State Museum-Monument 'St. Isaac's Cathedral'

About museum

St. Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg is a monument of 19th-century Russian architecture and the largest domed structure in the world, created by the architect Auguste de Montferrand — a symbol of imperial might. Construction lasted four decades and served as a school for new technologies such as rail tracks, a lightweight metal dome and galvanoplasty. The cathedral's facades are adorned with porticoes with monolithic granite columns quarried at the Pyuterlaks quarry and delivered by barge. Using scaffolding of an original design, a column was erected in less than an hour. More than 350 works by Russian sculptors are exhibited on the facades and inside the cathedral: angels, evangelists, apostles, high-reliefs, iconostases and others. Special attention should be paid to the large exterior doors decorated with ornate compositions. Together these form a unique ensemble of 19th-century monumental-decorative sculpture.