequently, M. I. Kutuzov donated to the Kazan Cathedral forty pounds of silver, recaptured by M. I. Platov’s Don Cossacks from the French, who had looted valuables from Russian churches.

Soon the Kazan Cathedral was destined to become a kind of monument in honor of the victory of the Russian people in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the tomb of one of the greatest Russian commanders, His Serene Highness Prince M. I. Kutuzov.

In 1814, Kutuzov’s grave was surrounded by a low lattice made of dark bronze with gilded wreaths:

Memorial plaque made of red marble. The decoration of Kutuzov’s grave is the last thing Voronikhin did in the Kazan Cathedral:

Above the grave are a bunch of keys from French fortresses taken by Russian troops:

In 1999, next to the grave of M.I. Kutuzov, the St. Andrew’s flag, brought from the city of Bizerte in Tunisia, was strengthened. It belonged to one of the ships of the Russian navy that came to Tunisia in 1920:

On the day of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the expulsion of Napoleonic troops from Russia, December 25 (January 7, new style) 1837, bronze monuments to the commanders M. I. Kutuzov and M. B. Barclay de Tolly by the sculptor B. I. Orlovsky were unveiled amid gun salutes. Thus the creation was completed architectural ensemble Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospekt:

Today the cathedral lives a full-fledged parish life. Worship services are held.

The fence, built in 1811-1812, became the main attraction of the semicircular square, and subsequently the park. With a smooth arc (153 meters long) it separated the square from the garden of the Orphanage. 14 powerful granite pillars of the Doric order are processed with wide flutes and topped with balls. The lattice of thin rods with large rhombuses and a rich frieze was cast at the iron foundry of C. Byrd. Each rhombus is composed of plant curls framing a middle circle with diverging rays. The high base is matched at the top by a frieze: bunches of grapes and flowers are woven into a wavy spiral pattern of branches and leaves. The fence ends with massive granite pedestals, on which sculptures of the apostles Peter and Paul were supposed to be installed.

In terms of the perfection of the design, the accuracy of the proportions, the precise contrasts of the heavy stone pillars and the openwork lace of the bars, the Voronikhin fence belongs to the masterpieces of architecture and decorative art of high classicism. It looks great in the light, among the greenery, and against the backdrop of the solemn colonnades of the Kazan Cathedral.

The fountain at the Voronikhinskaya lattice is the second fountain at the Kazan Cathedral, it can be seen in the park with west side Kazanskaya street at the main entrance to the cathedral. This is Voronikhinsky Square, conceived by the author of the cathedral, Andrei Nikiforovich Voronikhin.

The history of the fountain is rich - it is a drinking fountain, one of three fountains built in 1809 by the famous French architect Thomas de Thomon for the Tsarskoye Selo road. Previously, this fountain stood on the Pulkovskoye Highway, in the old way, at the 13th verst on the road from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo. The fountain not only had the role of an architectural object, it was also used for its intended purpose - to give water to horses. There it remained until 1935, then it was restored and moved to a landscaped park in front of the western facade of the Kazan Cathedral.

The fountain is a massive granite tetrahedron with bowls filled with water and an upper part in the form of a solid arch. The fountain is decorated with a mask of the god of water and seas, Neptune (it was in the hands of restorers) and the date “1809” on the arch.

In 1710, next to the hospital located on Nevsky Prospekt, it was decided to build a chapel, and a little later - a wooden church of the Kazan Mother of God.

In 1733, by order of Anna Ioanovna, a new stone church was founded, called Rozhdestvensky. It was decorated with a magnificent 58-meter bell tower.

The icon of the Kazan Mother of God was transferred from the Trinity Cathedral. So they began to call him Kazansky.

Having received the status of a Cathedral, it became the main temple in St. Petersburg, but, having stood until the end of the 18th century, the building fell into disrepair.

It was decided to build a new, ceremonial cathedral.

Paul I was in power at that time, he expressed only one wish to the architects - the project should be similar to St. Peter's Cathedral in ancient Rome. In addition, it was required to fit into the surrounding landscape.

A fairly wide architectural competition was held, to which many fashionable foreign architects presented their options. But they were all rejected.

And a year later, Pavel, regardless of rank and pedigree, approved the project of the former serf Andrei Nikiforovich Voronikhin.

Of course, a commoner could not submit his project to the imperial table. This was done for him by his former owner, Count Stroganov, who, by the way, did not lose out, becoming the main trustee of the construction site.

Be that as it may, in 1800 the construction of a new Kazan Cathedral began.

The work was completed a year before the Napoleonic War.

Interestingly, the previous cathedral often acted as a temple where ceremonial services were held on the occasion of new victories of Russian weapons.

So the Kazan Cathedral, new, magnificent, and the best at that time in St. Petersburg, was built very on time.

The symbolism emphasizes the fact that the project was Russian, exclusively Russian craftsmen worked, and only stone mined in Russia itself was used for finishing.

There was one subtlety that had to be taken into account during the project.

According to Orthodox canons, the entrance should be located in the west, and the altar in the east, thus Kazansky would be facing Nevsky Prospekt.

Voronikhin developed a project according to which the northern façade was decorated with a majestic colonnade made of 96 columns standing in a semicircle.

Thus, the northern part became the front door, decorating the main avenue of the capital.

At the very end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, a square was laid out near the colonnade, and later a large fountain was added.

The interior decoration resembles the hall of a royal palace.

The light falling from the high windows creates the illusion of a dome floating in the air, and the rows of granite columns visually make the room even higher.

The entire space is richly decorated with sculptures and bas-reliefs. The icons were painted by famous artists Kiprensky, Ivanov and others.

The façade is decorated with sculptures.

After the revolution, the Kazan Cathedral was taken away from the church, the cross was removed from the dome, and a gilded ball topped with a spire was installed in its place.

A museum of religion was opened in the building.

He also suffered during the Great Patriotic War - several shells hit him.

Divine services in the Kazan Cathedral resumed in 1991, the icon of the Kazan Mother of God returned to it, and a gilded cross appeared on the dome again.

As a gift, in honor of the tercentenary of St. Petersburg, a four-ton, two-meter bell was cast.

Since St. Isaac's Cathedral remains a museum, the Kazan Cathedral takes the place of the main ceremonial temple Orthodox Church in St. Petersburg.

Address:

St. Petersburg, Nevsky Prospekt, building 25

Working hours:

Daily:

On weekdays from 8.30 until the end of the evening service.

On weekends from 6.30 until the end of the evening service.

Official site

How to get there:

From the Gostiny Dvor metro station (exit to the Gribotedov Canal), cross the intersection of Nevsky Prospekt and the Griboyedov Canal. The cathedral is visible immediately from the metro.