Saint Andrew's Cathedral (Saint Petersburg)
59°56′23″N 30°17′00″E / 59.939818°N 30.283376°E
Saint Andrew's Cathedral (Russian: Андреевский собор) was the last Baroque cathedral built in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
The cathedral was conceived at the time of
By the time Tessin submitted his designs, the tsar had died and the costly project was suspended. Two years later,
As the timber church was found too small to house its increasing congregation, Trezzini designed a stone church, which was founded on 2 July 1740 in the proximity of the timber cathedral. The shell of the church was erected within five years, but decoration works prevented its consecration until 1760. It was here that
On 4 July 1761 the wooden cathedral was struck by lightning and burnt to the ground. The architect Alexander Whist (1722–94) was charged with the task of designing a new cathedral of stone. Though founded on 18 July 1764, the church took 22 years to complete. A delay was due to the collapse of its cupola on 6 August 1766, a disaster which led to the architect being taken into custody. It was not until 21 March 1780 that the five-domed pastel pink cathedral was consecrated.
The decoration of the cathedral is restrained (picture[
The pyramidal bell-tower, attached to the church by a refectory, was built in two tiers in 1784-86 and formerly boasted ten bells, the largest of which weighed in excess of four tons. The top of the belfry was remodeled in 1850. Seven years later, the cathedral interior was renovated and the 18th-century icon screen augmented. Furthermore, when the first permanent bridge across the Neva was built in the 1850s, a chapel on the bridge became affiliated with the cathedral.
After the
On 16 May 1938 the cathedral was closed down, its priests arrested and the bells destroyed. However, the impressive baroque
In 1992 the cathedral of St. Andrew and the church of Three Holy Men were returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2001, an obelisk was unveiled in front of the church to commemorate the tercentenary of the restored Order of St. Andrew.
References
Media related to Saint Andrew's cathedral (Saint Petersburg) at Wikimedia Commons- Корольков М.Я. Андреевский собор в Санкт-Петербурге [Saint Andrew Cathedral in Saint Petersburg]. SPb, 1905.
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