1 temple: back in 1707 in a city under construction at the behest of Peter I The Church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia was erected. *It was not for nothing that the Emperor decided to honor him - he was born on the day of the holy memory of the saint, May 30 according to the Julian calendar.
Here, in a hastily built church, damp and soaked in ship tar, Peter I and Marta Skavronskaya (Catherine I) were married in 1712.
2 temple: the second, already stone, Church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia was laid in 1717 y - the first one was already dilapidated by that time. The temple stood on the banks of the Neva, approximately at the place where the Bronze Horseman now stands. The building is very resembled the Peter and Paul Cathedral with its architectural design and high spire. However, the coastal soil under the church was constantly subsiding, and in 1735 it was severely damaged by a lightning strike. Then they invited the architect Savva Chevakinsky to assess the condition of the cathedral. He did not lie and said that the construction would not last long. It was necessary to change the location of the cathedral and build it anew. From this moment the history of the St. Isaac's Cathedral that we know began.
3 temple: Savva Chevakinsky was appointed in 1761 to lead the construction of the new St. Isaac's Cathedral, but preparations were delayed, and the architect soon resigned. His place was taken by Antonio Rinaldi, and the ceremonial foundation of the cathedral took place only in 1768. Rinaldi supervised the construction until the death of Catherine II, and after that he went abroad. The building was erected only up to the cornice. At the direction of Paul I, Vincenzo Brenna took on the cathedral and changed the design.
The marble for cladding was redirected to the Mikhailovsky Castle, so the cathedral looked strange - brick walls rose on a marble base. This “monument to two reigns” was consecrated in 1802, but it soon became clear that it spoiled the appearance of “ceremonial Petersburg”. Under Alexander I, a competition for its ennoblement was held twice: in 1809 and 1813. All the architects suggested simply demolishing it and building a new one, so the emperor commissioned engineer Augustine Betancourt to take on the cathedral reconstruction project personally.
He entrusted this task to a young architect Auguste Montferrand. At that time there were more experienced masters in St. Petersburg, but the Frenchman turned out to be a clever diplomat. He produced and handed over to the king 24 projects at once in the most different styles, even in Chinese. The emperor liked this zeal, and Montferrand was appointed court architect.
4 temple: The new cathedral was founded in 1819, but Auguste Montferrand had to finalize the project for another six years. Construction dragged on for almost forty years, which gave rise to rumors about a certain prediction that the architect received from a clairvoyant. Allegedly, the sorcerer prophesied to him that he would die as soon as he completed the cathedral. And indeed, a month after the consecration ceremony of the cathedral, the architect died.
Another one legend says that Alexander II noticed among the sculptures of saints bowing to Isaac of Dolmat, Montferrand himself holding his head straight. Noting the architect’s pride, the emperor allegedly did not shake his hand or thank him for his work, which is why he became upset, fell ill and died.
Auguste Montferrand on the pediment of the cathedral
In fact, Montferrand died from an acute attack of rheumatism that occurred after suffering from pneumonia. He bequeathed to bury himself in St. Isaac's Cathedral, but Emperor Alexander II did not give consent to this. Montferrand's widow took the architect's body to Paris, where he was buried in the Montmartre cemetery.
Engineering miracle
During the construction of the cathedral, many technologies were used, original and daring for its time. The building was unusually heavy for the marshy ground and required drive 10,762 piles into the base of the foundation. It took five years, and in the end the townspeople began to joke in this regard - they say that they somehow drove a pile, and it completely went underground. They scored the second one - and there was no sign of it. The third, fourth, and so on, until a letter arrived from New York: “You ruined our pavement! At the end of the log sticking out of the ground is the stamp of the St. Petersburg timber exchange “Gromov and Co!”
Worth special attention granite columns of the cathedral. Granite for them mined on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, near Vyborg. Stonemasons invented special way extracting monolithic blocks: they drilled holes in the rock, inserted wedges into them and beat them until a crack appeared in the stone. Iron levers with rings were inserted into the crack, and ropes were threaded through the rings. 40 people pulled the ropes and gradually broke out the granite blocks. They delivered stones to the city on rails, although railway there was no such thing in Russia at that time.
The installation of 48 columns took two years and was completed in 1830, and in 1841, for the first time in history, 24 columns weighing 64 tons each were raised to a height of more than 40 meters to be installed around the dome. More than 100 kilograms of red gold were needed to gild the dome, another 300 kilograms were required to gild the interior. St. Isaac's Cathedral is the fourth largest in the world, its weight is 300 thousand tons, and its height is 101.5 meters. Isaac's Colonnade remains the highest observation deck in the city center.
The pledge of Romanov power
The incredibly protracted construction of the cathedral could not help but give rise to a lot of speculation and rumors; it seemed to everyone that there was something mysterious in this long-term construction, like in the veil that Penelope wove for Odysseus and secretly unraveled.
The cathedral, founded in 1819, was completed only in 1858, but even after its consecration the temple was constantly in need of repairs and improvements; the scaffolding stood undismantled for many years.
Eventually a legend was born that as long as the forests stand, the Romanov dynasty rules. It was also agreed that the royal treasury allocated funds for all the finishing touches. The scaffolding was finally removed from St. Isaac's Cathedral for the first time in 1916, shortly before abdication from the Russian throne to Emperor Nicholas II in March 1917.
Another myth says that the angels on the facades of St. Isaac's Cathedral have the faces of members of the imperial family.
The cathedral is leaving
The incredible weight of the cathedral struck the imagination of contemporaries no less than it strikes us today. St. Isaac's Cathedral is the heaviest building in St. Petersburg. Many times it was predicted to collapse, but despite everything it still holds on.
One of the urban legends says, that the famous joker, one of the creators of the image of Kozma Prutkov, Alexander Zhemchuzhnikov, one night changed into the uniform of an aide-de-camp and visited all the leading metropolitan architects with the order “to report to the palace in the morning due to the fact that St. Isaac’s Cathedral had failed.” It is easy to imagine the panic this announcement caused.
However, The legend that St. Isaac's Cathedral is gradually and imperceptibly sinking under the weight of its own weight is still alive.
Foucault pendulum
The Bolsheviks tried to use Isaac for anti-religious propaganda. For this in 1931 a Foucault pendulum was hung in it, clearly illustrating the rotation of the Earth. The Komsomol members gathered in the temple were delighted: many argued whether a matchbox placed on a special stand would be knocked down or not. Celestial mechanics did not fail: the swing plane of the pendulum visually rotated, and the boxes fell properly. For some reason, Soviet newspapers called it “the triumph of science over religion.” Although, as you know, Foucault’s first experiment was carried out with the blessing of the Pope precisely in order to prove the power of God.
Bust of the architect Auguste Montferrand, made of 43 types of minerals and stones - all that were used in the construction of the temple
St. Isaac's Cathedral - Museum
In 1963, the post-war restoration of the cathedral was completed. The Museum of Atheism was moved to the Kazan Cathedral, and Foucault’s pendulum was removed, so that since then St. Isaac’s has been operating as a museum. The pendulum, which amused tourists, now lies in storage in the basement of the temple. In the center of the dome, where the cable was previously attached, the figure of a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, has been returned. Here you can still see a bust of Auguste Montferrand, made of 43 types of minerals and stones - all that were used in the construction of the temple.
In 1990 (for the first time since 1922) he performed Divine Liturgy His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus'. In 2005, an “Agreement between the State Museum-Monument “St. Isaac’s Cathedral” and the St. Petersburg Diocese on joint activities on the territory of the museum complex was signed, and today services are held regularly on holidays and Sundays.
There is currently a trial going on regarding the transfer of the cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The cathedral can accommodate 15 thousand people - no other church in Russia.
In connection with the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church, the city was literally divided into two camps: some rejoice, others sign petitions against this decision. Therefore, we have chosen for you stories about Isaac, which will help you form your own opinion about the transfer of the cathedral, and also find out what aliens have to do with it, whether Montferrand built the cathedral and how it was almost transported to the USA as a symbol of the city on the Neva.
St. Isaac's Cathedral, one of the most impressive buildings in St. Petersburg, was consecrated (May 30) on June 11, 1858. Its history, which dates back almost from the founding of the Northern capital, is full of unexpected turns and amazing facts. The construction of the cathedral was conceived by Peter I, who was born on the day of memory of St. Isaac of Dalmatia and decided to honor the saint in a special way. But construction was completed during the reign of Alexander II. IN different years The cathedral was a shelter for art and a platform for physical experiments.
The first St. Isaac's Cathedral was created in 1707 by decree of Peter I on the site of a drafting barn next to the Admiralty. The cathedral was rebuilt four times - we see the fourth incarnation now.
Peter I and Catherine I were married in the first wooden church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia. The second, already stone, church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia was founded in 1717: the first had already fallen into disrepair by that time. The temple stood on the banks of the Neva, approximately at the place where the Bronze Horseman now stands. The building was very reminiscent of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in its architectural design and high spire.
However, the coastal soil under the church was constantly subsiding, and in 1735 it was severely damaged by a lightning strike. It was necessary to change the location of the cathedral and build it anew. Under Catherine II, marble began to be used in construction, but barely half of the building was completed. Then Paul I ordered the construction to be completed with brick, and the marble for cladding was redirected to the Mikhailovsky Castle, so the cathedral looked strange: brick walls rose on a marble foundation. This “monument to two reigns” was consecrated in 1802, but it soon became clear that it spoiled the appearance of “ceremonial Petersburg”. Alexander I did not like what his ancestors had built at all, and he ordered the building to be demolished and a new one built - from granite.
The architect of Isaac as we know him was Auguste Montferrand. Construction lasted 40 years. Legend has it that someone predicted Montferrand's death after the cathedral was built, so he was in no hurry to complete the process.
And yet he completed it: in the summer of 1858, Metropolitan Gregory consecrated the newly built cathedral in honor of St. Isaac of Dalmatia, the patron saint of St. Petersburg. Most likely, this was a coincidence, but a month after the completion of the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral, Auguste Montferrand died.
The reason for the sharp deterioration in health was allegedly a disdainful attitude on the part of the new sovereign, Alexander II. Either he reprimanded Montferrand for wearing a “military” mustache, or the autocrat did not like the architect’s peculiar autograph: in the design of the cathedral there is a group of saints, humbly bowing their heads to greet Isaac of Dalmatia, among them Montferrand himself. The creator, who had been expecting well-deserved praise and had devoted almost his entire life to the cathedral, fell into despondency, amazed similar attitude emperor, and died 27 days later. According to legend, when the time approaches midnight, the ghost of Montferrand appears on the observation deck and walks around his domain. His ghost is not evil; he treats visitors who linger on the site condescendingly.
Technological innovation and alien intervention
Granite monoliths for columns weighing from 64 to 114 tons were cut down at the quarries on the island of Puterlaks near Vyborg; marble for cladding the interior and facades of the cathedral was mined at the Ruskolsky and Tivdiysky marble quarries.
Delivery of huge blocks to the construction site, installation of 112 monolithic columns and construction of the dome required many technical innovations from the builders. One of the engineers who built St. Isaac's Cathedral invented a useful rail mechanism that made the work of builders easier. To create statues and bas-reliefs they used the latest technology electroplating, which made it possible for the first time in the world to place multi-meter copper statues at a height.
But some argue that even hundreds of people could not build such a cathedral, and therefore it could not have happened without the intervention of aliens, as with the construction of the pyramids in Egypt.
Isaac is a treasure trove of colored stones. Badakhshan lapis lazuli, Shoksha porphyry, black slate, multi-colored marbles: pink Tivdian, yellow Siena, red French, as well as 16 tons of malachite were used here. The barely perceptible smell of incense, which can be detected in the cathedral, is emitted by the malachite plates decorating the columns at the main altar. The craftsmen sealed them with a special composition made from myrrh (a special fragrant oil).
It is believed that Demidov spent all his reserves of malachite on the columns of St. Isaac's Cathedral and this caused the market to collapse, the value of the stone and its prestige fell. Malachite mining became economically unprofitable and almost ceased.
The construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral was completed in 1858, but the monumental structure, even after the official opening, was constantly in need of repairs, additions, and the close attention of the craftsmen, which is why the scaffolding stood undisassembled. For 50 years, St. Petersburg residents became so accustomed to them that a legend was born about their connection with the royal family: it was believed that as long as the forests stood, the Romanov dynasty ruled.
The legend, it must be said, is not unfounded: constant repairs required enormous expenses (the cathedral was a real work of art, and no matter what materials were suitable for its restoration), and the royal treasury allocated funds. In fact, the scaffolding was first removed from St. Isaac's Cathedral in 1916, shortly before Emperor Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne in March 1917.
After the revolution, the temple was destroyed. In May 1922, 48 kilograms of gold and more than two tons of silver were confiscated from it for the needs of the starving Volga region.
In connection with state policy, on April 12, 1931, one of the first anti-religious museums in Russia was opened in the temple. This saved the temple from destruction: excursions began to be held here, during which visitors were told about the suffering of the serf builders of the building and about the harm of religion.
In the same year, a giant Foucault pendulum was installed in St. Isaac's Cathedral: thanks to its length, it clearly demonstrated the rotation of the Earth. Back then it was called the triumph of science over religion. On Easter night 1931, seven thousand Leningraders crowded into St. Isaac's Cathedral, where they listened to a lecture by Professor Kamenshchikov on Foucault's experience. Now the pendulum has been dismantled, in the place where it was attached there is a figurine of a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit.
In the 1930s, there was a rumor that the Americans, admiring the beauty of St. Isaac's Cathedral, which somehow reminded them of the Capitol, offered the Soviet government to buy it. According to legend, the temple was to be dismantled and transported in parts on ships to the USA, where it was reassembled. As payment for the priceless architectural object, the Americans allegedly offered to asphalt all the cobblestone streets of Leningrad, of which there were many at that time. Judging by the fact that St. Isaac's Cathedral still stands in its place, the deal fell through.
During the Great Patriotic War, the cathedral suffered from bombing and artillery shelling; in some places there are shell marks on the walls and columns. During the siege, the cathedral housed exhibits from museums from the suburbs of Leningrad, as well as the City History Museum and the Summer Palace of Peter I. The cathedral was a prominent target for German pilots during the Great Patriotic War due to its huge golden dome. Residents, at their own risk, covered it with liters of green paint to make it less noticeable, which allowed them to save many works of art on the eve of the advance of the fascist army.
Isaac - a museum or a temple?
Since 1948, it has functioned as the St. Isaac's Cathedral Museum. In 1963, the post-war restoration of the cathedral was completed. The Museum of Atheism was moved to the Kazan Cathedral, and Foucault’s pendulum was removed, so that since then St. Isaac’s works exclusively as a museum.
Built on the dome Observation deck, from where a magnificent panorama of the central part of the city opens. Here today you can see a bust of Auguste Montferrand, made of 43 types of minerals and stones - all that were used in the construction of the temple.
In 1990, for the first time since 1922, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church. In 2005, an “Agreement between the State Museum-Monument “St. Isaac’s Cathedral” and the St. Petersburg Diocese on joint activities on the territory of the museum complex was signed,” and today services are held regularly on holidays and Sundays.
Now the issue of transferring St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church and eviction of the museum is considered resolved. The church has repeatedly expressed its claims to own the cathedral, but has always been refused due to the inexpediency of such a decision, since the museum brings income to the city treasury - 700-800 million rubles annually.
What has changed now, who will be the owner of the temple and pay for the restoration and maintenance of the object? St. Petersburg will remain the formal owner of St. Isaac's Cathedral, since the UNESCO site must by law be owned by the state. The Russian Orthodox Church will use the temple free of charge: St. Isaac's is not being transferred for eternal use, but on lease for 49 years.
The metropolis will pay for the maintenance and needs of the cathedral. How much money this will require is also not yet clear. Previously, the figure of 200 million rubles was announced: this is how much the museum spent annually on both maintenance and restoration.
In addition, an agreement will be concluded between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ministry of Culture on the safety of museum valuables that will remain in the cathedral. Representatives of the Patriarchate assure that everyone can visit the cathedral, as before, and what’s more, they promise to make admission free compared to the current 200 rubles; climbing to the colonnade and excursions will remain paid. The Russian Orthodox Church will spend these funds on the maintenance of the cathedral; the St. Petersburg treasury will pay for the reconstruction.
According to the Russian Orthodox Church, a special church agency will be created to conduct excursions, its work will be paid for through tax-free donations. The Museum of St. Isaac's Cathedral will move to Bolshaya Morskaya and Dumskaya streets. But until the transfer takes place, the museum will manage the activities of the cathedral. Currently, 400 people work at St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood; some employees may be laid off. Museum director Nikolai Burov may also leave his post.
Photo: Visit Petersburg, pravme.ru, panevin.ru
And the Sahaki Cathedral took 40 years to build, and when the scaffolding was finally removed from it, the need for a structure like a temple disappeared almost immediately. About who built famous temple how many reconstructions it has gone through and what legends surround it - in the material of the portal "Culture.RF".
Three predecessors of St. Isaac's Cathedral
Saint Isaac's Cathedral. Photo: rossija.info
Saint Isaac's Cathedral by Auguste Montferrand became the fourth cathedral built on this square. The first church in honor of St. Isaac of Dalmatia was erected for workers of the Admiralty shipyards almost immediately after the founding of St. Petersburg. Or rather, it was rebuilt from a drafting barn under the leadership of Harman van Boles. Peter I, born on the feast day of St. Isaac, married Catherine I here in 1712. Already in 1717, when the old church began to deteriorate, a new stone building was laid. Construction proceeded under the leadership of Georg Mattarnovi and Nikolai Gerbel. Half a century later, when the second Peter the Great Church fell into disrepair, a third building was founded - in a different place, a little further from the bank of the Neva. Its architect was Antonio Rinaldi.
Victory of the draftsman over the architects
Semyon Shchukin. Portrait of Alexander I. 1800s. State Russian Museum
Evgeny Plyushar. Portrait of Auguste Montferrand. 1834. State Russian Museum
The competition for the construction of the current St. Isaac's Cathedral was announced in 1809 by Alexander I. Among its participants were the best architects of their time - Andrian Zakharov, Andrei Voronikhin, Vasily Stasov, Giacomo Quarenghi, Charles Cameron. However, none of their projects satisfied the emperor. In 1816, on the advice of the head of the Committee for Buildings and Hydraulic Works, Augustine Betancourt, work on the cathedral was entrusted to the young architect Auguste Montferrand. This decision was surprising: Montferrand did not have much experience in construction - he established himself not with buildings, but with drawings.
Unsuccessful start of construction
The architect's inexperience played a role. In 1819, construction of the cathedral began according to Montferrand's design, but just a year later his project was thoroughly criticized by Anton Mauduit, a member of the Committee for Buildings and Hydraulic Works. He believed that Montferrand made grave mistakes when planning the foundations and pylons (support pillars). This was due to the fact that the architect wanted to make the most of the fragments that remained from the Rinaldi Cathedral. Although at first Montferrand fought off Mauduit's criticism with all his might, later he nevertheless agreed with the criticism - and construction was suspended.
Architectural and engineering achievements
Issakievsky Cathedral. Photo: fedpress.ru
Issakievsky Cathedral. Photo: boomsbeat.com
In 1825, Montferrand designed a new grandiose building in the classicist style. Its height was 101.5 meters, and the diameter of the dome was almost 26 meters. Construction proceeded extremely slowly: it took 5 years to create the foundation alone. For the foundation, it was necessary to dig deep trenches into which tarred piles were driven - more than 12 thousand pieces. After this, all the trenches were connected to each other and filled with water. With the onset of cold weather, the water froze, and the piles were cut down to the level of the ice. It took another two years to install the columns of four covered galleries - porticoes, granite monoliths for which were supplied from Vyborg quarries.
Over the next six years, walls and dome pillars were erected, and another four years - vaults, domes and bell towers. The main dome was made not of stone, as was traditionally done, but of metal, which significantly lightened its weight. When designing this structure, Montferrand was guided by the dome of London's St. Paul's Cathedral by Christopher Wren. More than 100 kilograms of gold were used to gild the dome.
Contribution of sculptors to the design of the cathedral
The sculptural decoration of the cathedral was created under the direction of Ivan Vitali. By analogy with the Golden Gate of the Florentine Baptistery, he made impressive bronze doors with images of saints. Vitali also created the statues of the 12 apostles and angels on the corners of the building and above the pilasters (flat columns). Bronze reliefs depicting biblical scenes performed by Vitali himself and Philippe Honoré Lemaire were placed above the pediments. Pyotr Klodt and Alexander Loganovsky also participated in the sculptural design of the temple.
Stained glass, stone trim and other interior details
Issakievsky Cathedral. Photo: gopiter.ru
Issakievsky Cathedral. Photo: ok-inform.ru
Work on the interiors of the cathedral took 17 years and ended only in 1858. The inside of the temple was decorated valuable species stones - lapis lazuli, malachite, porphyry, different types marble. The main artists of their time worked on the painting of the cathedral: Fyodor Bruni wrote “ Last Judgment", Karl Bryullov - “The Virgin Mary in Glory” in the ceiling, the area of this painting is more than 800 square meters.
The iconostasis of the cathedral was built in the form triumphal arch and decorated with monolithic malachite columns. The icons, made using the mosaic technique, were created based on the original paintings of Timofey Neff. Not only the iconostasis, but also a significant part of the temple walls were decorated with mosaics. In the window of the main altar there was a stained glass window depicting the “Resurrection of Christ” by Heinrich Maria von Hess.
Expensive pleasure
Issakievsky Cathedral. Photo: rpconline.ru
Issakievsky Cathedral. Photo: orangesmile.com
At the time of construction, St. Isaac's Cathedral became the most dear temple in Europe. Just laying the foundation took 2.5 million rubles. In total, Isaac cost the treasury 23 million rubles. For comparison: the entire construction of the Trinity Cathedral, commensurate with St. Isaac's, cost two million. This was due both to its grandiose size (the 102-meter high temple still remains one of the largest cathedrals in the world) and to the luxurious interior and exterior decoration of the building. Nicholas I, taken aback by such expenses, ordered savings at least on utensils.
Consecration of the temple
The consecration of the cathedral took place as Public Holiday: Alexander II was present, and the event lasted about seven hours. There were spectator seats around the cathedral, tickets for which cost a lot of money: from 25 to 100 rubles. Enterprising townspeople even rented apartments with a view of St. Isaac's Cathedral, from where they could watch the ceremony. Despite the fact that there were many who wanted to attend the event, many of them did not appreciate St. Isaac’s Cathedral, and at first, because of its proportions, the temple bore the nickname “Inkwell.”
Myths and legends
Issakievsky Cathedral. Photo: rosfoto.ru
It was rumored that such a long construction of the cathedral was not caused by the complexity of the work, but by the fact that a clairvoyant predicted Montferrand's death immediately after the completion of the temple. And indeed, the architect died a month after the consecration of Isaac. The architect's will - to bury him in the temple - was never fulfilled. The coffin with the architect's body was carried around the temple, and then handed over to the widow, who took the remains of her husband to Paris. After Montferrand's death, passers-by allegedly saw his ghost wandering along the steps of the cathedral - he did not dare to enter the temple. According to another legend, the house of the Romanovs was supposed to fall after the removal of the scaffolding that surrounded the cathedral for a long time after consecration. Coincidence or not, the forests were finally removed in 1916, and in March 1917, Nicholas II was evacuated. Since the German pilots used the dome of the cathedral as a landmark, they did not shoot directly at the cathedral - and the vault remained undamaged. However, the cathedral did suffer during the war: fragments that exploded near the temple damaged the columns, and the cold (during the years of the siege of St. Isaac's was not heated) damaged the wall paintings.
The history of the construction of the symbol of St. Petersburg - St. Isaac's Cathedral - was long and painful. It was described in detail by researcher Nikolai Nikitin, who analyzed many documents testifying to the process of design and construction of Isaac.
Burnt church
For the first time, a temple appeared on a site located not far from the current St. Isaac's Cathedral in 1707. As the authors of the book "Auguste Montferrand" Olga Chekanova and Alexander Rotach point out, the cathedral was built by decree of Peter I in the name of heavenly patron king - St. Isaac of Dalmatia. But they did not erect a new building for the church - they simply converted a wooden barn into a church. Nevertheless, the church played a special role in the life of St. Petersburg. For example, in It hosted the wedding of Emperor Peter I and Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna in 1712.
Later it was decided to build a stone church in place of the wooden one. The project was made by a well-known German architect in St. Petersburg Georg Mattarnovi, who also took part in the construction of the grotto in Summer Garden and the Winter Palace. In 1717, the foundation stone for the future church was personally laid by Peter I. But the construction was not easy: in 1719 Mattarnovi died, and the leading architect of St. Petersburg, Nikolai Gerbel, was entrusted with finishing the building. The eminent master did not fully cope with the task - the vault structures he designed turned out to be unsuccessful and cracked. In 1724, Gerbel died, the construction of the church was completed by two equally famous architects: Gaetano Chiaveri and Mikhail Zemtsov.
Such a complex architectural creation suffered a sad fate. In 1735, after being struck by lightning, the building caught fire and the fire significantly damaged it. For several decades, the burned church stood abandoned. In 1760, the building was thoroughly examined by the architect Savva Chevakinsky. He stated that the foundations were located too close to the Neva - the temple stood where the monument is located today to the bronze horseman, - because of which they are washed away by water. Chevakinsky proposed moving the temple to a new location - further from the water. A year later he was commissioned to create a design for a new building.
The architect decided to preserve as much as possible the appearance of the temple built under Peter I. The church, which had the shape of a Latin cross in plan, was supposed to be built with one dome. Nearby there should have been a bell tower consisting of several tiers. The most important thing is that Chevakinsky outlined the exact site for the construction of the temple - for the first time he indicated exactly the place where St. Isaac's Cathedral now stands.
Chevakinsky played a large role in the formation of ideas for designing the central squares of the city. The relocation of the cathedral from the Neva embankment determined the configuration of St. Isaac's and Senate squares, their connection with Palace Square, and the idea of creating a high-rise bell tower turned out to be fruitful. In the left bank part of the city, a high-rise element was needed that would enter into a certain spatial connection with the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral on the right bank of the Neva. It later became St. Isaac's Cathedral, built by Montferrand
Who cares
The laying of the foundation stone for the new cathedral took place only in 1768. By that time, Chevakinsky had already left the project, and the architect Antonio Rinaldi was responsible for the construction. He created new sketches of the cathedral at the site indicated by Chevakinsky. Unlike its predecessor, Rinaldi decided to change the appearance of the original temple from Peter's time and create a five-domed temple with a bell tower.
The beautiful project was not destined to be realized. Rinaldi began work, but after the death of Catherine II in 1796, he decided to return to Italy. By that time, the cathedral, in accordance with Rinaldi's design, had been erected almost to the level of the base of the dome drums. The construction of the five-domed composition was entrusted to the architect Vincenzo Brenn, who began work on April 1, 1798.
At first, Brenna honestly wanted to bring to fruition the idea of his predecessor, but, as stated in the book "Auguste Montferrand" There was not enough money for construction, so the architect decided to make changes to Rinaldi’s design and make the cathedral single-domed, and reduce the bell tower by one tier. Construction was completed by May 30, 1802.
The completed cathedral made a strange impression, surprising contemporaries with its distorted proportions and the discrepancy between the marble decoration of the main part of the building and the brick top. Rinaldi’s plan appeared in such a distorted form. It is no coincidence that an epigram was distributed in St. Petersburg characterizing this building and at the same time the historical period of the interregnum associated with the death of Paul I and the accession of Alexander I: “The bottom is marble, and the top is brick
Olga Chekanova and Alexander Rotach, "Auguste Montferrand"
But it soon became obvious that it was impossible to leave the temple in this form. The architects were invited to take part in the competition and figure out how to improve the existing building. In 1809, many prominent masters received the corresponding invitation, including Andrei Voronikhin, who completed the construction of the Kazan Cathedral, Giacomo Quarneghi, who had just completed the construction of the Smolny Institute, and others.
Almost all architects ignored the task of preserving the building parameters set by Alexander I and began to propose new projects. The competition remained without a winner. But later fate brought the emperor together with Auguste Montferrand.
Lucky Offering
The Frenchman Montferrand, who received an excellent education in Paris, himself made efforts to ensure that Alexander I noticed him. In 1814, the emperor came to Paris, where the architect I brought him a folder of my projects. Alexander I was impressed by Montferrand's work, and in 1816 the architect moved to Russia.
In 1818 Montferrand created a project for the improvement of St. Isaac's Cathedral. The architect cheated: not all of his solutions, which looked great on paper, could be easily brought to life. But Alexander I trusted the architect and signed the project on February 20, 1818, approving an estimate of 506,300 rubles for the first year of work.
Perestroika was to be controlled by a special commission that brought together specialists and major statesmen led by member State Council Count Nikolai Golovin. On March 4, 1818, the first meeting of the commission took place, and on July 26, 1819, the ceremonial foundation stone of the cathedral took place.
In the western part, a bronze gilded plaque with the inscription was lowered into the foundation under the entrance: “This first stone of renovation was laid in the year of Christ 1819 on the 26th day of July of the reign of Emperor Alexander the First in the 19th year, during the renovation of the temple, begun by its great ancestor Catherine the Second in the name of St. Isaac of Dalmatia in 1768. During this reconstruction of St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Highest Established Commission was chaired by Count Golovin; the actual Privy Councilor Kozadavlev, Lieutenant General Betancourt and the Privy Councilor Prince Golitsyn sat; the architect Montferrand rebuilt."
The French architect sought maximum independence during construction. From the very beginning, he demanded from the commission two assistants, four foremen, a secretary, two masons, twenty-five soldiers and a special person to accept materials received for construction at the request of the architect, and the receiver had to report directly to Montferrand. The commission did not like this independence.
In November 1820, the commission sent a person to the construction site to monitor the expenditure of materials and money. The inspector stated in his reports about bribery and theft.
He blamed Montferrand for everything, although many of the abuses related to the activities of the commission, which turned a blind eye, in particular, to the lawless actions of the titular adviser Orlov, who, using Golovin’s trust, deceived him. Later, the basis for the accusations was Montferrand’s broad lifestyle: the purchase of his own house, expensive antique collections, although a good half of the St. Petersburg architects of that time had their own houses, and they did not have to receive such money as the 100 thousand rubles donated by Nicholas I to Montferrand after the opening of the Alexander Column . The house on the Moika was undoubtedly purchased with these funds. There is no known evidence of Montferrand's involvement in abuse. On the contrary, many documents indicate, albeit indirectly, the financial difficulties of the architect during the inspection period
Olga Chekanova and Alexander Rotach, "Auguste Montferrand"
After an inspection, Montferrand was removed from all business affairs. At the end of January 1822, the committee informed Alexander I that the reconstruction of St. Isaac's Cathedral according to Montferrand's drawings was technically impossible, and a reworking of the project was necessary. At that time, about 5 million rubles had already been invested in the reconstruction of the cathedral. These funds went to dismantling the old building and laying new foundations.
Alexander I proposed not to abandon the Montferrand project, but to modify it.
The project of the architect Montferrand should only be corrected, and not completely changed, then the exterior of the church should be left as close as possible to general appearance, which it has in the mentioned project, therefore, it is necessary to preserve the supposed five domes of this temple and use granite columns prepared for two porticoes, trying, however, to find the best shapes and placement for the same domes or domes, and for the porticoes a decent and reliable structure . The location of the interior of the building both for the reliability of the middle dome and especially in relation to better view and coverage is at the discretion of the Committee
proposal from the President of the Academy of Arts Olenin to the committee
At the same time, the emperor demanded that construction be stopped until the revised project was ready and approved.
Attempt number two
Created since 1822 new project St. Isaac's Cathedral. Members of the committee for the reconstruction of the temple took part in the work, who worked on their proposals in sketches for three months and presented them at a special meeting on April 25. Montferrand also participated in the design. The external appearance of the cathedral acquired the appearance to which we are accustomed: a large dome appeared in the center of the composition, and two eight-column porticoes were also added on the western and eastern sides to the previously provided two sixteen-column porticoes on the southern and northern sides.
The project was presented to Alexander I for consideration on March 9, 1825 and approved almost a month later. On all drawings Montferrand was named as the chief architect and put his personal seal next to his signature.
In 1826, construction work resumed. 48 columns were installed over two years: from March 20, 1828 to August 11, 1830. Moreover, most of the time was spent preparing the fastenings, and the installation of the columns themselves did not exceed 40–45 minutes.
The installation of 24 monolithic granite columns along the perimeter of the dome drum turned out to be even more difficult. The mass of each column is 64 tons. It took about two hours to install one. The first column took its place on November 5, 1837, and within two months the remaining 23 were raised.
By 1841, all civil works in St. Isaac's Cathedral were completed. Until 1858, interiors were designed and created. The solemn consecration of the cathedral took place in 1858 on May 30 - the day of memory of St. Isaac of Dalmatia and the birthday of Peter I, who once stood at the origins of the very first building of the temple of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
Storydelivery of columns of St. Isaac's Cathedral
By his appearance Saint Isaac's Cathedral obliged to Peter I. Peter was born on May 30, the day of Isaac of Dalmatia, a Byzantine monk who was once canonized. On May 30, 1710, the sovereign ordered the construction of a wooden St. Isaac's Church near the Admiralty. The order was carried out. The church was built on the banks of the Neva, on the western side of the Admiralty. It was here that on February 19, 1712, Peter I married his wife Catherine.
In 1717, construction of a new stone St. Isaac's Church began there, according to the design of G.I. Mattarnovi. In 1723, Peter I signed a decree that sailors of the Baltic Fleet should take the oath only in this temple. St. Isaac's Church was built until the 1750s. Under the weight of the building, the soil began to settle, which is why the temple had to be dismantled.
installation of columns of the main dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral
In 1768, Catherine II ordered the construction of another St. Isaac's Cathedral to begin, now according to the design of Antonio Rinaldi. They began to build the cathedral in a new place, further from the coast, where the modern building is located. Since then, it separates St. Isaac's and Senate Squares.
The new building of St. Isaac's Cathedral was designed to be quite bright and was faced with Olonets marble. However, by 1796, by the death of Catherine II, it was only half built. Paul I, immediately after ascending the throne, ordered that all the marble be transferred to the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle, and St. Isaac's Cathedral be completed in brick. In addition, it was necessary to reduce the height of the bell tower, lower the main dome, and abandon the construction of side domes.
The completion of the third building of St. Isaac's Cathedral was delayed. Antonio Rinaldi left Russia and Vincenzo Brenna completed the work. The new St. Isaac's Cathedral was completed only in 1800.
The following epigram was born among the people about this building:
"Behold the monument of two kingdoms,
Decent for both of them,
On the marble bottom
A brick top has been erected."
The quality of construction left much to be desired. During one of the services, damp plaster fell from the ceiling. When they began to understand the reasons for this, they realized that the building was subject to serious alteration.
St. Isaac's Cathedral, 1844
In 1809, Alexander I announced a competition for the construction of a new St. Isaac's Cathedral. The competition was attended by A. N. Voronikhin, A. D. Zakharov, C. Cameron, D. Quarenghi, L. Ruska, V. P. Stasov, J. Thomas de Thomon. Their projects were not accepted by the emperor, since they all proposed to build new cathedral again, without using an already built structure.
The creation of the fourth building of St. Isaac's Cathedral was delayed Patriotic War 1812. In 1816, Alexander I again ordered to begin designing the temple.
The design of the French architect Auguste Montferrand was chosen as the final one. This decision surprised many, since Montferrand was not well known at that time. The architect presented the emperor with twenty-four cathedral designs in different styles. The emperor chose a five-domed temple in the classical style. In addition, the emperor’s decision was influenced by the fact that Montferrand proposed using part of the structures of Rinaldi’s cathedral.
Saint Isaac's Cathedral
Taking into account local soil characteristics, 10,762 piles were driven into the base of the foundation. Now this method of soil compaction is quite common, but at that time it made a huge impression on the city residents. Then the following joke went around the city. As if when they drove another pile into the ground, it went underground without a trace. After the first, they began to drive in another, but that one also disappeared into the swampy soil. They installed a third, a fourth... Until a letter from New York arrived to the builders in St. Petersburg: “You have ruined our pavement.” - “What do we have to do with this?” - answered from St. Petersburg. - “But on the end of a log sticking out of the ground, there is a mark of the St. Petersburg timber exchange “Gromov and Co.” An answer came from America.
Granite for the columns of St. Isaac's Cathedral was mined in quarries on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, near Vyborg. These works were supervised by stonemason Samson Sukhanov and Arkhip Shikhin. was invented by Sukhanov original way mining huge solid pieces of stone. Workers drilled holes in the granite, inserted wedges into them and hit them until a crack appeared in the stone. Iron levers with rings were placed in the crack, and ropes were threaded through the rings. Forty people pulled the ropes and gradually broke out the granite blocks.
Nikolai Bestuzhev wrote about the transportation of these granite monoliths:
“They got down to business with their usual mechanics: they tied the ship more firmly to the shore - they placed ropes, logs, boards, wrapped the ropes, crossed themselves - they shouted loud hurray! - and the proud colossi obediently rolled from the ship to the shore, and rolling past Peter, who, It seemed as if he was blessing his sons with his hand; they lay down humbly at the foot of St. Isaac’s Church.”
model of St. Isaac's Cathedral A. Rinaldi
The installation of the columns was carried out before the construction of the walls of St. Isaac's Cathedral. The first column (north portico) was installed in March 1828, and the last in August 1830.
More than 100 kilograms of red gold were spent gilding the dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
St. Isaac's Cathedral took an unusually long time to build. In this regard, there were rumors in St. Petersburg about a deliberate delay in construction. “They say that a visiting clairvoyant predicted Montferrand’s death immediately after construction was completed.” - “That’s why he’s been building for so long.”
These rumors unexpectedly continued in real life. The architect actually dies shortly after the completion of the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral. In this regard, various versions of what happened appeared in St. Petersburg folklore. Many of them refer to the hostile attitude of Emperor Alexander II towards the architect. Allegedly, during the consecration of St. Isaac's Cathedral, someone drew the attention of Alexander II to one of the sculptural decorations of the building. Montferrand left a unique portrait. In the sculptural decor of the western pediment there is a group of saints bowing their heads to greet the appearance of Isaac of Dalmatia. Among them, the sculptor placed the figure of Montferrand with a model of the cathedral in his hands, who, unlike the others, holds his head straight. Having drawn attention to this fact, the emperor did not shake hands with the architect as he passed by, nor did he say a word of gratitude for the work. Montferrand was seriously upset, went home before the end of the consecration ceremony, fell ill and died a month later.
Saint Isaac's Cathedral
In addition to the figure of the architect, the bas-relief of the western pediment also contains figures of two nobles, whose faces are given the facial features of the President of the Academy of Arts A. N. Olenin and Prince P. V. Volkonsky.
Rumors aside, the delay in construction can be explained by design errors made by Montferrand. They were discovered already during construction, and it took time to eliminate them.
Construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral was completed in 1858. On May 30 of this year the consecration of the temple took place.
Auguste Montferrand bequeathed to bury him in his main brainchild - St. Isaac's Cathedral. But Alexander II did not fulfill this desire. The coffin with the architect's body was only carried around the temple, after which the widow took it to Paris.
Members of the royal family were baptized in St. Isaac's Cathedral, and it became the center of citywide holidays. However, the scaffolding was not removed from it for a long time. They said that the building was built in bad faith and required constant repairs. No expense was spared on the cathedral, and a legend was born that the House of the Romanovs would fall as soon as the scaffolding was removed from Isaac. They were finally removed only in 1916. Just shortly before Nicholas II abdicated the throne.
The height of St. Isaac's Cathedral is 101.5 meters. On the porticoes around the dome drum there are 72 columns made of granite monoliths weighing from 64 to 114 tons. For the first time in construction practice, columns of this size rose to a height of more than 40 meters. The cathedral is the fourth largest in the world in size. It is second only to St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, St. Paul's Cathedral in London and St. Mary's Cathedral in Florence. With an area of 4000 square meters it can accommodate up to 12,000 people.
St. Isaac's Cathedral is undoubtedly one of the symbols of St. Petersburg. Its tall drum with a dome has been visible since the Gulf of Finland; it has become a noticeable part of the city’s portrait. However, due to the disproportion of the drum and the bells placed next to it, unofficial names arose. One of them is "Inkwell".
IN Soviet time St. Isaac's Cathedral continued to be the object of myth-making. One of the pre-war legends says that America was ready to buy the temple. It was supposed to be transported to the USA in parts on ships and reassembled there. For this, the Americans allegedly offered to asphalt all the streets of Leningrad, which at that time were covered with cobblestones.
The second legend tells how during the siege St. Isaac's Cathedral turned out to be unharmed and was not damaged by bombing. When the threat of occupation of Leningrad by the Nazis turned out to be real, the problem of evacuating valuables from the city arose. They didn’t have time to take everything out, so they began to look for a place for a reliable storage of sculpture, furniture, books, porcelain... One elderly officer suggested setting up a storage facility in the basements of St. Isaac’s Cathedral. When shelling the city, the Germans were supposed to use the cathedral dome as a landmark and not shoot at it. And so it happened. During the entire 900 days of the blockade, the museum treasures lay in this storage facility and were never subjected to direct shelling.