Facts about Kazan Cathedral

18 Interesting Facts About Kazan Cathedral

There are many beautiful churches and temples in St. Petersburg, but the Kazan Cathedral stands out even against all the others. This unique building impresses with its beauty and majesty, and thousands of people come to see it every year. Built in a relatively short time, Kazan Cathedral quickly became one of the symbols of the architecture of the Northern capital of Russia.

Top facts about Kazan Cathedral

  • Its construction from start to finish took about 10 years.
  • Architect Andrei Voronikhin, who designed the Cathedral, originally planned to build two colonnades, not one, as it was eventually done. It’s still unknown why he has changed his mind.
  • Famous Russian warlord Kutuzov, who fought against Napoleon during the French invasion to the Russian Empire, is buried in the Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg.
  • Metal structures were used for the construction of the domes for the first time in architecture during the building of this Cathedral.
  • The architect who built it was originally a serf.
  • According to the will of Emperor Paul I of Russia, the design of the Kazan Cathedral was based on the design of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome.
Kazan Cathedral facts
Kazan Cathedral interior
  • The colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral consists of 96 columns outside and 54 inside.
  • It was supposed to install sculptures on the stone pedestals at the edges of the colonnade, but this was never done.
  • Monuments to warlords Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly were erected in front of the Kazan Cathedral 25 years after the victory over Napoleon’s army.
  • Kazanskaya Street, Kazansky bridge, and Kazan Island on the Neva river in St. Petersburg were named in honor of this Cathedral.
  • It has a height of 234.5 feet (about 71.5 meters). This is comparable to the height of a 25-story residential building.
  • The interiors of the Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg are painted in the style of Renaissance masters, and the most famous painters of that era were involved in the work on its decoration.
  • The diameter of its dome is as much as 17 meters.
  • At the beginning of the XIX century, Kazan Cathedral was one of the largest churches in Russia.
  • It was built by Russian craftsmen and exclusively from Russian building materials.
  • December 6, 1876, on the square in front of the Kazan Cathedral, was the first Russian political demonstration of workmen.
  • The size of the Kazan Cathedral is inferior to St. Isaac’s one. However, it’s still one of the largest churches in St. Petersburg.
  • In 1932, the Soviet authorities opened a Museum of the history of religions and atheism in Kazan Cathedral. In this capacity, the temple functioned for a long time.

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