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Friday, 13.07.2007
Kazan Cathedral
The imposing Kazan Cathedral, with its mighty crescent-shaped colonnade of 96 Corinthian columns facing on to Nevsky Prospekt, is the architectural highlight of Petersburg’s central boulevard. Any old travel guide will have you searching for a certain ‘Museum of Atheism’ – in vain. The Cathedral is now once again fully at the service of the Russian Orthodox Church.
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This neo-classical masterpiece was built 1801-1811. Andrei Voronichin drew up the plans for what was intended to be Orthodoxy’s chief cathedral. Voronichin was in fact a former serf. It is incidentally no coincidence that Kazan Cathedral is so strongly reminiscent of St Peter’s in Rome: the reference was stipulated as part of Voronichin’s commission.
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Kasanskaya pl. 2
Nearest Metro: Gostinyj Dvor/Newsky Prospekt
Services: daily 10am and 6pm
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Soon after the end of the war against Napoleon, the newly-erected Kazan Cathedral took on an additional function: as home for the banners of armies defeated, and the keys of cities and fortresses captured, on the Russian Army’s march to Paris.
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In 1813, Field Marshal Kutusov, one of the most famous heroes of 1812, was buried in the cathedral. In 1837, monuments to Kutusov and Barclay-de-Tolly, another famous commander, were erected on the square in the front of the cathedral.
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The Soviet rulers also assigned a special role to Kazan Cathedral. Their bitter struggle against God and the Church caused them to vindictively transform the church into a Museum of Religion and Atheism, which existed here 1932-1992.
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Today, the Orthodox Church has regained ownership of the Cathedral, and in 2001, the Kazan icon of the Virgin Mary finally returned to its rightful home. (sb/rUFO)
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: Click here for our 360° panorama of Kazan Cathedral!
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