ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL
St. Petersburg,
Russia
Like almost everything else in St.
Petersburg, St.
Isaac’s
Cathedral starts with Peter the Great. He was born on the feast day of
St.
Isaac and so, when choosing a dedication for the second of his churches
in his
new City (see also St. Peter and
St. Paul
Cathedral) he picked St. Isaac.
Since that
time there have been three
more churches on this
site – the most recent, the massive structure that is
today’s St. Isaac’s
dating to 1818-1858.
Alexander I
decided that a new, larger,
grander Cathedral
needed to be built here on St. Isaac’s Square, and in the early
1800s he
organised a competition to pick a design. The winning design was by
French
architect Auguste de Montferrand, although the design was not without
controversy.
It would take
40 years of hard work to
build the Cathedral.
The first, and one of the biggest, problem was the notoriously soft and
marshy
ground of St. Petersburg. Some 25,000 log piles were driven into the
swampy
ground in order to stabilise the foundations. This was just the first
of a
number of superlatives that surround the construction. It cost 1
million gold
rubles; the dome is the third biggest in the world (after St. Peter’s in the Vatican
and St. Paul’s in
London); there are
112 massive granite columns which weigh 114
tons each; the dome is coated in pure gold; inside columns around the
iconostasis are made of malachite and lapis lazuli.
It took so
long for the work to be
completed that an
expression entered the Finnish language: “Rakentaa kuin Iisakin kirkkoa” (to build like St.
Isaac's Church). Each of the 112 granite columns were
brought to the site whole and then erected using an elaborate wooden
scaffolding system, a model of which can be seen inside the Cathedral.
The
lavish interior decoration lasted until the Soviets
stripped out all the fittings and took them to their Museum of the
History of
Religion which they installed in Kazan Cathedral. In 1931 St.
Isaac’s became
the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism and the dove in the
centre of
the dome was replaced with a Foucault pendulum. This only lasted six
years and
then the Museum was transformed into the Museum of the Cathedral and
all the
religious imagery and structures were moved back from Kazan Cathedral
and
re-installed in St. Isaac’s.
During World
War II the golden dome was
painted grey to try
to avoid the attentions of enemy aircraft.
With the end of
the Soviet Union
the Cathedral once more became a place of worship, although only a
small chapel
is used for regular services with the Cathedral taking on a ceremonial
role.
The interior of
the Cathedral now
is a dazzling and overwhelming display of colour, gilt and precious
stones
which belies the years of Communist neglect and now, finally, the last
parts of
the scaffolding outside are being removed after 20 plus years of
rennovation.
On
the occasion of my visit I
was
lucky enough to see the Holy Doors of the iconostasis open to reveal
the
stained glass Christ figure beyond, my visit coincided with Bright Week
the
only week when the doors are opened.
Photo
- Andrew J. Müller
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Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions and Andrew J.
Müller
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. and Jacqui Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2018
