Smolny Cathedral (St. Petersburg)

The Smolny Cathedral (St. Petersburg) was erected at the direction of the great Empress Elizabeth. The daughter of Peter I was going to take tonsure and serve God exactly in the place where she grew up, where she spent her youth.

Designing engaged B. Rastrelli (one of the best architects of the time). The majestic building soared up to 94 meters and could accommodate 6,000 people. Nearby planned to attach the highest in Russia bell tower (140 meters, which exceeded the height of the spire of Peter and Paul Cathedral). But the plans were not meant to come true. Rastrelli died, and the architect's followers decided that the brevity of the city's landscape would be broken from such a high bell tower.

The monastic complex was built almost 90 years, finishing the last works only in 1835.

The first name of the monastery is Voskresensky Novodevichy (the consecration of the cathedral took place back in 1748). Later the monastery began to be called only as Smolny (for brevity). In 1765 the Smolny Cathedral received the first pupils of noble birth, after which Catherine decided to open another school for girls of the lower class (Alexandrovsky Institute). The building, designed by the architect Yu. Felten, carried in itself the features of early classicism.

The next part of the ensemble is the Smolny Institute. This solemn classical building was designed in 1864 by another architect - J. Kvarnega. It was here that the Petrograd Soviet was located in 1917.

Unfortunately, after the revolution the Smolny Cathedral was looted, and the premises began to serve as a warehouse. The iconostasis of the church was dismantled only in 1972, and the opening of the concert and exhibition complex, which is still here, was already at the end of the last century (1990).

Smolny Cathedral (St. Petersburg), which contains a combination of white stone sculpture and the celestial blue of the walls, is surrounded by four corner churches. Nearby - residential complexes, decorated with two-tier arcades. The house churches have only one helmet-shaped dome with a cross. They seem to be built into the wall.

According to the original design of Rastrelli Smolny Cathedral should have the appearance of a powerful single-domed church (in the manner of European temples), but the Empress Elizabeth rejected this proposal and wished to see its spectacle five-headed. In fact, the temple itself has only one dome (central), and the other four are nothing else than bell towers, having a concave shape and consisting of two tiers. The bulbous dome is mounted at the top, and the second tier is occupied by the belfry.

The openwork fences of the church, cast according to Stasov's drawings, still retain the status of the most highly artistic in St. Petersburg.

The management of the interior decoration works was entrusted to the architect V. Stasov. The interior turned out to be both simple and solemn. A huge church hall with three iconostases was marbled, before the altars a crystal balustrade was installed, and the pulpit was decorated with the finest carving. Of the many relics survived icons "The Virgin's Introduction" and "Resurrection Khrestovo" (A. Venetsianov).

Smolny Cathedral is one of the monuments of world significance. Today the complex has the status of a branch of the State Museum "St. Isaac's Cathedral". This is the place for concerts, exhibitions of paintings and graphics. It is open to tourists and true connoisseurs of culture.