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Not far from the Neva river and the
Admiralty Garden, in the middle of a huge square, stands the largest and most
luxurious cathedral of the former Russian capital and indeed, of all Russia.
Its astonishing proportions cannot be fully realized from a distance because of
the open space of the square and the buildings around it, which are also of
gigantic size. Even more amazing is the fact that this magnificent structure
was built entirely of granite and marble, weighing hundreds of tons, and that
entire forests were driven into the swampy soil to prevent it from eventual
sinking. The spot had been chosen over a century earlier by Peter the Great,
who built the first wooden church not far from there, and later replaced it
with a stone one. In 1868 Catherine II began to build a new marble church which
Rinaldi designed, but it was finished in bricks, after architect Breno
shortened its dimensions. Finally Alexander I commissioned the French architect
Auguste-Ricard de Montferrand to design the existing cathedral, dedicated to
Saint Isaac of Dalmatia. For several views of this magnificent structure please
go to Peteburg.
The first granite foundation for the Cathedral was laid down in 1819, and it
took 39 years to finish the construction. This magnificent, heavy and rather
simple edifice is in the form of a cross crowned with a large dome. It is over
340 feet long and about 300 feet across, built entirely of polished red Finland
granite, with some parts done in bronze or marble. On three sides massive
granite steps, made of single blocks, lead to the entrances under magnificent
porticos. The fourth, eastern side, where the altar is, has instead three oval
windows under the portico. The main entrances are on the north and south, each
with two rows of eight highly polished red granite monolith columns, almost
sixty feet high and seven feet in diameter, on mighty pediments decorated with
bronze bas-reliefs. The western and eastern sides are similar though their
porticos are smaller and have only eight columns. The bases and Corinthian
capitals of the columns are made of bronze. The bas-reliefs were sculptured by
Lemaire and Vitali, and depict scenes from the life of Christ and Saint Isaac.
One, which shows Saint Isaac with Emperor Theodosius, has the head of the
latter sculpted to resemble Alexander I's. There are statues of evangelists and
apostles on pediments, and at the corners of the roof are statues of angels. A
large central dome over eighty feet in diameter rests on a high drum,
surrounded by 24 granite Corinthian columns, each thirty feet high. The dome is
elongated and is surmounted by a lantern, crowned with a twenty-foot long
golden cross. The dome is made of iron and covered with glittering, gold-plated
copper. It dominates most of the skyline of Leningrad and, like the Basilica of
Saint Peter in Rome, which it resembles, is visible from many sides. Four small
domes at the corners of the Cathedral contained the bells, an obligatory item
in any Orthodox church. The heaviest weighed almost three tons.
Three enormous and richly sculptured bronze doors lead to the interior of the
Cathedral, whose thick walls are recovered with marble, a gift of the Demidov
family. Inside the ceiling of the dome is an enormous painting of the Virgin
surrounded by saints, the work of Briulov and Bassin. The ceiling above the
main iconostasis was painted by Bruni, and one of the two chapels by Pimenov.
In he absence of apses, the eastern part of the Cathedral is reserved fro the
iconostasis and altars. There are three: a large one in the center and two on
the sides. This is the most splendid and gorgeous part of the Cathedral, with
malachite columns and pilasters that decorate the white marble iconostasis,
royal doors with pillars of lapis lazuli, mosaic pictures framed in silver, and
a splendid stained-glass window representing the Resurrection of Christ, which
was made in Germany. Before the revolution there were inside the Cathedral
about two hundred icons and paintings, and hundreds of various religious and
decorative objects, comprising several tons of silver and tens of pounds of
gold. This fantastic wealth and splendor, enhanced by hundreds of burning
candles and lamps, by magnificent chanting, and by gorgeous vestments of
priests and bishops, could not but bewilder anybody who entered the Cathedral.
It is indeed a brilliant spectacle that no theater could offer for free, yet as
far as admission is concerned the Orthodox church never discriminated against
anybody. It was in Saint Isaac's Cathedral that the Russians came closest to
imitating the lavishness of the Hagia Sofia and offering the people, to use the
words of Saint Vladimir, "The feeling of being in Heaven." The
Soviets confiscated everything and emptied the cathedral of all valuables and
finally turned it into a museum.
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