History of St. Petersburg; St. Isaac's Cathedral, Alexander Nevsky monastery, Saviour-on-Spillt-Blood, Kazan Cathedral. Religious Petersburg. Guided tours of St. Petersburg, Russia - Personal tour guide, interpreter - individual tours for families, friends. St. Petersburg city guide. St. Petersburg with Anna, licenced St. Petersburg tour guide. St.Isaac's, resurrection, church on the blood

Russia has a deep and rich religious history.
The Russian Orthodox Church
for more than 1000 years has been a vital part
of the spiritual, moral, and cultural life of the country.
Great pains have been taken to restore churches
that survived the Soviet era,
and to revitalize the spiritual life
which has historically been part of the Russian soul.

    St. Isaac's Cathedral is one of the finest architectural monuments of the 19th century. It was constructed on the project by A. Montferrand, and it took 40 years to complete the cathedral. Being the largest cathedral in the city able to accomodate about 12 000 people, St. Isaac's served as the principle cathedral of the Russian Capital until the October revolution of 1917. In 1931 it was turned into a museum.
     Creation of such a grandiose structure required outstanding technical mastership of the builders. The cathedral is graced with 112 solid granite columns weighing up to 114 tons each, and about 400 bas-reliefs and bronze sculptures. In the cathedral decor lot of valuable materials were used, among them lapis lazuli, malachite, porphyry, all kinds of marbles.
     The oservation platform on the colonnade provides a magnificent bird's eye view of the city.

Among the preserved church structures, the magnificent Epiphany St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral (Sailors' church) most fully represents the spiritual and artistic principles of Russian Baroque (mid-18th century). According to Orthodox traditions St. Nicholas was the protector of innocent convict and those who suffered for the truth. St. Nicholas' other role, making him, in fact, the main local saint, was his special power over the sea, which was extremely important for the city-port. The cathedral consists if two churches: the upper and the lower ones. The upper church is more luxuriously decorated for it was meant for naval officers, the lower church was set up for simple sailors.
St. Nicholas Cathedral is the only temple in Petersburg, that has been an active church during all the post-revolutionary period.

The Cathedral of Kazan Icon of Our Lady is an outstanding example of the early 19th century Russian architecture.
During the war with Napoleon (the Patriotic War of 1812), war trophies were brought to the cathedral and placed before the main object of warship - the miracle-working Icon of the Mother of Good, the Patroness of the Russian Army, and prayers were read to the victory. The numerous Patriotic war trophies are still kept there: keys of European cities that had surrendered to the Russian Army, the captured banners, standards as well as Marshal Davout's baton. Here also Prince Mikhhhail Golenischev-Kutuzov, head of the Russian army, was buried (the remains of the great commander-in-chief were brought here in 1813).

The City of Religious Tolerance
One of the most important features of St. Petersburg is its international character, preserved in churches of different confessions, religious denominations and ethnic groups.
Russia has always been predominantly Orthodox. In St. Petersburg there are over 100 Russian Orthodox churches and cathedrals, the number of churches is ever-increasing. But there are at least 10 Roman Catholic churches in St. Petersburg. You can also find here a Sinagogue, a Moslem Mosque and even a Buddhist Temple.

St. Peter Lutheran Church

St. Catherine Catholic Church

Armenian Orthodox Church

St. Isidor Church
of Estonian Orthodox Society