Prince Vladimir Cathedral

The first place of worship in the “Mokrushki” district  – a low-lying area subject to flooding – on Petersburg Island was a wooden Church of St Nicholas (1708). Replaced by the Dormition Cathedral (1713–19). A new stone church in honour of Prince Vladimir was laid nearby by Mikhail Zemtsov and completed and decorated by Pietro Antonio Trezzini (1740). Reconstructed by Antonio Rinaldi (1766–73). The unfinished cathedral was damaged in a fire (1772) and rebuilt by architect Ivan Starov (1783–89). St Vladimir’s Cathedral was officially consecrated on 1 October 1789, a year after the eight-hundredth anniversary of the adoption of Christianity.

St Vladimir’s Cathedral is one of the largest places of worship in St Petersburg. Capable of holding up to three thousand people, it is flanked by a three-tier bell-tower over fifty yards in height. The altar of the central side-chapel is decorated with copies of Victor Vasnetsov’s Holy Communion murals in St Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kiev. Three icons of St Vladimir stand in the altar of the Dormition Side-Chapel. On 22 July 1845, Tsar Nicholas I made the cathedral the official place of worship of the Order of St Vladimir. The emblem of the order was placed above the main entrance. Every year, on 22 September, a special service is performed in memory of Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev. From 1928 to 1941, the cathedral was the seat of the bishop of Leningrad. In 1940, the miracle-working icon of Our Lady of Kazan was transferred to the church.