Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor (russian: Исаа́киевский Собо́р) is a large architectural landmark cathedral that currently functions as a museum with occasional church services in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
. It is dedicated to
Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of
Peter the Great, who had been born on the
feast day of that saint. It was originally built as a cathedral but was turned into a museum by the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
government in 1931 and has remained a museum ever since, with church services held in a side chapel since the 1990's. In 2017, the Governor of Saint Petersburg offered to transfer the cathedral back to the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
, but this was not accomplished due to the protests of St Petersburg citizens opposing the offer.
History
The church on
St Isaac's Square was ordered by
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
Alexander I Alexander I may refer to:
* Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC
* Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus
* Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome
* Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...
, to replace an earlier structure by
Vincenzo Brenna
Vincenzo Brenna (1747Lanceray, p. 37, states birth year as 1745. Contemporary historians (Dmitry Shvidkovsky) agree on 1747 (Shvidkovsky, p. 293) – May 17, 1820) was an Italian architect and painter who was the house architect of Paul I of Russ ...
, and was the fourth consecutive church standing at this place.
A specially appointed commission examined several designs, including that of the French-born
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Auguste de Montferrand
Auguste de Montferrand (; January 23, 1786 – July 10, 1858) was a French classicist architect who worked primarily in Russia. His two best known works are the Saint Isaac's Cathedral and the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg.
Early ...
(1786–1858), who had studied in the atelier of Napoleon's designer,
Charles Percier. Montferrand's design was criticised by some members of the commission for the dry and allegedly boring rhythm of its four identical pedimented octastyle porticos. It was also suggested that despite gigantic dimensions, the edifice would look squat and not very impressive. The members of the commission, which consisted of well-known Russian architects, were also particularly concerned by necessity to build a new huge building on the old unsecure foundation. The emperor, who favoured the ponderous
Empire style
The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...
of architecture, had to step in and solve the dispute in Montferrand's favour.
The cathedral took 40 years to construct, under Montferrand's direction, from 1818 to 1858.
[ To secure the construction, the cathedral's foundation was strengthened by driving 25,000 piles into the fenland of Saint Petersburg. Innovative methods were created to erect the giant columns of the portico. The construction costs of the cathedral totalled an incredible sum of 1 000 000 gold ]ruble
The ruble (American English) or rouble (Commonwealth English) (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is the currency unit of Belarus and Russia. Historically, it was the currency of the Russian Empire and of the Soviet Union.
, currencies named ''rub ...
s. Under the Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
government, the building was stripped of religious trappings. In 1931, it was turned into the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, the dove sculpture was removed, and replaced by a Foucault pendulum
The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. A long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circular ...
. On 12 April 1931, the first public demonstration of the Foucault pendulum was held to visualize Copernicus
Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...
's theory. In 1937, the museum was transformed into the museum of the cathedral, and former collections were transferred to the Museum of the History of Religion
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...
(located in the Kazan Cathedral).
During World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, the dome was painted over in gray to avoid attracting attention from enemy aircraft. On its top, in the skylight, a geodesical intersection point was placed, to determine the positions of German artillery batteries.
With the fall of communism, the museum was removed and regular worship activity has resumed in the cathedral, but only in the left-hand side chapel. The main body of the cathedral is used for services on feast days only.
On 10 January 2017 Georgy Poltavchenko
Georgy Sergeyevich Poltavchenko ( rus, Гео́ргий Серге́евич Полта́вченко, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj sʲɪrˈɡʲejɪvʲɪtɕ pɐlˈtaftɕɪnkə; born on 24 February 1953) is a Russian politician.
He became Governor of Sai ...
, the Governor of St. Petersburg, announced that the cathedral would be transferred to the Russian Orthodox Churc
The key protocols of the transfer were defined by the order issued by St. Petersburg's Committee on Property Relations on 30 December 2016. The document expired on 30 December 2018. The new order can be issued upon request from the Russian Orthodox Church, but no such request has yet been submitte
The transfer of Saint Isaac's Cathedral in use the ROC agreed in January 2017, but the decision has caused discontent of the townspeople, who defended the status of the museum. The decision of the city authorities was disputed in the courts. Currently, the status of the building is museum. Today, church services are held here only on ecclesiastical occasions.
On 1 October 2021, Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia
Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia (russian: Георгий Михайлович Романов, Georgiy Mikhaylovich Romanov, also spelled ''Romanoff''; german: Georg Mikhailowitsch Romanow; born 13 March 1981) is the heir apparent to M ...
and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini married at the cathedral in the first royal wedding to take place in Russia since 1917.
Exterior
The neoclassical exterior expresses the traditional Russian-Byzantine formula of a Greek-cross ground plan with a large central dome and four subsidiary domes. It is similar to Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of ...
's Villa Capra "La Rotonda"
Villa La Rotonda is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in northern Italy designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The villa's correct name is Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, but it is also known as "La Rotonda", "Villa Rot ...
, with a full dome on a high drum substituted for the Villa's low central saucer dome. The design of the cathedral in general and the dome in particular later influenced the design of the United States Capitol dome
The United States Capitol features a dome situated above its rotunda. The dome is in height and in diameter. Designed by Thomas U. Walter, the fourth Architect of the Capitol, it was constructed between 1855 and 1866 at a cost of $1,047,291 (e ...
, Wisconsin State Capitol
The Wisconsin State Capitol, located in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed in 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wi ...
in Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...
, and the Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...
.
The exterior is faced with gray and pink stone, and features a total of 112 red granite columns with Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to:
*Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible:
**First Epistle to the Corinthians
**Second Epistle to the Corinthians
**Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox)
*A demonym relating to ...
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 stand on the roof, and another 24 on top of the rotunda.
Dome
The cathedral's main dome rises ; its exterior is gilded. The dome is decorated with twelve statues
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
of angels by Josef Hermann. These angels were likely the first large sculptures produced by the then novel process of electrotyping, which was an alternative to traditional bronze casting of sculptures. Montferrand's design of the dome is based on a supporting cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...
structure. It was the third historical instance of cast iron cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, fro ...
after the Leaning Tower of Nevyansk
The Leaning Tower of Nevyansk (russian: Невья́нская ба́шня) is a tower in the town of Nevyansk in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, built in the 18th century. Its construction was funded by Peter the Great's associate Akinfiy ...
(1732) and Mainz Cathedral
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(1826).[The office of the first Russian oligarch](_blank)
With an internal height of 69 m (from the floor to the level of the oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following
Architecture
* Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...
), it ranks among the tallest domes in the world.
Interior
The cathedral's bronze doors, covered in relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
s by Ivan Vitali
Ivan Petrovich Vitali (russian: Иван Петрович Витали; 1794–1855) was a Russian sculptor of Italian descent. Born in Saint Petersburg, he was apprenticed to his father, Pietro Vitali, from an early age. After attending the Im ...
, are patterned after the celebrated doors of the Battistero di San Giovanni in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
, designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti
Lorenzo Ghiberti (, , ; 1378 – 1 December 1455), born Lorenzo di Bartolo, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor from Florence, a key figure in the Early Renaissance, best known as the creator of two sets of bronze doors of the Florence Baptister ...
. Suspended underneath the peak of the dome is a sculpted white dove representing the Holy Spirit. Internal features such as columns, pilaster
In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...
s, floor, and statue of Montferrand are composed of multicolored granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
s and marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
s gathered from all parts of Russia. The iconostasis is framed by eight columns of semiprecious stone: six of malachite
Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fracture ...
and two smaller ones of lazurite
Lazurite is a tectosilicate mineral with sulfate, sulfur and chloride with formula . It is a feldspathoid and a member of the sodalite group. Lazurite crystallizes in the isometric system although well‐formed crystals are rare. It is usually ...
. The four pediment
Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape.
Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds.
A pedim ...
s are also richly sculpted.
The interior was originally decorated with scores of paintings by Karl Bryullov
Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (russian: Карл Па́влович Брюлло́в; 12 December 1799 – 11 June 1852), original name Charles Bruleau, also transliterated Briullov and Briuloff, and referred to by his friends as "Karl the Great", was a ...
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 mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
s, a technique introduced in Russia by Mikhail Lomonosov. This work was never completed.
Technologies
William Handyside
William Handyside (1793–1850) was a Scottish engineer who was involved in several important construction projects in St. Petersburg.
Biography
Born in Edinburgh on 25 July 1793, to merchant Hugh Handyside and his wife Margaret, he was the el ...
and other engineers used a number of technological innovations in the construction of the building. The portico columns were raised with the use of large wooden frameworks before the walls were erected. The building rests on 10,000 tree trunks that were sunk by a large number of workers into the marshy banks upon which the cathedral is situated. The dome was gilded by a technique similar to spraypaint
Aerosol paint (commonly spray paint) is paint that comes in a sealed, pressurized container and is released in an aerosol spray when a valve button is depressed. Aerosol painting is one form of spray painting; it leaves a smooth, even coat, unlik ...
ing; the solution used included toxic mercury, the vapors of which caused the deaths of sixty workers. The dozen gilded statues of angels, each six metres tall, facing each other across the interior of the rotunda, were constructed using galvanoplastic
Electrotyping (also galvanoplasty) is a chemical method for forming metal parts that exactly reproduce a model. The method was invented by Moritz von Jacobi in Russia in 1838, and was immediately adopted for applications in printing and several o ...
technology, making them only millimeters thick and very lightweight. St. Isaac's Cathedral represents the first use of this technique in architecture.
The meticulous and painstakingly detailed work on constructing the St. Isaac's Cathedral took 40 years to complete. This extended construction left an expression in the Finnish language
Finnish ( endonym: or ) is a Uralic language of the Finnic branch, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official languages of Finland (the other being Swedis ...
, ' ("to build like St. Isaac's Church"), for lengthy and never-ending megaproject
A megaproject is an extremely large-scale investment project.
According to the ''Oxford Handbook of Megaproject Management'', "Megaprojects are large-scale, complex ventures that typically cost $1 billion or more, take many years to develop and ...
s.
Gallery
Image:First St. Isaac's church.jpg, The first St. Isaac's Church (Lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
of Auguste de Montferrand's drawing, 1710)
Image:Surikov-Horseman2.jpg, Vasily Surikov
Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (Russian: Василий Иванович Суриков; 24 January 1848 – 19 March 1916) was a Russian Realist history painter. Many of his works have become familiar to the general public through their use as illus ...
's view of the cathedral and the ''Bronze Horseman
The ''Bronze Horseman'' (russian: link=no, Медный всадник, literally "copper horseman") is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great in the Senate Square in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It was opened to the public on 7 (18) August ...
'' in front of it.
Image:Plan of St. Isaac's cathedral.png, Floorplan
In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure.
Dimensio ...
of St. Isaac's Cathedral
Image:Fragment of west barelief on St.Isaac cathedral.jpg, St. Isaac blessing the Emperor Theodosius and his wife Flaccilla[
Image:St Isaacs Gate.jpg, St. Isaac's Gate, bronze doors
Image:SPB interieur1Izaakkathedraal.jpg, Interior of the cathedra]
View a 360 Panorama here
Image:Inside St. Isaac's.jpg, View of the main iconostasis, showing the malachite and lapis lazuli columns
Image:Sankt Petersburg Isaakskathedrale innen 2005 b.jpg, Iconostasis of one of the side chapel
A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...
s
Image:Sankt Petersburg Isaakskathedrale innen 2005 c.jpg, Shrine to the Wonderworking
Thaumaturgy is the purported capability of a magician to work magic or other paranormal events or a saint to perform miracles. It is sometimes translated into English as wonderworking.
A practitioner of thaumaturgy is a "thaumaturge", "thauma ...
Tikhvin
Tikhvin (russian: Ти́хвин; Veps: ) is a town and the administrative center of Tikhvinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on both banks of the Tikhvinka River in the east of the oblast, east of St. Petersburg. Tikhvin ...
Icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
of the Theotokos
Image:St Isaacs cathedral royal doors.jpg, The sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
, seen through the Holy Doors during Bright Week
Bright Week, Pascha Week or Renewal Week ( el, Διακαινήσιμος Ἑβδομάς) is the name used by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches for the period of seven days beginning on Easter and continuing up to (but n ...
Image:St Isaacs Dome Russia.jpg, Interior of the great dome, honoring the Holy Spirit
Image:Isaak square3.jpg, View looking out from the cathedral onto Isaac Square
Image: St petersburg from Isaacs Cathedral.jpg, Photo from St Isaacs Cathedral
Image:Saint Isaac's Cathedral. St. Petersburg, 2017.png, St. Isaac's Cathedral at night
See also
*Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (Moscow)
The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour ( rus, Храм Христа́ Спаси́теля, r=Khram Khristá Spasítelya, p=xram xrʲɪˈsta spɐˈsʲitʲɪlʲə) is a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskv ...
*List of tallest Orthodox churches
This is a list of tallest Orthodox church buildings in the world, all those higher than 70 metres.
Traditionally, an Orthodox church building is crowned by one or several domes with Orthodox crosses on the top of each. The overall height of th ...
*List of large Orthodox cathedrals
This is a list of the largest Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox church buildings in the world, based on area and capacity. Any Eastern Orthodox church building that has a capacity of 3,000 people or more, can be added to this page. Entries ...
*List of tallest domes
This is a list of the tallest domes in the world. The dome can be measured by various criteria. There are different types of domes. Many of the tallest domes have a Roof lantern, lantern. Strictly speaking, the lantern is not part of the dome, b ...
References
Notes
Sources
*
External links
The Main Cathedral of the Russian Empire
Official website of the State Monument Museum
St Isaac's Cathedral guide, a large photo collection
St Isaac's Cathedral WebCam
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Isaac's Cathedral
Cathedrals in Saint Petersburg
Church buildings with domes
Isaac
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was th ...
History museums in Saint Petersburg
Religious museums in Russia
Cathedral, Saint Isaacand#39's Cathedral
Churches completed in 1858
19th-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings
Auguste de Montferrand buildings and structures
Cultural heritage monuments of federal significance in Saint Petersburg
Neoclassical church buildings in Russia