St. Isaac’s Cathedral

St. Isaac’s Cathedral is a major museum-monument with an active sacred identity. Its scale, dome, decorative programme and city-centre location make it one of Russia’s best-known church buildings. The present cathedral was built from 1818 to 1858 under architect Auguste Montferrand and was consecrated in 1858.

The cathedral is dedicated to St. Isaac of Dalmatia, whose feast day coincided with the birthday of Peter I; this dedication links the church to the memory of the city’s founder. The State Museum records that the present cathedral was designed by Auguste Montferrand and built from 1818 to 1858. Its immense scale, granite columns, gilded dome and richly decorated interior made it one of the outstanding engineering and artistic projects of nineteenth-century Saint Petersburg.

The museum highlights monumental painting, sculpture, mosaic and coloured stonework, including malachite and lapis-lazuli elements in the iconostasis. Isaac’s is both a major museum monument and a building with an Orthodox sacred identity. Visitor information should therefore distinguish museum access from occasions when religious services are held. The present cathedral is also one stage in a longer sequence of churches dedicated to St. Isaac of Dalmatia in the city.