Saint Isaac's Cathedral or Isaakievskiy Sobor in Saint
Petersburg, Russia is the largest Russian Orthodox cathedral (sobor)
in the city. It is dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a
patron saint of Peter the Great, who had been born on the feast
day of that saint. The church on St Isaac's Square was ordered
by Tsar Alexander I, to replace an earlier Rinaldiesque
structure, and was the fourth consecutive church standing at
this place. A specially appointed commission examined several
designs, including that of the French-born architect Auguste de
Montferrand (1786–1858), who had studied in the atelier of
Napoleon's designer, Charles Percier. Montferrand's design was
criticised by some members of the commission for the dry and
allegedly boring rhythm of its four identical pedimented
octastyle porticos. It was also suggested that despite gigantic
dimensions, the edifice would look squat and not very impressive.
The emperor, who favoured the ponderous Empire style of
architecture, had to step in and solve the dispute in
Montferrand's favour.
The cathedral took 40 years to construct, under Montferrand's
direction, from 1818 to 1858. Under the Soviet government, the
building was stripped of religious trappings. In 1931, it was
turned into the Antireligious Museum, The dove sculpture was
removed, and replaced by a Foucault pendulum. On April 12, 1931,
the first public demonstration of the Foucault pendulum was held
to visualize Copernicus’s theory. In 1937, the museum was
transformed into the museum of the Cathedral, and former
collections were transferred to the Museum of the History of
Religion (located in the Kazan Cathedral). During World War II,
the dome was painted over in gray to avoid attracting attention
from enemy aircraft. On its top, in the skylight, a geodesical
intersection point was placed, with the objective of aiding in
the location of enemy cannon. With the fall of communism, the
museum was removed and regular worship activity has resumed in
the cathedral, but only in the left-hand side chapel. The main
body of the cathedral is used for services on feast days only. |