Russia St Petersburg Architecture Cathedral St Andrew’s Cathedral

St Andrew’s Cathedral

Peter the Great commissioned Swedish architect Nicodemus Tessin to design a cathedral for the Order of St Andrew (1724). Originally intended to be built on the spit of Vasilyevsky Island. Tessin prepared a design, but was stopped by the emperor’s death (1725). Catherine I assigned a plot of land for construction on the corner of the Sixth Line and Bolshoi Prospekt (1727). Wooden church and bell-tower were built by Giacomo Trezzini (1729–32). Burnt down after being struck by lightning (1761). New cathedral was founded and designed by Alexander Vist (1764). Alexander Vist was sacked after the cupola collapsed and replaced by Alexei Ivanov, a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1768). Cathedral was completed (1768) and consecrated (1781). Paul I made the cathedral the capitula church of the Order of St Andrew and hung the order’s emblem above the entrance (1797).

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