St. Andrew’s Cathedral is the last structure that followed the Baroque architectural style, and also one of the oldest cathedral in St. Petersburg. Saint Andrew was the patron of Peter the Great and the imperial family. This structure is one of the popular tourist’s attractions of Vasilyevsky Island with its white and pink bricks.
The St. Andrew’s Cathedral locates at the eastern section of the Vasilyevsky Island near the Menshikov Palace. The eastern part of the island is the oldest section of the city. St. Andrew's Cathedral is also one of the oldest cathedrals in St. Petersburg, but the background story of the cathedral makes it more attractive than just an aged cathedral.
The Apostle Andrew is one of the Saints of Orthodox Church who was the patron of the imperial family and Peter the Great himself. The name of the cathedral is also after him. This cathedral is built by direct order of Peter the Great as the symbol of Russia great fate and triumphant reign. He assigned the famous Swedish architects, Nicodemus Tessin for the job, and gave him a site in the Vasilyevsky Island for the construction.
As Tessin prepared the design and the church model which was quite similar to the Saint Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, everything was ready to begin the construction, but Peter the Great died at the age of 52 in 1725, and the expensive construction ceased. Though two years later, Giuseppe Trezzini built a wooden church behind the Twelve College buildings and named it after St. Andrew.
The wooden church attracted Empress Anna's attention and led her to donate loads of furniture to the church in 1732. The icon screen which is one of the principal elements of the Orthodox Church borrowed from the Menshikov’s chapel. Since the wooden church was quite small for its purposes, so Empress Anna ordered Trezzini to build a stone church near the current wooden one in 1740. It took Trezzini five years to build the shell of the stone church, but the decoration and interior design lasted for almost 20 years. The church finally completed in 1760, though, it gave services during the years of construction. It was there in that church in 1745 that Trediakovsky and Lomonosov stated as the professors of the Academy of Science.
The wooden church hit by the lightning and completely burned in 1761. Following this event, Alexander Whist was assigned to build a stone cathedral over the wooden church's ashes. He began the project in 1764, but after the accident of 1766 which led one of the domes of the cathedral to collapse, he was imprisoned.
Alexi Ivanov was a professor at the Academy of Art at that time who replaced Whist on the project to finish the cathedral’s building. He built one of the last masterpieces of Baroque architecture which was similar to the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral in St. Petersburg in 1781.
The new cathedral with one central dome and four sub-domes around it was covered in pink and white. The interior design didn’t change after Alexi Ivanov interfered the project, but since the cathedral was quite important to the imperial family, Emperor Paul ordered to decorate the entrance with a gorgeous relief of two golden angels.
The pyramidal bell-tower which included ten bells at the beginning was built in 1784. The tower’s top was renovated in 1850, and seven years later the cathedral's interior design was renewed too. Following that event, several 18th-century icons were added to the cathedral's icon collection. St. Andrew's cathedral also built a chapel near the first permanent bridge that constructed over the Neva River.
Like any other church and cathedral in Russia during the Soviet era, St. Andrew’s Cathedral wasn’t protected against the Bolsheviks’ assault. Most of the valuable things in the cathedral were stolen after the October Revolution. The Soviet government closed the cathedral due to the resistance of a few hundred worshipers against the Bolsheviks in defense of the cathedral in 1924. All the priests of the cathedral took to the prison after that event. Most of the valuables and icons inside the cathedral were transported to the Russian Museum, except one icon from the 18th century which was well hidden inside the church. The cathedral itself turned to the Institute of Ethnography.
During the Second World War and the Siege of Leningrad, the cathedral underwent lots of damages, but since the central dome equipped with cannons, it was mostly protected against the enemy's assault. The cathedral was occupied by the Soviet government’s offices until the fall of the Union in 1992, and only then it gave back to the Orthodox Church. There’s an obelisk erected in front of the church in 2001 for the 300th anniversary of the cathedral's restoration.
Currently, the cathedral is quite famous for its icons which are taken from the Menshikov Palace. Many tourists admire the architecture of the cathedral. The church's choir classes were held inside the cathedral throughout the day that makes people enjoy a church song in their visit which is visitors' favorite event, mainly for non-Christian visitors.
The St. Andrew’s Cathedral can easily be included in St. Petersburg tour in Vasilyesky Island alongside the Academy of Art and the Menshikov Palace. The background story of this cathedral, its architecture, and the attractions inside it makes it one of the most attractive places in your travel to Russia. We recommend that to include this cathedral in your Russia tour programs and enjoy the cathedral and other attractions in Vasilyesky Island altogether.
