Four lives of Saint Isaac’s Cathedral

The cathedral was first constructed in wood in 1707 during the reign of Peter the Great. The ground was broken for the building on the tsar’s birthday, which coincided with the day commemorating St. Isaac of Dalmatia, hence the cathedral’s name.

In the later years of her reign, Empress Catherine the Great decided to restore the cathedral at the new location, behind the Bronze Horseman statue. The construction was finished during the reign of Emperor Paul I.

In 1816, a large piece of plaster in the vaults collapsed during a church service, which had a terrifying effect on believers. It was evident that the building required major repairs, and under orders of Emperor Alexander I a full reconstruction of the cathedral began aiming to make it St. Petersburg’s main church and landmark.

The construction of the cathedral was completed in 1848, but it took another ten years to finish the interior. The main dome plafond, The Mother of God in Glory, was decorated with paintings by Carlo Brullo.

The design for the cathedral interior’s paintings was developed by renowned French architect Auguste de Montferrand.

Due to high humidity and lack of air ventilation, much of the interior is decorated with mosaics, with some 12,000 shades of smalt used.

At this ambon, writer Leo Tolstoy was excommunicated from the Russian Orthodox Church.

The interior designs feature over one hundred of various kinds and shades of granite, marble, malachite and lazurite.

The stained glass window Resurrected Christ inside the main altar was made after a drawing by German painter Heinrich Maria von Hess.

The relief decorations of the monumental ten-ton bronze doors feature Biblical themes.

On Orthodox holidays, the cathedral holds church services, while on other holidays performances by choirs are given.

The consecration ceremony for St. Isaac Cathedral was conducted on May 30, 1858, the day commemorating Isaac of Dalmatia and Peter the Great’s birthday. The cathedral is the world’s 4th largest church dome after St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London and Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.