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Our response to the Vatican: History and legends of the Kazan Cathedral
Our response to the Vatican: History and legends of the Kazan Cathedral

Video: Our response to the Vatican: History and legends of the Kazan Cathedral

Video: Our response to the Vatican: History and legends of the Kazan Cathedral
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Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg
Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg

Old Europe is capable of giving progressive ideas to anyone who embarks on a journey through her. A vivid example of this is the trip of the Russian Emperor Paul I to Italy, where he was honored with a personal meeting with the Pope and was so inspired by the beauty of the Vatican that he ordered a copy of it to be erected in St. Petersburg. And his order was carried out.

Your own Vatican

Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg
Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg

Upon returning to his native land and finding himself on the throne, in the last year of his already short reign, Emperor Paul I managed to lay the foundation for the implementation of his plans. They did not spend a lot of time looking for a building site, especially since the Church of the Most Holy Theotokos, located on Nevsky Prospekt, has long been dilapidated.

Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg
Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg

It turned out with one construction "to kill two birds with one stone" - to demolish the old building and build a new temple, which adorned the image of the city. Either during the Pavlovian period there was an embargo on foreign goods, or there was not enough finance for things overseas.

Interior decoration of the Kazan Cathedral
Interior decoration of the Kazan Cathedral

Stroganov personally persuaded the ruler to build the temple exclusively from materials of domestic production, and even apply the construction plan of a Russian architect, pushing through the sketches of a former serf - A. Voronikhin. Stroganov personally trained the latter, and awarded him with freedom for his diligent study.

Second colonnade

Postcard "Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg"
Postcard "Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg"

The protege quickly assessed the possibilities of the area provided for building and decided to build a trusted object with some differences. The reason for this was the need to turn the altar to the east side, without violating the accepted norms and projections for the construction of temples.

Kazan Cathedral on the map of St. Petersburg
Kazan Cathedral on the map of St. Petersburg

Such a snag prevented the embodiment of an exact copy of the Vatican Cathedral of St. Peter, for this reason it was decided to turn the colonnade towards Nevsky Prospect. This step made it possible to simultaneously create a "front" side zone and please the royal person. Few people know that it was not possible to fully implement the project conceived by Voronikhin.

The original plan of the Kazan Cathedral
The original plan of the Kazan Cathedral

The idea implied that the southern part of the cathedral would be a mirror image of the northern one, and it was there that the second colonnade was supposed to be located. If the original project still found its place in life, then today on Nevsky Prospect there would be a semblance of an alien starship.

Waiting angels

View of the Kazan Cathedral from the side of the Griboyedov Canal
View of the Kazan Cathedral from the side of the Griboyedov Canal

Continuing the theme of the differences between the conceived project and the finished cathedral, it is worth mentioning a couple of sculptures. To this day, the pedestals remain empty, and after all, archangels were supposed to sit on them. It is worth saying that they were not empty all the time. Until the 24th year of the 9th century, copies of the archangels made of plaster were located at the ends of the wings, which were planned to be replaced with the original bronze ones, but this never happened. Why?

View of the Kazan Cathedral from Kazanskaya Street
View of the Kazan Cathedral from Kazanskaya Street

The reason is not known. However, the people put forward their version on this score, saying that the archangels refused to take their place until an honest, worthy and wise politician appears in Russia! The bell tower and houses for the clergy were also supposed to become part of the cathedral, but when the project was approved, Paul wished to remove them, arguing that there was none of this in the Vatican.

Kutuzov's heart

Monument to M. I. Kutuzov near the Kazan Cathedral
Monument to M. I. Kutuzov near the Kazan Cathedral

For most scientists, the main mystery was the location of the heart of the mighty commander Mikhail Illarionovich. Many legends boil down to the fact that only Kutuzov's body was delivered to St. Petersburg, and his heart, by the will of the military leader himself, was left on the road to Prussia.

Monument to Field Marshal MI Kutuzov near the Kazan Cathedral
Monument to Field Marshal MI Kutuzov near the Kazan Cathedral

But meticulous scientists were not satisfied with this, and those, having decided to get to the bottom of the truth, in 1933 decided to open the grave located in the Kazan Cathedral. What do you think they found there? And there was a jar with an unbalanced "legendary" organ of the commander. Thus, the beautiful legend collapsed to smithereens.

Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism

Brochure "Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism"
Brochure "Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism"

The unique "humor" of the Soviet regime never ceases to amaze. The communists did not dare to destroy the temple. We "limited ourselves" to the removal of crosses, biplanes on the colonnade, portraits of the CPSU (b) ists and the leader.

Biplanes, portraits, the leader at the Kazan Cathedral
Biplanes, portraits, the leader at the Kazan Cathedral

The atheist museum has become the cherry on top. Cynicism, blasphemy, mockery … For such an act, even the name is difficult to find.

Exhibits of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism
Exhibits of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism

Icon of Our Lady of Kazan

Icon of Our Lady of Kazan (Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg)
Icon of Our Lady of Kazan (Kazan Cathedral of St. Petersburg)

The face of Our Lady of Kazan was located in the building of the cathedral, but then it was moved to the Prince-Vladimir Cathedral, and the legend about the transportation of the icon to the soldiers at the front sounds very doubtful.

The dome of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg
The dome of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg

Although, who knows, maybe the government of that time gave the appropriate permission, in an attempt to try all the variations. Rumor has it that it was this, in January 1944, that helped our soldiers. Currently, the face is located in its rightful place and is ready to serve numerous pilgrims with faith and truth.

The mysteries of St. Petersburg do not end there. Few people know the answer to the question how courtyards-wells appeared in the northern capital.

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