St. Andrew's Cathedral, St. Petersburg: description, history, features and interesting facts

One of the oldest temples in our country is the Cathedral of the Apostle Andrew the First-Called, or St. Andrew's Cathedral. St. Petersburg adorns this ancient temple, which is not only the greatest architectural value, but also a particularly revered parishioners holy place, whose history dates back to Peter I.

The idea of building a cathedral

Until the beginning of the 18th century the administrative center of St. Petersburg was the Hare Island, but in the 1920s Peter I moved it to Vasilievsky and conceived here the construction of a cathedral in honor of St. Andrew the First-Called. Peter I considered him his patron and saw the future temple in front of the building of the Twelve Colleges. He also asked to create a large-scale project, according to which, the temple would resemble the outlines of the St. Peter's Roman basilica and was no less than 130 meters long. Swedish architect Tessin remotely did not visit Russia, made a drawing of the future temple, and on the spot, according to his drawings, a layout was created. However, the demise of the Emperor in 1725 suspended the project, not allowing him to see the St. Andrew's Cathedral during his lifetime.

St. Petersburg in the face of its residents asked for the construction of the temple, and parishioners even several times collected money for it. But the first stone was laid only in 1732. Later, he grew up familiar to us St. Andrew's Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

History of construction

After Peter's death, exactly where he wanted, at the intersection of Bolshoy Prospekt and the 6th Line, in 1728 a plot was built for construction.

The wooden church, erected presumably by the Trezzini project, was dedicated to Andrew the First-Called in 1732. Anna Ioannovna donated the temple money for the arrangement, and from the dilapidated church in the Posadsky Sloboda a new iconostasis was transferred to a new place. The temple was decided to use, among other things, for the celebrations of the Knights of the St. Andrew's Order.

Despite the cramped and poor design, the temple was revered by the royal family attending worship services here, as well as many prominent figures of the time, for example, Lomonosov and Trediakovsky took an oath in the church as a professor of the Academy of Sciences.

The foundation of the first stone church

The parish had a great influence in the religious life of the capital, but did not have the appropriate appearance, dimensions, or even heating. In 1740, near the old church, construction of a more suitable, stone church began. In 1745 it was built and in the same period was given the status of a cathedral. The project for the new temple was invented by the same great Trezzini, and the iconostasis and other decoration were transferred from the house church of Prince Menshikov.

In 1761, during a thunderstorm, an old wooden building burned down. The ministers barely had time to save the iconostasis, and three years later, in accordance with the decree of Elizabeth Petrovna, a new cathedral was built in its place. It still stands on Vasilievsky Island, although its final appearance did not reach the end of the 18th century.

The new project was coined by the architect A. Vista. Construction began in 1746, and only after 15 years the St. Andrew's Cathedral was completed in St. Petersburg. The construction was long and difficult, it was followed by setbacks, in 1766 the dome collapsed, after which the architect was arrested and for quite some time investigated the circumstances of the incident. But on March 21, 1780 a new temple was consecrated, and he began to receive parishioners.

St. Andrew's Cathedral in St. Petersburg in the 19th century

At the behest of Emperor Paul I the cathedral became the religious center of the Knights of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and was decorated with a bas-relief depicting this order.

Later the cathedral continued to decorate and finish building. In 1880 a chapel was built, and four years before that - a bell tower. There were 10 bells on it. The largest, Sunday, weighed 285 poods and was specially cast at the Samgin plant in Moscow.

In addition, before the end of the century, chapels were attached to the church, and the gilded dome was covered with donations of merchants. The changes also touched the inner part of the cathedral - they added stucco molding and updated the paintings. In the temple, they installed heating, expanded and rebuilt the altar, and also increased the iconostasis.

In the second half of the 19th century, in addition to its main activities, the complex contained a shelter and helped the poor.

The 20th Century in the History of St. Andrew's Cathedral

The 20th century for many religious monuments has become a destructive century. The Bolshevik coup and the revolution of 1917 threatened the safety of many Russian churches and churches. St. Andrew's Cathedral was a little more fortunate, it was not destroyed, and its servants managed to keep some of the property and valuables from red robbery.

Many valuable things, such as the vessels of precious metals, the ancient Gospel, the salaries of icons from silver, the vestment of 7 poods of precious metals, made in 1861 by the famous jeweler Verkhovtsev, and much more were seized by the Bolsheviks.

To implement the project of building boulevards, the chapel and the fence of the complex were demolished. The big bell was removed and melted 10 years after the revolution, but the religious life in the cathedral did not stop, it was occupied by the grouping of the so-called theophany and revivalists under the leadership of Protopriest Platonov. In the temple services were conducted, the part of the iconostasis was restored by the supporters, but in 1938 the clergy and the most active parishioners were arrested and shot or sentenced for long periods. Soon the cathedral was abandoned, later it was used as a warehouse, for which the iconostasis was sewn with plywood, and the crosses were taken off. In fact, the building ceased to bear the name St. Andrew's Cathedral.

St. Petersburg, then Leningrad, suffered terrible upheavals during the Great Patriotic War and the blockade. They played a role in the history of the temple. Installed in the building air defense facilities were designed to reflect the air strikes of the enemy, from which the roof and facade were badly damaged, and the rupture of the air bomb knocked out all the glass. Also, the iconostasis and interior decoration were damaged. But the temple still survived and retained part of its unique appearance.

After the war, the Cathedral of St. Andrew the First-Called in St. Petersburg was given to various state institutions. They in different years owned the navy, the Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Ethnography. During the same period, it was repaired and restored, but the cultural and historical value was not particularly cared for, so, with simple paint, painted a unique painting in the dome.

In the late 80's, Metropolitan Alexy, who later became Patriarch of All Russia, began work on returning the cathedral to the bosom of the church. Then he was denied due to the fact that the building housed a collection of anthropological museum, which had nowhere to be moved. Despite this, Alexy handed over the necessary church utensils to the church, and in 1989 the first moleben was held here for many decades.

Cathedral of St. Andrew the First-Called

SPb - the northern capital of Russia - is proud of its architectural heritage. One of the unique values is the Cathedral of St. Andrew the First-Called. Let's continue the story of his story.

In 1990, part of the cathedral, including the altar, was nevertheless transferred to the parish. Five years later he shared a room with a kunstkammer. At the same time, divine services were performed here and human remains were handed over to science. When the museum completely removed its fund, the church replaced the crosses in the cathedral and made a major overhaul of the roof.

In 1998, a significant event occurred in the life of the complex: in honor of the 300th anniversary of the St. Andrew's Order, this highest award was again established by the president, and one of its first fellows was Alexis II, who initiated the return of the St. Andrew's Cathedral.

In the 2000s, the restoration of the chapel and the fence of the church began, as well as a complete restoration for the money of parishioners and for the funds allocated by the state. Later, the relics of St. Andrew the First-Called were transferred to the cathedral.

Architectural value

The Cathedral of St. Andrew the First-Called is a unique architectural monument, made in a mixed style with features of classicism and baroque, which is characterized by some complexity and plasticity of forms. The temple has five domes - one main and four small glans, which are united with a chapel of a one-story refectory.

The building itself is very elegant, which contributes to the high dome and elongated chapel. The appearance is complemented by turrets around the dome, high semicircular windows and pilasters on the facade. This 45-meter temple for a long time was a high-rise dominant Vasilievsky Island, today it was somewhat drowned in multi-storey buildings. Also the elegance of the cathedral is given by the gentle pink color of the facade.

Collection of icons

The main pride and unique miracle of St. Andrew's Cathedral is its three-tiered 17-meter-carved gilded iconostasis. He miraculously survived from the moment of construction, having passed through the revolution, the war, the blockade, the devastation and the use of the temple for other purposes.

The iconostasis retained some of the icons that were transferred from the Menshikov estate to the construction of the temple. Thus, among them, the images of Nikolai Miracle-worker and Alexander Nevsky survived. But the most valuable icon is St. Andrew the First-Called with a part of the relics of the saint. In total, there are 44 icons in the church.

Interesting facts about St. Andrew's Cathedral (St. Petersburg)

The cathedral loved to visit the royal family, it even had a special place for the sovereign.

According to the legend, at the time when the cathedral was still a wooden church, with it there was a small cemetery with the burial places of Prince Dolgoruky and Princess Dolgoruky, the bride of Peter II.

To decorate and improve the new building of the temple, money was taken not only from the treasury and donations, there were also fines levied from the knights of various orders for non-attendance of the medal ceremonies.

One of the values of the temple is the 115-kilogram vestment of silver, as well as the ancient Gospel in a silver setting. These values were confiscated by the Bolsheviks after the revolution, but by a fluke they returned to the cathedral.

St. Petersburg is rightfully proud of it as a symbol of faith and dedication, as well as the sacrifice of people who managed to keep the temple for descendants.