Saint Isaac's Cathedral  

Saint Isaac’s Cathedral is dedicated to St. Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of tsar Peter 1 who was born on the feast day of that saint. It is one of the most prominent marks in the silhouette of Saint-Petersburg. St. Isaac's Cathedral is the fourth largest domed cathedral in the world after Saint Peter’s in Rome, Saint Paul’s in London and Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The total height of the cathedral is 101,5 meters, it occupies the square of more than 10 thousand square meters. The construction of the cathedral headed by the French architect on Russian service Auguste de Montferrand continued for about 40 years and finished in 1858.

The pediments rest on 112 monolithic granite columns, each of the four façades of the Cathedral is flanked by grandiose Corinthian porticoes with great columns each weighing 114 tones. The Cathedral is a real museum of minerals: here you can find all the main Russian and European semi-precious stones. After the revolution the building housed the Anti-Religious Museum. During the Second World War and the Siege of Leningrad the Cathedral was used to preserve precious items evacuated from suburb residences (as Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo).