Transfiguration Cathedral (Saint Petersburg)

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Transfiguration Cathedral in Saint Petersburg, Russia

Transfiguration Cathedral (official name: Russian: собор Преображения Господня всей гвардии, i.e., The Cathedral of the Lord's Transfiguration of all the Guards) is an Eastern Orthodox cathedral belonging to the Diocese of St. Petersburg. It is located on Transfiguration Square (Russian: Преображенской площади), just off Liteyny Prospekt near the Chernyshevskaya metro station. Unlike most Russian places of worship, this archictural monument has never been closed for worship.^[1] The church has provided both Transfiguration Square and a nearby lane, which was formerly known as Church Lane, (Russian: Церковный переулок) and is now known as Radishchev Lane (Russian: переулок Радищева) with their names.

[edit] History

The cathedral was ordered to be built by empress Elizabeth of Russia and was built from 1743 to 1754, and was designed by architect Mikhail Zemtsov. The cathedral was built in the place of an old barracks, that of the grenadier division of the Preobrazhensky regiment in honor of the Empress's ascension onto the throne with the help of some of the soldiers and officers of that regiment^[1]. The cornerstone was laid on June 9, 1743. After the death of Mikhail Zemtsov, Pietro Trezzini headed construction. Trezzini slightly changed the project, changing the style to Baroque. The cathedral was blessed by archbishop Sylvester 16 [O.S. 1754] августа in the presence of the empress, on the eve of the holy day of the Transfiguration of Christ. The iconostasis and the altar canopy were completed by Kobilinsky woodcutters from Moscow from the drawings of architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. The figures were painted by M. L. Kolokolnikov.