Smolny Cathedral (St. Petersburg) was erected at the direction of the great Empress Elizabeth. The daughter of Peter I was going to take tonsure and serve God in the very place where she grew up, where she spent her youth.
B. Rastrelli (one of the best architects of that time) took up the design. The majestic building soared up 94 meters and could accommodate 6,000 people. Nearby it was planned to attach the highest bell tower in Russia (140 meters, which exceeded the height of the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral). But these plans were not destined to come true. Rastrelli died, and the followers of the architect decided that from such a high bell tower the laconic landscape of the city would be violated.
The monastery complex was built for almost 90 years, completing the last works only in 1835.
The first name of the monastery is the Resurrection Novodevichy (the consecration of the cathedral took place as early as 1748). Later, the monastery began to be referred to only as Smolny (for short). In 1765, Smolny Cathedral received the first pupils of noble birth, after which Catherine decided to open another school for girls of a lower class (Alexander Institute). The building, designed by architect J. Felten, carried the features of early classicism.
The next part of the ensemble is the Smolny Institute. This ceremonial classical building was designed in 1864 by another architect, J. Quarnegie. It was here that the Petrograd Soviet was located in 1917.
Unfortunately, after the revolution, Smolny Cathedral was looted, and the premises began to serve as a warehouse. The iconostasis of the church was dismantled only in 1972, and the opening of the concert and exhibition complex, which is still here today, was already at the end of the last century (1990).
Smolny Cathedral (St. Petersburg), carrying a combination of white stone molding and the heavenly blue of the walls, is surrounded by four corner churches. Nearby are residential complexes decorated with two-tier arcades. House churches have only one helmet-shaped dome with a cross. They seem to be built into the wall.
According to the original plan of Rastrelli, Smolny Cathedral was supposed to be a mighty single-domed church (in the manner of European churches), but the Empress Elizabeth rejected this offer and wished to see her cathedral with five domes. In fact, the temple itself has only one dome (central), and the remaining four are nothing more than belfries with a concave shape and consisting of two tiers. The bulbous dome is installed at the top, and the belfry occupies the second tier.
The openwork fences of the temple, cast according to Stasov's drawings, still retain the status of the most highly artistic in St. Petersburg.
The management of work on the interior decoration was entrusted to the architect V. Stasov. The interior turned out to be both simple and solemn. A huge church hall with three iconostases was decorated with marble, a crystal balustrade was installed in front of the altars, and the department was decorated with the finest carvings. Of the many relics, the icons “Introduction of the Virgin” and “Resurrection of the Cross” (A. Venetsianov) survived.
Smolny Cathedral is one of the monuments of world significance. Today the complex has the status of a branch of the State Museum "St. Isaac's Cathedral." This is the venue for concerts, exhibitions of paintings and graphics. It is open to tourists and connoisseurs of culture.