St.Isaac's Cathedral, Saint Petersburg

The Horse Guards Riding School is another impressive building found in the heart of the city.

Located just near St Isaac’s Cathedral, this large white building used to, not surprisingly, be home to the training school for mounted guards – a place for them to train in bad weather.

These days this impressive building houses exhibitions. Check out the fabulous horse statues at either side of the front entrance.

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St Isaac's Cathedral is a very impressive looking domed cathedral located in the heart of St Petersburg. It is one of the largest domed buildings in the world.

The inside of the cathedral is "richly decorated" (or in my opinion over the top!) and has a painted ceiling.

At 320 feet high it is a prominent landmark in St Petersburg. The best thing about it is that you can climb up to the top of the dome for fabulous views across the city.

Tickets are purchased in the street to the right of the front of the cathedral, and you can buy tickets to go inside the cathedral, or you can just buy a ticket that allows you to climb to the top, as we did (and when you are up there you can look through the windows and see what the inside looks like!).

Oh, and if you want to take photos....even from the top of the cathedral, you have to pay extra! There was a guard up there checking on this.

Views were great, well worth the climb!

Open Thu-Tue 11am-6pm

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The construction of St. Isaac's Cathedral started in 1818 and took almost 40 years.

It was the main Russian Orthodox Church of St. Petersburg, but under the Soviets it was used as an antireligious museum.

Don't miss to climb the colonnade of the Cathedral which offers panoramic views of St. Petersburg.

Directions:
St. Isaac's Cathedral dominates the silhouette of St. Petersburg at the river Neva. It is located at Isaakievskaya Plochad, not far from the Western end of Nevsky Prospect (Metro: Nevsky Prospect).

Website: http://www.cathedral.ru/

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Having a boat trip along the city canals you will see lots of magnificent edifices. his is the golden dome of St.Isaac's Cathedral built in 1818 - 1848.
St.Isaac was the patron saint of Peter the Great.
According to the legend, St.Isaac lived in the fourth century A.D.
He protected Christians from the Roman Emperor, for which he was subjected to severe punishment.
This edifice was one of the most impressive edifices of its time: it's 111.5 m long,
97.6 m wide and 101.5 m high!
The cathedral could hold 14.000 people at the same time.
You can see splendid bronze sculptures and fine collonades, massive doors.
I remember visiting St.Isaac's cathedral and walking around it enjoying the site.
It is a very impressive edifice, both inside and outside.
It was interesting to listen to the guided tour of the cathedral and learn about its construction - the efforts, material and the enthusiasm they invested into it!
Visiting St.Isaac's Cathedral you will see the monument to Nickolas the First in front of it.
The statue is unique, too: the emperor's horse stands on its hind legs and is only supported by its tail. It is unique in this respect.
It looks very impressive indeed!

St. Isaac's Cathedral is considered to be one of the world's most beautiful cathedrals. But no need to remind me - tastes differ greatly. It was originally the city's main church and the largest cathedral in Russia. It was built between 1818 and 1858 and named in honor of St.Isaac of Dalmatia.

It is open six days a week, except on Wednesdays!!

The massive St. Isaac's Cathedral dominates the skyline of St. Petersburg. Its gilded dome soars over 100 meters into the air, making it visible far out onto the Gulf of Finland.

The Cathedral was commissioned by Alexander I in 1818, ook more than three decades to complete and Its architect August Monferrand incorporated dozens of kinds of stone and marble into this enormous structure while lading its vast interior with frescoes, mosaics, bas-reliefs and the largest stained glass window in the Orthodox Christian world.

A must see! Oddly enough much of my major sites and ALL my pics were taken the last 3 days of my lengthy stay in St Petersburg. I had no confidence in my hosts photographic abilities so I borrowed a camera and raced through the city to get pics from all the places I saw.

As it turned out it was good I did as my hosts pics from the entire month were ruined by some camera malfunction and not a single pic turned out OK. It pays to think ahead da?;-)

View from the top of St Isaacs Cathedral.

After missing this the 1st time on a rainy day when I walked way too much(in the RAIN) I returned my last day and breezed into the cathedral with my friends tour as a guest.

The view is magnificent.

Pictures are good, but in person it's much more impressive. When you visit St. Isaac's Cathedral, you will learn about how it survived Nazi destruction in WW2, about the life of the Architect, who was obscure yet whose dome invention would be used to make the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.

The italain mosaic art about the cathedral is quite captivating and as you look up you'll see heavenly arches and more beautiful light and art. If you are in a hurry in St. Petersburg and want to see a cathedral, do go to St. Isaac Cathedral first.

I believe it costs approximately $50-100 Ruples to take pictures inside. Otherwise you can purchase a picture book for about the same cost with professional quality pictures. You'll need between 30 minutes and an hour to enjoy this. It is usually quite crowded here but an important thing to add to your list of activities to do in St. Petersburg.

The "imperial" style set the tone for Russia with "green space" all aound. Fortunately even the Soviet system saw the truth and need in the grace such spaces afforded and continued the practice to the current day. But this is an example of the "old world" planing, Peter Square directly in front with St. Issac's Catrhedral as the background.