Sightseeing

TRANSFIGURATION CATHEDRAL After the Decembrists’ uprising, the throne came to Nicholas, who did his best to finish what Alexander had started, in particular, with building projects launched and conceived. He began with 1812 Gallery in the Winter Palace, and later on marked his enthronization with construction churches for the Preobrazhensky and Izmajlovsky regiments in gratitude for loyalty in the Decembrists rising. Both regiments had churches of their own even in the 18th century: initially, the Preobrazhensky’s Transfiguration Cathedral was constructed in 1743-1754 by order of Empress Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, in the center of territory, where barracks of Cavalry Guards Regiment and Preobrazhensky Regiment were located. Designed by Mikhail Zemtsov and Pietro Trezzini, the cathedral was meant to be a tribute to soldiers and officers of the Guards who had assisted Elizabeth in coming to the Russian throne. Since Cathedral was badly damaged in the fire of 1825, the Empreror chose Stasov to work out a project for a new church. Finished and consecrated in 1829, the Preobrazhensky’s Transfiguration Cathedral is a massive cube under customary five copulas painted sky-blue, with a portico at its western side, consisting of four Ionic columns 12 meters high. The walls of the Cathedral are decorated with stucco panels showing military emblems, while the interior looked festive, modest and serene at the same time with 488 trophy flags taken in Europe. Besides, the cathedral, surrounded by a cast iron fence made of 102 trophy Turkish cannons taken by the Russian army at the fortresses of Varna, Silistria and Tulcha, featured uniforms of Russian Emperors and trophy banners taken by the Russian army in the 1828-1829 war against Turkey. Holding up to 3000 people simultaneously, the cathedral still manages to impress because of its vastness and big blue domes overlookinf the nearby Fontanka canal, although it’s in need of some serious reconstruction.

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