Tzar Alexander I did not fancy the excisting Russian Orthodox Cathedral  on St Isaac's Square and ordered a bigger one that would correspond better with the perceived grandeur of St Petersburg.

 

With some help from the emperor himself a design by architect Auguste de Montferrand was selected and in 1818 work started, to be completed 40 years later at a total cost of 1million gold rubles.

 

But the result was and still is impressive.

The golden dome of the new Cathedral dominates the skyline and the 48 granite columns, quarried in Vyborg Finland, are quite imposing.

 

Inside, the grandeur is just overwhelming. Colorful murals decorate the ceiling, and the iconostasis is impressive with its green malachite and blue lazurite columns and the stained glas portrait of Jesus Christ.

 

Note the white dove, symbol of the holy spirit, all the way up in the dome. Under communist rule the dove was replaced by a pendulum, but after 1991 it was placed back.

 

We visited Saint Isaac's  in August 2016.