Page 30 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - St. Petersburg

28 ❯❯ Top 10 St Petersburg Highlights

St Isaac’s Cathedral

The smaller church of the same name commissioned by Peter the
Great was destroyed in floods soon after its construction in 1710.
The larger, present-day St Isaac’s opened in 1858 and was designed
by French architect Auguste de Montferrand. The cathedral weighs
300,000 tonnes and contains 400 kilograms of gold in its interior
decoration. The engineering operation needed to erect it was, at
the time, of an almost unprecedented scale. Used as a museum of
atheism during the Soviet years, the cathedral is the largest in Russia.

Internal Walls
The Dome
1 Accessed via a 4
The inter iors of the
cathedral (above) are colonnaded walkway,
adorned with 14 different St Isaac’s gilded
types of coloured mar ble view ing dome (right) is
and over 40 types of decorated with angels
semi-precious stones. created by sculptor Josef
Hermann. The dome
St Catherine’s
offers breath taking
2 views across the city.
Chapel
This chapel is remarkable
Statues of
for its “Resurrection” 5
(1850–54) – a stunning the Apostles
South Doors
hybrid of Baroque Statues of the apostles 6
and Classical styles. stand guard atop the The south portico
Sculpted by the artist cathedral, with Mark with has three great double-
Nikolay Pimenov, it a lion, Matthew with an shuttered doors made
is the crowning point an gel, John with an eagle of cast bronze over oak.
of the ex quisite white and Luke with a calf at They are decor ated with
marble iconostasis. the four compass points. biblical scenes.
Ceiling
Painting 3
“The Virgin in Majesty”
(1847), the fresco that
adorns the inside of the
cathedral’s cupola
(right), was created by
Karl Bryullov and covers
816 sq m (8,780 sq ft).

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