St. Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac's Cathedral was once the main church of St. Petersburg and the Russian Empire's largest church. It was built in 1818-58 by French-born architect Auguste Montferrand. One hundred and eighty years later the gilded dome of St. Isaac's still dominates the skyline of St. Petersburg. The facades are decorated with sculptures and massive granite columns (made of single pieces of red granite), while the interiors dazzle the eye with mosaic icons, paintings and columns made of malachite and lapis lazuli. A large stained glass of the resurrected Christ, located inside the main altar, is truly fascinating. The church, designed to accommodate 14,000 standing worshipers, was closed in the early 1930s and reopened as a museum. Nowadays, church services are held hero only on major occasions.

Church of savior on the spilled blood

This marvelous Old Russian-style church was built on the spot where Emperor Alexander II was assassinated on March 1, 1881. Built in 1883-1907, the church was designed in the spirit of sixteenth- and seventeenth century Russian architecture, inspired particularly by St Basil's Cathedral on Red Square in Moscow. The interior of the church, a memorial to the late Emperor Alexander II, was decorated with different marbles and several thousand square yards of mosaics. After the October Revolution of 1917 the church met the sad fate of most churches in the country. Now it has been restored and reopened to visitors.

Kazan cathedral (the cathedral of the icon of our Lady of Kazan)

This cathedral, wich was modeled on St. Peter’s in Rome, is one of the city’s most majestic. It was build from 1801 to 1811 to house the miracle-working Icon Our Lady of Kazan. The dome is 80-metres high and the colonnade facing Nevsky has 96 columns.

After the War of 1812, the church became a monument to the Russian victory over Napoleon. Captured enemy banners were put in the cathedral and the famous Russian field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, who won the most important campaign of 1812, was buried inside the church. The cathedral was named after a "miracle-making" icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which the church housed till the early 1930s. The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral for services in 1929, and from 1932 it housed the collections of the Museum of History of Religion and Atheism.

Cathedral of St.Nicolas

Built between 1753 and 1762, this blue and white cathedral is one of the most beautiful. In the 18th century. This part of town was sailor’s quarter. Which is why the cathedral was named after Nicholas- the patron saints of sailors.

Smolny Cathedral

The Smolny Cathedral was meant to be the main church of a convent to house Elisabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, who had been banned from ruling the country and therefore decided to become a nun. But as soon as her predecessor was overthrown during a coup carried out by the royal guards, she decided to forget the whole idea of a stern monastic life and happily accepted the offer of the Russian throne. The blue and white Smolny Cathedral is one of the most fabulous works of Bartolomeo Rastrelli (the creator of the Winter Palace, the Grand Catherine Palace in Pushkin, the Grand Palace in Peterhof, and other major landmarks). The cathedral is the centerpiece of the convent, built by Rastrelli in 1748-64. When Elisabeth's reign came to a close, the funding for the convent had quickly ran out, so Rastrelli was unable to build a huge bell-tower that was planned and to finish the interior of the Cathedral. The building was finished only in 1832-35.