Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg

Brief information

Kazan Cathedral faces Nevsky Prospekt not with its main facade, but with a side facade. Church canon required the main entrance to be on the west, while the city thoroughfare called for a ceremonial view from the north. Voronikhin solved this problem with a semicircular colonnade: it makes the side look like the main urban facade and immediately explains the cathedral’s unusual layout.

The church was built in 1801–1811 for the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, but after the War of 1812 it acquired another role: a monument to military glory. Mikhail Kutuzov was buried here, and the keys to captured cities and military trophies were placed here. Later, the building became the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism for a time, and then once again an active cathedral.

What to notice first

You can compare the northern colonnade and the western main entrance: this very discrepancy shows how the cathedral is simultaneously subject to church rules and to the urban view of Nevsky Prospekt. The semicircular colonnade of 96 columns in four rows functions like a square in front of the side facade, while the central six-column portico emphasizes this side as the ceremonial one.

The exterior should be read through its materials and borrowings: the gray Pudost stone of the facades, reliefs, and statues establish a classical order, while the bronze northern doors are modeled on Florence’s “Gates of Paradise.” Inside, the same principle continues in the columned hall: 56 columns of pink Finnish granite with gilded capitals. The dome adds an engineering layer to the solemn appearance: it is the first large dome made of wrought iron, concealed above the brick structures.