The Saint Isaac's Cathedral which is one of the most significant Orthodox churches in Russia locates at the northwest of the city alongside the Neva River. This cathedral is the largest Orthodox Church in Russia and the second-largest one in the world. It's also the fourth largest cathedral in the world too.
The construction of this cathedral began in 1818 by the famous French architect, Auguste de Montferrand and it lasts for forty years, during this period, Montferrand supervised the project himself. The exterior of this building is an example of neoclassical architecture with one large golden dome in the center and four smaller subordinate domes around it. The central dome is 101 meters tall and made out of pure gold. The dome surrounding decorated with twelve angels’ sculptures by Josef Hermann.
For supporting the large dome and cathedral's roof, Montferrand formed a vast colonnade under it. The colonnade is an architectural structure which built with several columns to support a roof, a dome, or any massive structure above it. When Montferrand utilized the colonnade in his design, probably never imagined that one day, the observation deck of this colonnade became one of the favorite attraction sights of the city or the cathedral.
This colonnade which is built to support the roof and heavy dome of the cathedral has a magical view over the Saint Petersburg. Since the observation deck has a 360-degree view, people can have a different view of the city anywhere they stood on this observation deck. Some even say that you can discover a different Saint Petersburg with changing your place on the deck and the changing of light during the day.
Anyone who wants to reach the observation deck should take around 200 steps of a tight spiral staircase, but when you reach the top, you would agree that each step worth the effort. From the magnificent views that you can get on this colonnade, we can point out to the Neva River, the Admiralty building, the Winter Palace, Church of the Savior on Blood, and many more attractive sights in the city which you'll visit on your Travel to Russia tour plan. You can also enjoy the performance of the light reflection from the golden domes during sunny days.
