Kazan Cathedral Saint Petersburg

Paul I wanted a cathedral on Nevsky modelled on St Peter's in Rome, and the problem was orientation: Orthodox churches face east, which would have put the building's side to the main street. Andrei Voronikhin solved it by throwing a curved colonnade of ninety-six Corinthian columns out from the northern flank to face Nevsky, so what looks like the front is architecturally the side. It was built between 1801 and 1811. Voronikhin himself had been born a serf of the Stroganov family and was freed in his twenties, which makes his authorship of one of the city's major buildings unusual for the period. The cathedral holds the tomb of Field Marshal Kutuzov and was used in the Soviet period as the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism; it was returned to the church in the 1990s and now functions as a working cathedral with free entry, which the ticketed ones nearby do not.

History

Building began in 1801 and went on for ten years under the supervision of Alexander Stroganov; when the cathedral was consecrated in 1811 it replaced the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos, which was taken down. Andrey Voronikhin modelled it on St Peter's in Rome, a choice the church disliked but several courtiers backed. After the war of 1812 it became above all a memorial to the victory over Napoleon: Field Marshal Kutuzov was buried here in 1813, keys of cities and fortresses brought back from Europe were placed in its sacristy in 1815, and Boris Orlovsky's bronze statues of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly went up in front of it in 1837. Closed in January 1932, it reopened that November as the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism; services resumed in 1992 and the cathedral was returned to the church four years later (Wikipedia, Kazan Cathedral, Saint Petersburg).

What to look for

• The colonnade - ninety-six Corinthian columns curving out from the building's side.
• The orientation trick - a side elevation made to serve as the front on Nevsky.
• Voronikhin - a former serf who designed one of the city's major buildings.
• The Soviet use - decades as the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism.

When to go

Year-round. One hour. It is a working cathedral, so services set the rhythm and access.

Before you go

An active cathedral with dress rules and no photography inside. Services restrict movement. The intended matching colonnade on the southern side was never built, which leaves the composition lopsided. Nevsky outside is crowded.

Nearby

The Church on Spilled Blood is a short walk; the Singer building faces the cathedral.

Key facts