ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL
St. Isaac of Dalmatia was the patron saint of the Romanov family. The original St. Isaac's was a small wooden church where Peter I and Catherine I were married in 1712. The present version of St. Isaac's, the fourth, was constructed from 1818 to 1858 according to the design of the French architect Montferrand. Everything was done on a grand scale. The monolithic columns of the portico cut from red granite are seventeen meters high and weigh 114 tons each. The mosaic inside has twelve thousand shades and colors, the walls are five meters thick and the main cupola is coated with one hundred kilos of gold. It is the fourth highest cathedral in the world after the world-known St. Peter's in Rome, St. Paul's in London and Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence.
The inside of the cathedral is filled with hundreds of paintings, sculptures and mosaics by 19th century masters, including a huge fresco on the inside of the cupola by Bryullov and a bust of Montferrand made of different colored marbles. Also of note are the intricately sculptured bronze doors, the white marble central iconostasis with mosaic icons and columns of malachite and lapis lazuli.
Open 11:00 - 18:00, closed Wednesdays
