St. Isaac's Cathedral - a unique monument of Russian architecture and one of the finest cathedrals in Europe. The cathedral was erected in the years 1818-1858 by the architect Auguste de Montferrand in honor of St. Isaac of Dalmatia.

According to its enormous size (height - 100 meters) St. Isaac's Cathedral is one of the largest domed buildings in Europe. 120 monolithic columns of various sizes decorated building. The most powerful of them - 45 columns of the portico - each weighing 114 tons. When decorating the cathedral was used granite, different kinds of marble, malachite and lapis lazuli.

The decoration of the cathedral includes the largest collection of Russian monumental painting of the middle of the XIX century, with more than 150 works. Among them are works by famous artists Vasily Shebuev, Karl Bryullov, Fyodor Bruni. More than 300 statues, sculptural groups and reliefs made by Ivan Vitali. An important role in the artistic and decoration of playing more than 60 mosaic works of Russian artists. Of particular note is one of Russia's largest stained glass area of ​​28, 5 square meters.

In the twentieth century, St. Isaac's Cathedral was anti-religious museum opened, and then the building of the temple has received the status of the museum-monument. Today, the museum-monument St. Isaac's Cathedral - one of the most popular in St. Petersburg. Its visitors have the opportunity to climb the colonnade and 43 meters from the height admire the panorama of the city center. In 1988, for the first time after a long break it was held in the cathedral service, dedicated to the celebration of the adoption of the Millennium of Christianity in Russia.