Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOP SIGHTS
ST ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL
The golden dome of St Isaac's Cathedral dominates the St Petersburg skyline.
Named after St Isaac of Dalmatia, on whose feast day Peter the Great was born,
it is one of the largest domed buildings in the world. Everything about this place
is enormous and designed to awe: more than 100kg of gold leaf was used to
cover the 21.8m-high dome alone, while the huge granite pillars on the building's
facade each weigh over 120 tonnes.
Most people bypass the museum and simply climb the 262 steps to the kolonnada
(colonnade) around the drum of the dome. The outlook to the four corners of the city
is superb, with great views over the river, the Winter Palace, pl Dekabristov and the
Bronze Horseman . Tickets are sold separately at the kiosk on the northeast side of the
cathedral.
Controversial Design
French designer Auguste Montferrand began designing the cathedral in 1818, despite
the fact that he was no architect. Indeed, it was Montferrand's contacts at court that
ensured the design was approved by the tsar. Local architects were outraged at the for-
eign upstart's commission and were quick to point out (correctly) a number of tech-
nical flaws in the plan.
The cathedral took so long to build (until 1858) that Nicholas I was able to insist on
an even more grandiose structure than Montferrand had originally planned. The long
construction period gave rise to a rumour among locals that the Romanov dynasty
would fall were the cathedral ever completed - something that in the event happened
some 60 years later. Special ships and a railway had to be built to carry the granite
from Finland for the huge pillars. There's a statue of Montferrand holding a model of
the cathedral on the west facade, although Nicholas I denied the architect his dying
wish, to be buried here, considering it too high an honour for a mere artisan.
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