Description of the attraction
One of the most famous sights of St. Petersburg is the majestic Kazan Cathedral (another name for the temple - Cathedral of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God). It was built at the beginning of the 19th century. The temple was consecrated in honor of the highly revered image, for the sake of which the magnificent building was erected. The shrine is in the church to this day: this is a list of one of the most famous icons - the image of the Kazan Mother of God.
Soon after the completion of construction, a war broke out between the French and Russian empires, after which the temple began to be perceived as a monument to the glory of the Russian army. Here you can see military trophies from that period. On the territory of the temple is the grave of the famous military leader Mikhail Kutuzov.
Three centuries of the history of the temple
Before the Kazan Cathedral was built, the list of the miraculous icon was kept in the church consecrated in honor of the Nativity of the Virgin. This church was built in the 30s of the 18th century, and by the end of the named century it was dilapidated. Then it was decided to build a new temple in its place. A competition was announced by the Emperor, famous architects presented their projects, but none of them won. After some time, the emperor was offered another project, the author of which was a former serf Andrey Voronikhin … It was this project that received the approval of the emperor.
Construction work continued ten years (a very short time, considering the technologies of the 19th century!). The cost of these works exceeded four and a half million rubles. The old church, which contained the list of the miraculous image, was dismantled only after the construction of the new temple was completed.
Finishing work on the building continued until late 20s of the XIX century … They ended almost eighteen years after the consecration of the cathedral. In the 40s of the XIX century, the temple was renovated for the first time. A second renovation was carried out almost twenty years later. It included the restoration of wall painting, restoration of icons.
Student demonstrations took place on the square in front of the cathedral. In the same place, in the mid-70s of the 19th century, a demonstration of one of the revolutionary societies took place.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a solemn event took place in the temple - celebration of the three hundredth anniversary of the Romanov dynasty … But this page in the history of the temple cannot be called joyful: during the celebrations in the overcrowded cathedral, a terrible crush began, in which several dozen people died.
In the post-revolutionary period, or rather, in the 20s of the XX century, many valuables were removed from the temple, its interiors were badly damaged. In particular, the unique iconostasis made of trophy silver was destroyed. He was sent to be melted down. In total, approximately two tons of silver were seized from the cathedral (not counting many other values). In the early 30s of the XX century, the temple was closed, and after a short time a museum was opened in its building, the expositions of which were devoted to the history of religion and atheism. In the middle of the 20th century, restoration work was carried out in the building. First, the interiors were carefully restored, then the facades.
In the early 90s, divine services were resumed in one of the side-altars of the cathedral.… A few years later, the cross shone again over the dome of the temple. In the late 90s, the building was completely consecrated. At the beginning of the 21st century, it was finally returned to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The interiors of the temple and its architecture
Before the construction of the cathedral began, the emperor expressed the following wish: the temple should have resembled a Roman cathedral consecrated in honor of St. Peter. This desire was fulfilled: the colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral really resembles the columns of the famous Vatican temple.
The colonnade of the St. Petersburg Cathedral consists of ninety-six columns … In addition to giving the temple a resemblance to an Italian cathedral, she also allowed the architect to solve one difficult problem. The fact is that in Orthodox churches, the entrance is traditionally located in the western part of the building, and the altar is in the eastern; the avenue on which the cathedral was built stretched from west to east. For this reason, the temple actually stands sideways to the avenue, but this is invisible thanks to the columns that adorn the northern (that is, the side) part of the church. By the way, the architect planned to decorate the temple with exactly the same columns from the south side, but for a number of reasons he failed to complete his plan.
The diameter of the dome of the cathedral is almost eighteen meters … It is formed by two rows of ribs made of iron. And under a huge iron dome there are two more, these domes are built of bricks. Interestingly, all of the above-mentioned domes were built even before methods of static analysis of such structures appeared. We can say that intuition helped the architect to successfully design the domes.
The walls of the cathedral are faced with a special tuff, mined in the Gatchina region. Pedestals have been preserved on both sides of the giant colonnade. Once upon a time there were sculptures depicting angels. They were made of plaster and, according to the plan of the builders, they were to be replaced by similar bronze statues. But these plans never materialized. In the 20s of the XIX century, the plaster sculptures were removed, but for a number of reasons, the installation of new ones was not made.
Tourists are impressed by the facades of the cathedral, but not disappointed by its interiors. Installed in the temple more than fifty columns … They are made from pink granite, they are decorated with gilded capitals. The early 19th century bas-reliefs also impress those entering. The images of the temple were painted by famous painters of the same period of time. Speaking about the images, one cannot fail to mention the most important shrine of the temple. It is, as already mentioned above, a list of the famous miraculous icon, in whose honor the cathedral was consecrated.
Sculpture and painting
The cathedral contains many fine works of art; which of them should you pay the most attention to? Which ones to look first? Let's name some of these works:
- Both inside and outside the temple is decorated many sculptures … All of them deserve close attention, as they were created by the best sculptors in the country.
- Pay attention to bronze northern doors of the temple … They were made by the foundry master Vasily Yekimov, famous in the 19th century. These doors are an exact copy of the doors cast in the 15th century by the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti for a Florentine baptismal home.
- Separately, I need to say a few words about painting. The iconostasis of the temple, its pylons and walls were painted by famous artists of the early 19th century. Among them Karl Bryullov, Fyodor Bruni, Petr Basin and many others.
- Pay also particular attention to the painting " Taking the Mother of God to Heaven". This is an altarpiece, its author is Karl Bryullov. According to experts, this work is one of the main adornments of the cathedral, although the rest of the paintings in the temple are certainly worthy of a careful examination.
Monument to Military Glory
As mentioned above, the temple is a kind of monument to Russian military valor, victory over the French Empire. Here, after the end of the war with Napoleon's army, enemy banners captured by the victors were displayed. There were one hundred and seven such banners (currently most of them are in the Russian capital). And next to them, ninety-seven keys could be seen. These are the keys to the cities that surrendered to the Russian army. Most of these trophies are also currently in Moscow. Six bunches of keys can be seen in the St. Petersburg church, they are located above grave of Mikhail Kutuzov (the great military leader is buried on the territory of the cathedral).
By the way, there is a misconception that the heart of the famous Russian commander was buried separately from his body, in one of the Polish cities. But this version is not true. In the first half of the 20th century, an autopsy was carried out on the body of the commander. The results of this autopsy completely debunked the version of a separate burial of the heart.
In the 30s of the XIX century, monuments to famous Russian military leaders were unveiled on the square in front of the temple. The monuments were cast in bronze.
Interesting Facts
In the second half of the 19th century, a rather critical attitude towards the architecture of the famous cathedral was widespread, since at that time interest in classicism was lost, and copying - even partial - of Western samples was considered unacceptable. But at the beginning of the 20th century, tastes changed, interest in classicism returned and the cathedral again began to arouse universal admiration.
In the XXI century was released a special coin depicting the famous St. Petersburg temple … This twenty-five-ruble coin was made of nine hundred and twenty-fifth silver. The circulation of the coin was one and a half thousand copies. Its weight is one hundred fifty-five and a half grams.
On a note
- Location: St. Petersburg, Kazanskaya square, 2. Phones: (812) -314-58-56 (you can call from 8 am to 9 pm), (812) 314-46-63
- The nearest metro stations: "Nevsky Prospect", "Gostiny Dvor". Exit towards the Griboyedov Canal.
- Official website:
- Working hours: on weekdays from 7:30 to 20:00, on weekends from 7:00 to 20:00. Before visiting, we recommend that you check the opening hours on the official website (it may change slightly).
- Tickets: not required. The entrance to the cathedral is free. But if you would like to have a tour of the building, then the staff of the temple will do it for a donation.
