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Through the
doors is the colorful interior where the opulence and the sheer
vastness of it must stir the emotions of all who enter. Nobody sits
inside an Orthodox church, so there is standing room for over 14,000
worshippers on the 4,000 Sq. m of floorspace. Those who have attended
functions here will be able to attest to the excellent acoustic
qualities of the interior and the author of this page was noticeably
moved to hear the near perfect tones of 'followers' singing sacred
songs at Christmas in 2000.
 The
floor, walls, arches and huge pillars of the interior are skillfully
decorated with fourteen kinds of marble, as well as jasper, malachite,
lazurite, porphyry, gilded stucco, frescoes and 600 sq. metres of
mosaics. More than 400 kg of gold, 1000 tons of bronze and 16 tons
of malachite went into the interior.
An indelible
impression is made on those who have been fortunate to see the huge
painting by Karl Briullov inside the cupola; it covers almost 800
sq. m and depicts the Virgin Mary surrounded by saints and angels.
In 1931 the Soviets (who ransacked and closed the Cathedral prior
to opening it as an Anti-Religious Museum), hung a 93 metre long
Foucault pendulum from the underside of the dome center, supposedly
to demonstrate the earth's rotation. However, after perestroika
this was removed and hanging from the center of the dome now is
the restored silver bronze dove, as a symbol of the Holy Spirit
and peace. Lower down the walls are murals of the Apostles and evangelists
painted by Briullov and Piotr Basin. The walls themselves are faced
with marble in many different colors. The painted wall panels and
monumental murals around the pillars and arches were created by
many gifted artists such as Fedor Bruni, Vasily Shebuev, Timofei
Neff, Carlo Mussini, a guy called Zhivago and several others. In
total there is over 600 sq. m of wall space dedicated to mosaics
and paintings and more than 200 artists took part. The internal
gilded sculptures are mainly by Vitali, Piotr Klodt, Alexander Loganovsky
or Nikolai Pimenov. The sculptural decoration is the first instance
of the use of the galvanoplastic technique (also called electrotyping),
invented by the Prussian physicist and engineer Morititz Hermann
Jacobi, who changed his name to Boris Semenovich Jakobi shortly
after moving to Saint Petersburg in 1837, to work as a leading researcher
at the city's Academy of Sciences. Karl Briullov's lungs were damaged
from working in the confines of the damp cupola for many consecutive
years and he moved to the warmer climes of Italy as soon as his
major work was completed in 1852, but soon died from his ailment.
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This
was an interesting era architecturally and Montferrand drew
heavily upon Classicism, embraced historical Romanticism and
combined them together whilst also taking advantage of recent
archaeological discoveries and new technologies to create this
unique project. A perfect example of how different traditions
came together is in the nave area at the eastern end of the
Cathedral. Ten green malachite and two blue lazurite columns
decorate the three tiered Iconostasis which is set in
white marble. The two lower tiers are mosaics designed by Neff
and F. P. Briullov while the upper tier has paintings by S.
A. Zhivago. The gilded bronze Royal doors of the altar weigh
five tons and above the archway is a gilded sculpture by Klodt
entitled 'Christ in Majesty' (or Christ in Glory). This in turn
is surmounted by a mosaic icon entitled The Last Supper
which was probably influenced by the similarly named mural by
Leonardo da Vinci. Through the arch in the depth of the sanctuary
can be seen a stained-glass window that was made by M. E. Ainmiller
in Munich in 1843. What is unusual about this window, apart
from the rarity of seeing a stained-glass window in an Orthodox
church, is that Christ is seen dressed in the Catholic red as
opposed to the Orthodox blue. |
This is the
fourth tallest cathedral in the world after St. Peter's in Rome,
St. Paul's in London and the Santa Maria del Flore in Florence and
visit to St. Isaac's would not be complete without paying the extra
few Rubles and climbing the 262 steps of the spiral staircase to
the colonnade walkway. This public gallery is about 43 m above ground
and offers a magnificent panoramic view of central St. Petersburg.
The Cathedral
was consecrated on May 30th 1858 but Nicholas I who played a major
role in its construction did not live to see it, having died three
years earlier. Montferrand witnessed the consecration and was dead
within a month afterwards. His grieving widow tried to carry out
the master architect's will by requesting that he be buried in the
Cathedral's crypt but Tsar Alexander II refused to sully it with
the tomb of a none believer and stated that Montferrand was only
a minor employee of the State who did not deserve any honor. His
embalmed body was returned to Paris and he was buried in the Montmarte
cemetery.
What was the
cost of creating this imposing extravagant monster of a building?
It is recorded that the financial outlay was 23,256,000 roubles,
which was more than six times that of the Winter Palace. But what
value should be put on human lives that were painfully lost during
the forty years of construction. Hundreds of serfs lost their lives
in the quarrying and transportation of the marble. Untold numbers
of serfs and laborers who worked for 15 hours a day without holidays
were crushed or fell to their deaths from the scaffolding during
the main part of construction up to 1842. Then at least 60 and maybe
many more indirectly, died from inhaling mercury fumes during the
gilding processes that took place under the domes. These hundreds
of unnecessary deaths and what some perceived as the obscene gesture
of wealth in the Cathedral, must have added to the growing number
of calls for a revolution in the city of 500 fabled palaces.
Prior to the
Revolution in 1917 it was noted that inside the Cathedral there
were approximately 200 unsecured icons and paintings, plus hundreds
of other decorative objects and items of religious paraphernalia,
comprising several tons of silver or gold embellishment. This fantastic
wealth and splendor, enhanced by hundreds of burning candles, colorful
vestments of the resident clergy and their sounds of chanting provided
a free spectacle that no theater could match. This was open house
to all, as the Orthodox church was not discriminative. But the Soviets
emptied the building of all valuables and confiscated everything,
before opening the building again as a Museum of Atheism. Today
the Cathedral is still a museum, but since 1992 it has been holding
religious services on special occasions.
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