1. The official name is the Cathedral of St. Isaac of Dalmatia. It was consecrated in the name of the Monk Isaac of Dalmatia, revered as a saint by Peter I, since the emperor was born on the day of his memory - May 30 according to the Julian calendar.
2. St. Isaac's Cathedral - one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world. Above only the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
3. The cathedral was built according to the design of the architect Auguste Montferrand. St. Isaac's Cathedral is the main creation of the author.
4. The foundation of St. Isaac's Cathedral is an engineering marvel. It is made up of 10,762 pine piles and supports the enormous mass of the cathedral, in excess of 300,000 tons. And all this stands on the swampy soil of St. Petersburg.
5. The existing cathedral is the fourth church on this site with the same name. The first was the Church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia, it was wooden (built in 1707). And in 1717, to replace it, they began to build a stone church on the site where the Bronze Horseman now stands. The third building was built in 1768-1802.
6. Montferrand built the cathedral for 40 years. According to legend, the architect was predicted that he would die immediately after the construction was completed. Montferrand died a month after the consecration.
7. For the creation of statues and bas-reliefs, the most advanced electroplating technology was used, which made it possible for the first time in the world to place multi-meter copper statues at a height.
8. The gilding of the dome of the cathedral claimed dozens of lives: they gilded with an amalgam of mercury, and it is poisonous.
9. From 1931 to 1986, Foucault's pendulum was located and worked in St. Isaac's Cathedral. Now it is stored in the basement storage of the museum.
10. During the Great Patriotic War, exhibits from many museums in Leningrad and its suburbs were stored in the cellars of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
11. In terms of the number of visitors, among the museums of St. Petersburg, St. Isaac's Cathedral is in third place, only Peterhof and the Hermitage are ahead. In 2014 St. Isaac's Cathedral was visited by 3.2 million people.
12. Museum complex "State Museum-monument" St. Isaac's Cathedral "
- the only state museum in Russia that exists not on budgetary funds, but on its own income. In addition, the museum pays taxes - about 50-70 million rubles a year.
13. Divine services have been regularly held in St. Isaac's Cathedral since 2005 - on holidays and Sundays.
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On the summer of June 11, 157 years ago, the famous St. Isaac's Cathedral was consecrated in St. Petersburg. Here are the most interesting facts from his history.
Its construction was conceived by Peter I, who was born on the day of memory of St. Isaac of Dalmatia and decided to honor the saint in a special way. Therefore, St. Isaac's Cathedral can rightly be considered the same age as St. Petersburg.
The first St. Isaac's Cathedral was created in 1707 by decree of Peter I on the site of the Drawing barn next to the Admiralty.
1. The cathedral was rebuilt several times. There were four buildings in total. In the first wooden church of Isaac Dolmatsky, Peter I and Catherine I got married. We see the fourth incarnation now.
When they began to build the cathedral under Catherine II, they used marble, but during her reign they managed to complete almost half of it. Pavel I ordered to complete the construction with bricks.
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Alexander I did not like what his ancestors had built at all, and he ordered the building to be demolished. And build a new one - from granite. Things did not go quickly again, the architect Auguste Montferrand built the cathedral for 40 years.
Legend has it that someone predicted Montferrand's death after the cathedral was completed, so he was in no hurry with the construction. And yet he completed it: in the summer of 1858, Metropolitan Gregory consecrated the newly built cathedral in honor of St. Isaac of Dalmatia, the patron saint of St. Petersburg.
Alexandre Dumas called Auguste Montferrand "the Michelangelo of the North". Most likely, this was a coincidence, but a month later, when the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral was completed, Auguste Montferrand died.
3. At the quarries on the island of Püterlax near Vyburg, granite monoliths for columns were cut down. Work was carried out throughout the year.
In the Karelian quarries, huge granite blocks were mined, which weighed from 64 to 114 tons. Granite monoliths for columns with four porticoes, as well as marble for facing the interior and facades of the cathedral, were mined at the Ruskolsky and Tivdiysky marble quarries. The latter were located in the Petrozavodsk district of the province of Olonetskaya, the first - in the Serdobolsk district of the province of Vyborg. Dark red and light red marble was mined at Tivdiyskiye quarries, light gray marble with bluish veins was mined at Ruskolskiye.
4. The architect showed remarkable ingenuity during the construction and applied ingenious solutions. So, for example, many entertaining books included the problem solved by the architect of cutting piles to one level. From the foundation pit, where the piles were driven, they stopped pumping water, and when it rose to the required level, the piles were cut off along the water table.
The delivery of huge blocks to the construction site, the installation of 112 monolithic columns and the erection of the dome required many technical innovations from the builders. One of the engineers who built St. Isaac's Cathedral invented a useful rail mechanism that made the work of builders easier.
To lift the columns, special scaffolding was built and 16 cast-iron capstan gates were installed aside, each of which employed eight people. Installation of one 17-meter column weighing 114 tons took about 45 minutes. As a result, there were 48 such installations of columns.
To create statues and bas-reliefs, the most advanced electroforming technology was used, which made it possible for the first time in the world to place multi-meter copper statues at a height.
5. 400 kg of gold, 500 kg of lapis lazuli, a thousand tons of bronze and 16 tons of malachite were spent on the interior decoration of St. Isaac's Cathedral. About 300 high reliefs and statues were cast, the mosaic occupied an area of 6.5 thousand m2.
Isakiy is a treasure trove of colored stone. Used here:
- in the altar: Ural malachite and Badakhshan lapis lazuli;
- in the coverings of the floor, walls and columns - semi-precious Shoksha porphyry, black slate, multi-colored marbles: pink Tivdia, yellow Siena, red French;
- in general, a lot of varieties of marble were used for the interior decoration of the cathedral. Marble from Russian quarries: white, sunny, lemon, dark red; Italian - white Carrara. The dark red marble that lined the lower part of the altar is fabulously expensive, as it is very rare. France bought it from Russia for huge money for the sarcophagus of Napoleon Bonaparte.
- a feature of the iconostasis are eight malachite and two lapis lazuli columns. Famous Russian artists (Bruni, Bryullov, Shebuev) and sculptors (Vitali, Klodt) took part in the design of the cathedral.
Above the Royal Doors is the "Last Supper", made in the mosaic technique by S. A. Zhivago.
In the cathedral there is a precious shrine - the icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God (1765).
On the gold setting of the icon of the Tikhvin Mother of God (the same one is on the facade in the center of the Kazan Cathedral), you can see the symbol "eye in a triangle" or "All-Seeing Eye".
The barely perceptible smell of incense, which can be caught in the cathedral, exudes malachite plates that adorn the columns at the main altar. The masters fastened them with a special composition made on the basis of the world (a special fragrant oil). It is prepared according to a special recipe. Oil from the sacred myrrh tree is combined with incense and red wine. The mixture is brewed on Maundy Thursday, on fire, and is usually used for the sacrament of chrismation.
The finishing procedure in St. Isaac's Cathedral was complex: gilding the domes was especially difficult. It took about 100 kg of gold to finish them. The use of mercury was an integral part of the gilding of cathedral domes. About sixty masters died from its poisonous fumes.
Montferrand sought to make the dome as light as possible without losing strength. To do this, he proposed to make it not brick, but completely metal. When casting the metal structures of the dome, 490 tons of iron, 990 tons of cast iron, 49 tons of copper and 30 tons of bronze were used. The dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral became the third dome in the world, made using metal structures and shells.
6. The construction of the cathedral was photographed - and it was one of the first photographs in our country.
7. After the revolution, the temple was destroyed. In May 1922, 48 kg of gold and more than 2 tons of silver were seized from it for the needs of the starving Volga region.
On April 12, 1931, one of the first anti-religious museums in Russia was opened in the temple. In the same year, a giant Foucault pendulum was installed in St. Isaac's Cathedral - thanks to its length, it clearly demonstrated the rotation of the Earth. Then it was called the triumph of science over religion.
On Easter night 1931, the night of 7,000 Leningraders crammed into St. Isaac's Cathedral. Krasnaya Gazeta wrote the following day: “Numerous visitors listened with great interest to Professor Kamenshchikov's lecture on Foucault's experience. Now the pendulum has been dismantled, in the place of its fastening there is a figurine of a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit.
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During the Great Patriotic War, it suffered from bombing and shelling, and traces of shells were preserved in places on the walls and columns. During the siege, exhibits from museums from the suburbs of Leningrad, as well as the Museum of the City's History and the Summer Palace of Peter I were kept in the cathedral.
The cathedral was a prominent target for German pilots during WWII because of its huge golden dome. Residents, at their own peril and risk, covered it with liters of green paint to make it less noticeable.
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Since 1948, it has been functioning as the St. Isaac's Cathedral Museum. Restoration work was carried out in the 1950s and 1960s. An observation deck is arranged on the dome, from where a magnificent panorama of the central part of the city opens. 
The grandiose creation of the architect Montferrand is the fourth version of the church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia in St. Petersburg. The fate of the first three cathedrals was decided by a series of troubles.
2014
The project of the current cathedral was created by the then little-known senior draftsman Auguste Montferrand. Construction went on for almost 40 years. The architect Antoine Maudui began to argue that the temple would collapse. I had to improve the project. Bryullov, who started painting the dome, fell ill, and Pyotr Basin completed it. Before the consecration of the temple in 1858, the cloth with which they were going to cover the path of the sovereign from the Winter Palace disappeared. A month after the consecration of the cathedral, Montferrand died. But his cathedral has been decorating the square for 156 years.
1710
The first church was wooden and stood at the Admiralty Shipyard (pictured). It was a converted barn, where they used to make drawings of ships. But dampness made it unusable. Therefore, in 1727, a stone church was built in a new place (where the Bronze Horseman now stands). But due to the proximity to the Neva, the soil was unstable, and cracks quickly appeared in the walls. In addition, lightning struck the temple and started a fire. The building was repaired for 10 years, but it continued to collapse, and in 1758 it was dismantled.
1768
For the third cathedral, a new place was chosen, where the current temple stands. Antonio Rinaldi undertook the project (pictured). But there were not enough funds, and for 28 years the cathedral was brought only to the eaves. It was completed by another Italian - Vincenzo Brenna. The temple differed from the project and came out single-domed, and the bell tower was two-tiered. It did not stand for a long time: in 1816, plaster collapsed from the vaults, and it was closed.
St. Isaac's Cathedral, one of the most impressive buildings in St. Petersburg, was consecrated exactly 156 years ago, (May 30) June 11, 1858. Its history, which dates back almost from the day the Northern capital was founded, is full of unexpected twists and surprising facts..
Two predecessors
Back in 1707, in the city under construction, at the behest of Peter I, the church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia was erected. It was not for nothing that the emperor decided to honor him - he was born on the day of the holy memory of the saint, May 30 according to the Julian calendar. Here, in a hastily built church, damp and soaked with ship tar, Peter I and Marta Skavronskaya (Catherine I) were married in 1712.
First St. Isaac's Church. Lithograph from a drawing by O. Montferrand. 1845 Photo: Public Domain
The second, already stone, church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia was laid in 1717 - the first one had already dilapidated by that time. The temple stood on the banks of the Neva, approximately at the place where the Bronze Horseman now stands. The building was very reminiscent of the Peter and Paul Cathedral with its architectural design and high spire. However, the coastal soil under the church constantly sagged, and in 1735 it was badly damaged by a lightning strike. Then the architect Savva Chevakinsky was invited to assess the state of the cathedral. He did not dissemble and said that the building would not last long. It was necessary to change the location of the cathedral and build it anew. From that moment began the history of St. Isaac's Cathedral, which we know.
A fulfilled prediction
Chevakinsky and was appointed in 1761 to head the construction of the new St. Isaac's Cathedral, but the preparation was delayed, and soon the architect resigned. His place was taken by Antonio Rinaldi, and the ceremonial laying of the cathedral took place only in 1768. Rinaldi supervised the construction until the death of Catherine II, and after that he went abroad. The building was erected only up to the eaves. At the direction of Paul I, Vincenzo Brenna took over the cathedral and changed the project.
The cathedral changed both architects and appearance several times. Photo: AiF / Ksenia Matveeva
Marble for cladding was redirected to the Mikhailovsky Castle, so the cathedral looked strange - brick walls rose on a marble base. This "monument of two reigns" was consecrated in 1802, but it soon became clear that it spoils the appearance of "ceremonial Petersburg".
Under Alexander I, a competition for its ennoblement was held twice: in 1809 and 1813. All the architects offered to simply demolish it and build a new one, so the emperor instructed the engineer Augustine Betancourt to take over the reconstruction project of the cathedral personally. He entrusted this matter to the young architect Auguste Montferrand.The new cathedral was laid in 1819, but the Montferrand project had to be finalized for another six years. The construction dragged on for almost forty years, which gave rise to rumors about a certain prediction that the architect received from a clairvoyant. Allegedly, the sorcerer prophesied to him that he would die as soon as the cathedral was completed. Indeed, a month after the consecration ceremony of the cathedral, the architect died.
Another legend says that Alexander II noticed among the sculptures of saints, with a bow greeting Isaac of Dolmatsky, Montferrand himself holding his head straight. Noticing to himself the pride of the architect, the emperor allegedly did not shake hands with him and did not thank him for the work, which made him upset, took to his bed and died. In fact, Montferrand died from an acute attack of rheumatism, which happened after suffering pneumonia. He bequeathed to bury himself in St. Isaac's Cathedral, but Emperor Alexander II did not give his consent. The widow of Montferrand took the body of the architect to Paris, where he was buried in the Montmartre cemetery.
Engineering marvel
During the construction of the cathedral, many technologies were used, original and daring for their time. The building was unusually heavy for marshy soil, and its construction required 10,762 piles to be driven into the base of the foundation. It took five years, and in the end, the townspeople began to joke about this - they say, they somehow hammered a pile, and it completely went underground. Scored the second - and from her not a trace. Third, fourth, and so on, until a letter arrived from New York: “You ruined our pavement! At the end of a log sticking out of the ground, the stamp of the St. Petersburg timber exchange "Gromov and K!"
When installing granite columns, innovative technologies for that time were used. Photo: AIF / Ksenia Matveeva Separate attention is given to the granite columns of the cathedral. Granite for them was mined on the coast of the Gulf of Finland, near Vyborg. Stonemasons invented a special way to extract monolithic blocks: they drilled holes in the rock, inserted wedges into them and beat until a crack appeared in the stone. Iron levers with rings were inserted into the crack, ropes were threaded through the rings. 40 people pulled the ropes and gradually broke out the granite blocks.
Stones were delivered to the city by rail, although there was no railway in Russia at that time. The installation of 48 columns took two years and was completed in 1830, and in 1841, for the first time in history, 24 columns weighing 64 tons each were raised to a height of more than 40 meters to be installed around the dome. It took more than 100 kilograms of pure gold to gild the dome, and another 300 kilograms were required to gild the interior.
St. Isaac's Cathedral is the fourth largest in the world, its weight is 300 thousand tons, and its height is 101.5 meters. Isaac's Colonnade remains the highest observation platform in the city center.
Museum of Atheism
Like all religious buildings, after the October Revolution the temple was devastated. In May 1922, 48 kilograms of gold objects and two tons of silver were taken from Isaac to the needs of the starving Volga region. In 1928, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided "to leave the cathedral building in the exclusive use of Glavnauka as a museum monument." On April 12, 1931, one of the first anti-religious museums in Soviet Russia was opened in the cathedral.This saved the temple from destruction - they began to lead excursions here, on which visitors were told about the suffering of the serf builders of the building and about the dangers of religion. Another part of the tour was of a scientific and educational nature - a Foucault pendulum hung under the dome, the length of which was 91 meters. The pendulum is still stored in the storerooms of the temple, which received the status of a state memorial museum.
War
The harsh years of the war also left the temple unscathed. The dome was covered with camouflage by military climbers (one of them, Mikhail Bobrov, lives in St. Petersburg to this day and bears the title of honorary citizen of the city). According to the legend, with the threat of the occupation of the city, it was necessary to find a repository for those valuables that they did not have time to take out. Then one elderly officer offered to collect everything in the cellars of Isaac, explaining this by the fact that the Nazis use his dome as a landmark and would not shoot at him.
All 900 days of the blockade, museum valuables from the suburbs of Leningrad, as well as the Museum of the History of the City and the Summer Palace of Peter the Great, lay in complete safety, and on the square in front of the cathedral, the blockade fighters planted a garden where they managed to grow cabbage - this is evidenced by archival footage from 1942.
But it was not possible to completely avoid damage to the cathedral - the traces of fragments on the columns of the western portico still remind of shell explosions. Due to the lack of heating, wall paintings were damaged, and Bruni's painting "Adam and Eve in Paradise" was completely washed away.
Museum present
In 1963, the post-war restoration of the cathedral was completed. The Museum of Atheism was moved to the Kazan Cathedral, and the Foucault pendulum was removed, so that since then Isaac has been working exclusively as a museum. Here and today you can see the bust of Auguste Montferrand, made of 43 types of minerals and stones - all that was used in the construction of the temple.In 1990, for the first time since 1922, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church. In 2005, the "Agreement between the State Museum-Monument" St. Isaac's Cathedral "and the St. Petersburg Diocese on joint activities on the territory of the objects of the museum complex" was signed, and today services are held regularly on holidays and Sundays.
In connection with the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church, the city literally divided into two camps: some rejoice, others sign petitions against this decision. Therefore, we have chosen stories about Isaac for you, which will help you form your own opinion about the transfer of the cathedral, as well as find out what the aliens have to do with it, whether Montferrand built the cathedral and, as a symbol of the city on the Neva, was almost transported to the USA.
St. Isaac's Cathedral, one of the most impressive buildings in St. Petersburg, was consecrated (May 30) on June 11, 1858. Its history, which dates back almost from the day the Northern capital was founded, is full of unexpected turns and amazing facts. The construction of the cathedral was conceived by Peter I, who was born on the day of memory of St. Isaac of Dalmatia and decided to honor the saint in a special way. But construction was completed already during the reign of Alexander II. Over the years, the cathedral has been a shelter for art and a platform for physical experiments.
The first St. Isaac's Cathedral was created in 1707 by decree of Peter I on the site of a draft barn next to the Admiralty. The cathedral was rebuilt four times - we see the fourth incarnation now.
In the first wooden church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia, Peter I and Catherine I were married. The second, already stone, church of St. Isaac of Dalmatia was laid in 1717: the first one had already dilapidated by that time. The temple stood on the banks of the Neva, approximately at the place where the Bronze Horseman now stands. The building was very reminiscent of the Peter and Paul Cathedral with its architectural design and high spire.
However, the coastal soil under the church constantly sagged, and in 1735 it was badly damaged by a lightning strike. It was necessary to change the location of the cathedral and build it anew. Under Catherine II, they began to use marble in construction, but they managed to finish almost half of it. Then Paul I ordered to complete the construction with bricks, and the marble for cladding was redirected to the Mikhailovsky Castle, so the cathedral looked strange: brick walls rose on a marble base. This "monument of two reigns" was consecrated in 1802, but it soon became clear that it spoils the appearance of "ceremonial Petersburg". Alexander I did not like what his ancestors had built at all, and he ordered the building to be demolished and a new one built from granite.
The architect of Isaac as we know him was Auguste Montferrand. Construction lasted 40 years. Legend has it that someone predicted Montferrand's death after the cathedral was erected, so he was in no hurry to finish the process.
And yet he completed it: in the summer of 1858, Metropolitan Gregory consecrated the newly built cathedral in honor of St. Isaac of Dalmatia, the patron saint of St. Petersburg. Most likely, this was a coincidence, but a month after the completion of the construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral, Auguste Montferrand died.
The reason for the sharp deterioration in health was supposedly a dismissive attitude on the part of the new sovereign - Alexander II. Either he made a remark to Montferrand for wearing a “military” mustache, or the autocrat did not like the architect’s original autograph: in the design of the cathedral there is a group of saints, with a humble head tilt welcoming Isaac of Dalmatia, among them Montferrand himself. The creator, who was waiting for well-deserved praise, who devoted almost his entire life to the cathedral, fell into despondency, struck by the emperor’s similar attitude, and died 27 days later. According to legend, when the time comes to midnight, the ghost of Montferrand appears on the observation deck and bypasses his possessions. His ghost is not malicious, he treats visitors who linger on the site indulgently.
Technological innovations and alien interference
Granite monoliths for columns weighing from 64 to 114 tons were cut down at the quarries on the island of Pyuterlaks near Vyborg, marble for facing the interior and facades of the cathedral was mined at the Ruskolsky and Tivdiysky marble quarries.
The delivery of huge blocks to the construction site, the installation of 112 monolithic columns and the erection of the dome required many technical innovations from the builders. One of the engineers who built St. Isaac's Cathedral invented a useful rail mechanism that made the work of builders easier. To create statues and bas-reliefs, the latest electroforming technology was used, which made it possible for the first time in the world to place multi-meter copper statues at a height.
But some argue that even hundreds of people could not build such a cathedral, and therefore, it could not have done without the intervention of aliens, as in the construction of the pyramids in Egypt.
Isaac is a treasure trove of colored stone. Badakhshan lapis lazuli, Shoksha porphyry, black slate, multi-colored marbles: pink Tivdia, yellow Siena, red French, as well as 16 tons of malachite are used here. The barely perceptible smell of incense, which can be caught in the cathedral, exudes malachite plates that adorn the columns at the main altar. The masters fastened them with a special composition made on the basis of myrrh (a special fragrant oil).
It is believed that Demidov spent all his reserves of malachite on the columns of St. Isaac's Cathedral and thereby collapsed the market, the cost of the stone and its prestige fell. The extraction of malachite became economically unprofitable and almost ceased.
The construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral was completed in 1858, but the monumental building, even after the official opening, was constantly in need of repair, completion, and the close attention of the craftsmen, which is why the scaffolding stood unassembled. For 50 years, Petersburgers have become so accustomed to them that a legend was born about their connection with the royal family: it was believed that while the forests were standing, the Romanov dynasty also ruled.
The legend, I must say, is not unfounded: constant repairs required huge expenses (the cathedral was a real work of art, and anyhow what materials were not suitable for its restoration), and the royal treasury allocated funds. In fact, scaffolding from St. Isaac's Cathedral was first removed in 1916, shortly before the abdication of the Russian throne by Emperor Nicholas II in March 1917.
After the revolution, the temple was destroyed. In May 1922, 48 kilograms of gold and more than two tons of silver were seized from it for the needs of the starving Volga region.
In connection with the policy of the state, on April 12, 1931, one of the first anti-religious museums in Russia was opened in the temple. This saved the temple from destruction: they began to lead excursions here, on which visitors were told about the suffering of the serf builders of the building and about the dangers of religion.
In the same year, a giant Foucault pendulum was installed in St. Isaac's Cathedral: thanks to its length, it clearly demonstrated the rotation of the Earth. Then it was called the triumph of science over religion. On Easter night in 1931, seven thousand Leningraders crowded into St. Isaac's Cathedral, where they listened to a lecture by Professor Kamenshchikov, dedicated to Foucault's experience. Now the pendulum has been dismantled, in the place of its fastening there is a figurine of a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit.
In the 1930s, there was a rumor that the Americans, admiring the beauty of St. Isaac's Cathedral, which somehow reminded them of the Capitol, offered the Soviet government to buy it. According to legend, the temple was to be dismantled and transported in parts by ships to the United States, where it was to be reassembled. As a payment for a priceless architectural object, the Americans allegedly offered to pave all the cobblestone pavements of Leningrad, of which there were many at that time. Judging by the fact that St. Isaac's Cathedral still stands in its place, the deal fell through.
During the Great Patriotic War, the cathedral suffered from bombing and shelling, and traces of shells were preserved in places on the walls and columns. During the siege, exhibits from museums from the suburbs of Leningrad, as well as the Museum of the History of the City and the Summer Palace of Peter I, were stored in the cathedral. The cathedral was a prominent target for German pilots during the Great Patriotic War because of its huge golden dome. Residents, at their own peril and risk, covered it with liters of green paint to make it less noticeable, which made it possible to save many works of art on the eve of the onset of the Nazi army.
Isaac - a museum or a temple?
Since 1948, it has been functioning as the St. Isaac's Cathedral Museum. In 1963, the post-war restoration of the cathedral was completed. The Museum of Atheism was moved to the Kazan Cathedral, and the Foucault pendulum was removed, so that since then Isaac has been working exclusively as a museum.
An observation deck is arranged on the dome, from where a magnificent panorama of the central part of the city opens. Here and today you can see the bust of Auguste Montferrand, made of 43 types of minerals and stones - all that was used in the construction of the temple.
In 1990, for the first time since 1922, Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Rus' celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the church. In 2005, the "Agreement between the State Museum-Monument" St. Isaac's Cathedral "and the St. Petersburg diocese on joint activities on the territory of the museum complex" was signed, and today services are held regularly on holidays and Sundays.
Now the issue of the transfer of St. Isaac's Cathedral to the Russian Orthodox Church and the eviction of the museum is considered resolved. The church has repeatedly expressed its claims to own the cathedral, but has always been refused due to the inappropriateness of such a decision, because the museum brings in revenues to the city treasury - 700-800 million rubles annually.
What has changed now, who will be the owner of the temple and pay for the restoration and maintenance of the object? St. Petersburg will remain the formal owner of St. Isaac's Cathedral, since the UNESCO site must by law be owned by the state. The Russian Orthodox Church will use the temple free of charge: Isaac is transferred not for perpetual use, but for rent for 49 years.
The metropolia will pay for the maintenance and needs of the cathedral. How much money will be needed for this is also not yet clear. Previously, the figure of 200 million rubles was announced: this is how much the museum spent annually on maintenance and restoration.
In addition, an agreement will be concluded between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ministry of Culture on the preservation of museum valuables that will remain in the cathedral. Representatives of the patriarchate assure that everyone can visit the cathedral, as before, and moreover, they promise to make admission free of charge against the current 200 rubles, the ascent to the colonnade and excursions will remain paid. The Russian Orthodox Church will spend these funds on the maintenance of the cathedral, and the St. Petersburg treasury will pay for the reconstruction.
According to the Russian Orthodox Church, a special church agency will be created to conduct excursions, its work will be paid for by tax-free donations. The Museum of St. Isaac's Cathedral will move to Bolshaya Morskaya and Dumskaya streets. But until the transfer takes place, the museum will manage the activities of the cathedral. Now 400 people work in St. Isaac's Cathedral and the Savior on Spilled Blood, some of the employees may face layoffs. Also, the director of the museum, Nikolai Burov, may leave his post.
Photo: Visit Petersburg, pravme.ru, panevin.ru
