Cathedrals and Temples
While many cathedrals and buildings formerly owned by churches and monasteries still belong to the Russian government, since their seizure in 1917, some were eventually returned to congregations. The largest cathedral in the city is St Isaac's Cathedral, said to have the largest gold-plated dome in the world. It was constructed 1818–1858 under the supervision of architects Auguste de Montferrand and Vasily Stasov.
The Kazan Cathedral on the Nevsky Prospekt was modeled after St Peter's, Vatican in the Empire style.
The Church of the Savior on Blood (1883–1907), is a monument in the old Russian style which marks the spot of Alexander II's assassination.
The Peter and Paul Cathedral (1712–1732), a long-time symbol of the city, contains the sepulchers of Peter the Great and other Russian emperors. The St. Nicholas Cathedral and the Great Choral Synagogue are near the Mariinsky Opera Theatre. Most cathedrals and temples operate today as places of worship as well as museums, and there are numerous other places of worship in all major religions.
Of baroque structures, the grandest is the white-and-blue Smolny Convent (1748–1764), later the Smolny Institute, designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, but never completed. It is followed by the Naval Cathedral of St Nicholas (1753–1762), a lofty structure dedicated to the Russian Navy, the outside being covered with plaques to sailors lost at sea. The church of Sts. Simeon and Anna (1731–1734), St. Sampson Cathedral (1728–1740), St. Pantaleon Church (1735–1739), and St. Andrew's Cathedral (1764–1780) are also notable.
The Neoclassical churches are numerous. Many of them are intended to dominate squares, like St. Vladimir's Cathedral (1769–1789), not to be confused with the church of Our Lady of Vladimir (1761–1783). The Transfiguration Cathedral (1827–29) and the Trinity Cathedral (1828–1835, fire-damaged) were both designed by Vasily Stasov. Smaller churches include the Konyushennaya (1816–1823), also by Stasov, the "Easter Cake" church (1785–1787), noted for its droll appearance, St Catherine church on the Vasilievsky Island (1768–1771), and numerous non-Orthodox churches on the Nevsky Prospekt.
The Alexander Nevsky Monastery, intended to house the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky, is graced by two cathedrals and five smaller churches in various styles. The monastery is also one of three main centers of Christian education in Russia, having the Russian Orthodox Academy and Seminary and the residence of the St. Petersburg Patriarch. It is also remarkable for the Tikhvin Cemetery, with graves of such dignitaries as writers Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Ivan Krylov, composers Pyotr Ilyich Tchaykovsky and Modest Mussorgsky, pianist Anton Rubinstein, director Georgy Tovstonogov, actors Fyodor Stravinsky, Vera Komissarzhevskaya, Nikolay Simonov, mayor Anatoly Sobchak and many other notable Russians.
The Grand Choral Synagogue of St. Petersburg is the second largest in Europe. It was opened in 1893, with the building permit obtained in 1869 from the Tsar Alexander II. The Small Synagogue was opened in 1886. On 5 Tamuz 5761 (June 26, 2001), the greater hall ("Bolshoi Zal" in Russian) was reopened after reconstruction.
Two small churches in the early Gothic Revival style, both designed by Yuri Felten, are the St John the Baptist (1776–1781) and the Chesmenskaya (1777–1780). The late 19th century and early 20th century temples are designed in the Russian Revival or Byzantine Revival styles. Saint Petersburg Mosque (1909–1920), once the largest in Europe, is modeled after the Gur-e Amir Mosque in Samarkand.
St Petersburg Buddhist temple was the first in Europe. Construction was funded by subscriptions of the Dalai Lama and Russian and Mongolian Buddhists; the structure was inaugurated in the presence of Itigilov in 1914 and served as a valuable resource to transient Buryats, Kalmyks and other Buddhists during World War I. It did not function from 1935 to 1991, when the lamas were exiled to gulags, and the temple and its grounds were used for secular purposes. In 1991 the St. Petersburg datsan was reopened for worship.
Read more about this topic: Landmarks Of Saint Petersburg
Famous quotes containing the word temples:
“Goddesses never die. They slip in and out of the world’s cities, in and out of our dreams, century after century, answering to different names, dressed differently, perhaps even disguised, perhaps idle and unemployed, their official altars abandoned, their temples feared or simply forgotten.”
—Phyllis Chesler (b. 1941)