The Many Churches of St. Petersburg

Russia is a country of many churches, monasteries and cathedrals and they are predominantly of the Russian Orthodox variety though as in most other countries, you can find churches of just about every major religious institution.

Church of Spilt Blood Cathedral (Храм Спаса на Крови) named so because it is the spot where  Tsar Alexander II was assassinated. It resembles the more famous St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow.

Kazan Cathedral (собор Казанской Божией Матери) is modelled after St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Its construction really annoyed the Russian Orthodox Church; building an Orthodox Cathedral in the style of a Catholic Cathedral is considered not so good after The Great Schism – what split Christianity into the Orthodox and Catholic churches.

The Church is dedicated to the holiest icon in all of Russia, Our Lady of Kazan (Казанская Богоматерь) – an icon found by a little girl after a vision of the Virgin Mary.

St Isaac’s Cathedral (Исаакиевский собор), in the Byzantine style, was ordered by Tsar Alexander I and architected by French architect Auguste de Montferrand. Many people don’t know that the cathedral sits on top of 10,000 tree trunks.

Peter and Paul Cathedral in Peterhof (Петергоф), dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul.

Peter and Paul Cathedral , situated in the Peter and Paul Fortress (Петропавловская крепость), built in the early 18th century and contains the tombs of almost all of the Tsars and Tsarinas from Peter the Great (who established St. Petersburg and moved the capital there) onwards. The final one was Tsar Nicholas II (of the Romanov family, think back to your Disney films – Anastasia).

The fortress itself was built to defend against a possible Swedish attack in the Great Northern War (Великая Северная война).

Alexander Nevsky Lavra (Александро-Невская лавра) is a monastery of the highest order, only four such lavras exist in all of Russia and Ukraine. Peter the Great had it built it in honour of Alexander Nevsky.

St Nicholas Cathedral, dedicated to the Russian navy and has scenes from many naval battles on the walls. 

A small church not too far from St. Nicholas cathedral.

Holy Trinity Cathedral (Троице-Измайловский собор), is currently under reconstruction which was set back when the main dome burned and collapsed.