The building is in the form of a Greek Cross, like all the Russian churches, each of the grand entrances being approached by broad flights of steps. Each portico has massive pillars crowned with capitals of bronze. Over the centre of the cross rises the chief or central dome, the cupola of dark blue color, bespangled with stars. At the crest is a miniature dome, an exact copy of the great one beneath, surmounted by a golden cross. Four domes, exact duplicates of the larger one, are placed over the four arms of the cross, and complete a most harmonious and beautiful piece of architecture.

Founding Legend

A wonderful legend tells us of the founding of the cathedral. One night in November 1707, Peter I, being in his modest house on the Petersburg side, suddenly ordered a sleigh to be made ready, in which sat down with Catherine, and, accompanied only by Bruce, went across the Neva, already covered with ice, to the most secluded wooded area that lies beyond the Fontanka, to the wooden snow-covered chapel. Hence Bruce was sent for a priest and Peter and his fiancée married in this chapel in the pale flickering of the lamps.

Saint Petersburg of the 19th century was infamous for its floods and fires, and one of the most terrible floods that occurred in 1824 heavily damaged the cathedral beyond repair - the water rose by some two meters, destroying rich decorations and most of the icons donated to the temple by Empress Elizabeth. Emperor Nicholas I ordered the construction of a new stone church on the site of the flooded wooden church, and it was to be modeled on the old one. Vasily Stasov¸a talented young Russian architect, both designed and supervised the construction of the new cathedral. Weak and water-saturated soil of Saint Petersburg almost always requires additional preparation for construction.

The Iconostasis

The architect had to put in the ground about nine thousand piles to somehow strengthen the soil and reduce the pressure on the foundation. It is due to the this very nature of soil that the construction turned out to be very prolonged and extremely challenging. During the construction period, there were two serious case, which led the chief architect under arrest. On the day of the Holy Trinity, in 1835, in the presence of the royal family the temple was consecrated. The Emperor praised the work of the architect Vasily Stasov and awarded him the Order of St. Stanislaus.

Its five ink-blue domes were as much a feature of the skyline as St Isaac’s until a fire destroyed the central cupola in 2006, trebling the cost of restoring the cathedral, whose interior was gutted by the Soviets in 1938.

Despite the fact that the Trinity Izmailovsky Cathedral was the regimental church, it was also popular among the civilian population: the capital of the Russian Empire grew rapidly and so did the number of parishioners. It is known that by the end of the XIX century the cathedral had about 7 thousand parishioners. It was here that Fyodor Dostoyevsky married Anna Snitkina in 1867, four months after hiring her as his secretary.

In the fall of 1894 Izmailovo Cathedral witnessed farewell to an outstanding composer and pianist, the first director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Anton Rubinstein. The funeral and burial took place on 16 November, the day of the 65th anniversary of the composer.

In the Soviet Russia

Just like many other churches and cathedrals - in fact, the overwhelming majority of them - Trinity Cathedral suffered greatly during the Soviet rule. A snippet from a Soviet magazine (published in English) gives an idea:

Citizens! Just get this! The famine has hecome frightful. There is no bread. It has to he gotten from abroad for gold. We are beggars. And in the churches and cathedrals there are plenty of jewels. Not Christians, but beasts are those who say now we won't give gold — let them die. Is there any gold to buy grain? There is - for instance, in the Troitsky Cathedral there is a tabernacle containing 4 pounds of gold and 6 poods of silver — an entire village could he fed. This is the case in one cathedral, and how many are there?

History of the Holy Trinity Cathedral took a dramatic turn in February 1918. The infamous decree of the Soviet government on the separation of church and state transformed the Cathedral of the regimental church into an ordinary parish church. Regimental clergy was abolished, and the regiment was no more either: the Red Army took possession of the baracks.

The separation of church and state was in fact fictitious, because the state rudely intruded into the life of the church. Religious communities were banned from having property. Confiscation of church valuables was explained by the need to help the starving, but how much of it did really go towards that goal is still an open question.

The expropriators came on March 15, 1922. The district authorities appeared in the midst of a Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral attended by a large number of parishioners. Mikhail Cheltsov, the priest, refused to hand over church valuables citing lack of permission from the ecclesiastical authorities and parishioners. He asked for the parishioners' permission directly from the pulpit, and the congregation unanimously refused. A direct confrontation with so many believers apparently not being in their plans, the Bolsheviks retreated.

A month later, though, they were back and this time they made the church turn over the valuables.

Military Glory Monument

A very original monument to the Turkish war - Military Glory - designed by David Grim, was unveiled in the church square in 1886. A column of six tiers made of steel and bronze cannon barrels captured from the Turks rose 30 meters high. Captured artillery pieces were placed on pedestals. An angel wielding a palm branch and a wreath - symbol of victory – proudly looked at the city from atop the column. A bronze plaque on the granite pedestal was carved with names of the imperial family, as well as name of the military units involved in the fighting.

However, one day in 1930 the monument was gone. No one knows for certain why the decision to remove the monument was taken by Soviet authorities, but the rumors attributed it to the People's Commissar Voroshilov visit to Turkey. He did not want to remind a friendly country of their defeat in war, so the monument was torn down overnight and sent to the smelter. Only recently through the efforts of the rector of the Cathedral, the monument was restored and returned to its former place.

 Адрес: Izmailovskiy Ave., 7 A, St. Petersburg, Russia
 Телефон(ы): 8 (812) 251-89-27