In mid-May 1703, the Russian Tsar Peter1 in the Neva Delta on the Hare Island established a fortress, calling it St. Petersburg, in the name of his heavenly patron. This summer, along with other buildings, they laid down a wooden church, which he named in honor of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. After the victory in Poltava in 1709, Petersburg began to be built up with magnificent buildings, because it is now the capital of the Russian State.
Dynasty Necropolis
The Peter and Paul Cathedral is an outstanding architectural monument of the beginning of the 18th century, it is widely known, and the spire sparkling with gold is one of the symbols of the city. But not everyone is aware that the cathedral is the tomb of the Russian Imperial House , where Peter I and Catherine I , as well as all subsequent crowned persons of the dynasty , are buried.
But contemporaries perceived the cathedral primarily as a crypt of the House of Romanov, only those sacraments that were dedicated to these sad events took place in it, baptisms and weddings were not held. The design of the mourning ceremonies was done by the best architects and artists of St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, only the contemporaries of events could see the funeral processions, after all the decoration was dismantled and the temple took its usual form.
Traditionally, the cathedral buried not only embalmed bodies in hermetically sealed coffins, but also decomposed into the vessels of internal organs. The day before the official ceremony, they were placed at the bottom of the grave. This procedure was attended, as a rule, only by members of the "Sorrowful Commission" involved in organizing the funeral, and the clergy.
From the history of the cathedral
In 1712, on the birthday of the city of Peter the Great, before the eyes of many high-ranking people, he laid the first stone of the cathedral on the site of a wooden church. In 1733 the temple was consecrated, it is designed in the Baroque style and is one of the majestic architectural monuments. The cathedral is a rectangular building located from west to east, a drum with a dome rises above its eastern part, and on the west side there is a bell tower with a gilded spire of 122.5 meters, which to date is the tallest building in St. Petersburg. Since 1858 the temple is called "Peter and Paul". In the second photo you see the interior of the cathedral, where Peter 1 is buried.
Under the leadership of the king, the cathedral was built very quickly. Domenico Trezzini - a Swiss engineer - was appointed an architect, he was given the best craftsmen. After 8 years, the construction of the cathedral was completed outside. A clock with chimes was brought from Holland; it was purchased for huge money - 45,000 rubles. After 3 years, a gilded spire was installed. The iconostasis, the work of which Peter1 laid on the shoulders of the architect Zarudny, was completed for 4 years. Under his leadership, drawings worked by artists Ivanov and Cart.
Emperor Peter the First where is buried?
Most likely, at the beginning of construction, the king, following the example of Constantine, the first Christian emperor, wanted to turn the cathedral into the tomb of his dynasty. Before the construction of the cathedral, all the kings were buried in the Kremlin’s Archangel Cathedral (Boris Godunov rests in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra).
For two centuries, the Peter and Paul Cathedral, where Peter 1 is buried, It was the burial place of almost all emperors before Alexander III and many family relatives, only Peter II and John VI were buried elsewhere. The very first in 1708, still in a wooden church, was reposed at the age of one and a half years, Catherine, daughter of Peter 1.
Graves of celebrities. Peter I and his descendants
Until the construction was completed, other burials were made in the cathedral. In the summer, in 1715, the remains of the daughters of Peter the Great, Natalia and Margarita, were brought here. In winter, Tsarina Marfa Matveevna (Apraksina), who was the wife of Tsar Fedor Alekseevich. In 1717, the son of Peter 1, Pavel, was buried, the following year the soul of the eldest son of Peter 1, Alexei Petrovich, rested from his first wife Lopukhina, who was executed by order of his father for anti-state activities. 5 years later, in 1723, Maria Alekseyevna, the disgraced sister of Peter 1 , was buried here . The tombs of Tsarevich Alexei and Tsarina Marfa Matveevna are located under the bell tower in the aisle of St. Catherine. The grave where Peter 1 is buried, in the photo below.
It was here, in the unfinished cathedral, on March 8, 1725, that the body of the emperor Peter the Great was forever asleep (January 28). According to the design of D. Trisini, a temporary wooden church was built inside the cathedral, and Peter the Great and his daughter Natalia, who died on March 4, were transferred there with a magnificent ceremony.
The tightly closed coffin, where Peter 1 was buried, was installed on a hearse covered with gold fabric, under a canopy. In the summer of 1727, a coffin was placed there with his deceased wife, Empress Catherine 1.
Dust to earth
Empress Anna Ioannovna in May 1731 ordered to bring the ashes of the spouses to the ground. The burial took place with a special ceremony on May 29. Among those present were persons from the Admiralty, the generals, and college officials. When coffins were delivered to a specially designated place in the Imperial cemetery, 51 volleys were fired from the fortress.