184.9.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL, 



THE CHURCH OF ST. ISAAC AT ST. PETERSBURG. 



EKECTED BY THE CHEVALIER DE MONTFERRAND. 



( With an Engraving, Plate II. J 



Description of the Church of St. Isaac at St. Petershurfj. By 

 T. L. Do.vALDso.v, Esq. — (Paper read at the Royal Institute of 

 British Architects.) 



One of the most important features of this Institute is the nohle 

 body of distinguished professors of our art, who compose the list 

 of honorary and corresponding members. It forms the immediate 

 link of connection between the professional men of this and 

 foreign lands. We have thus the privilege of knowing the impos- 

 ing edifices which arise in the principal cities of the continent, 

 and are stimulated by their example, instructed by their genius. 

 If in point of some facilities in matters of construction, we have 

 the advantage of them, they, on tlie other hand, have more fre- 

 quently tlie o]iportunities of bringing into co-operation the sister 

 arts, and by the abundance of the means placed at their disposal, 

 can more profusely adorn their edifices by the production of the 

 pencil and the chisel, and by an abundance of rare and exquisite 

 materials, such as granite, marble, bronze, and precious stones, 

 can give that splendour of enrichment, in vain to be looked for in 

 our modern buildings, until the present completion of the House 

 of Lords, by our distinguished member, Charles Barry. 



I have had occasion in a previous session to call your attention 

 to the stupendous column of Alexander, erected by the present 

 Emperor of Russia, to the memory of his predecessor and beloved 

 brother, after the designs of the Chevalier de Montferrand. In 

 that work we particularly admired the monolithic shaft of granite, 

 and the mechanical means employed in the elevation of the huge 

 block. The chevalier, our honorary and corresponding member, 

 has since favoured us by sending to the library a superb volume, 

 illustrative of the magnificent church of St. Isaac, just completed: 

 a niouunieut of such leading consequence in every respect, and 

 holding so important a rank in the cathedral churches of Europe, 

 that it well deserves a passing notice, as introducing us to a peculiar 

 combination of plan, and an application of granite and iron, and 

 other ingenious processes, on so large a scale, and in some points 

 of so novel a nature, as to be very instructive and interesting. 



The origin of the church of St. Isaac dates from the foundation 

 of the city of St. Petersburg; for Peter the Great conceived the 

 idea of erecting a place of worship under the invocation of this 

 saint; but he was not able to do more than construct a provisional 

 church of wood in the Naval Yard, which was shortly after burned. 

 The Czar then laid the foundation, in 1717, of the second church 

 of St. Isaac, not far from the Neva, on the site of the present 

 palace of the Senate. 



This church was also partly burned by fire in 1735, and the 

 quarter of St. Isaac becoming more populous, and a place of 

 greater resort, the Empress Catherine directed the erection of a 

 new church in honour of this saint, in that part of the city, and 

 the architect Rinaldi prepared the designs, and it was commenced 

 in 1768. It was intended to build this church entirely of marble, 

 but the death of the Czarina took place when it had only been 

 carried up as high as the entablature, and the Emperor Paul I., 

 anxious to clear away the immediate vicinity of the church, in 

 order to render the site less obstructed, and the original plan 

 more complete, directed the architect Breinia to finish it provi- 

 sionally; in the mean time omitting or diminishing some of the 

 principal features, until its proper completion, when a develoj>- 

 ment more commensurate with the ideas of the emperor, the 

 church, and the people, could be carried into effect. 



Tiie plan of this church was strictly in conformity with the tra- 

 dition and usages of the Greek church, the national rite of the 

 Russian empire. It consisted of a Greek cross, of four equal 

 arms, having apsidal ends, the intersection or crux of the arms 

 being surmounted by a dome with four abutting chapels at the 

 angles, also surmounted by internal domes and exterior steeples. 

 Tliere was a projecting tower at the west end advancing consider- 

 ably in front of the mass of the church, with a lofty steeple and 

 entrance doorway; and there were doorways at the north and south 

 at the ends of the transepts. There were three inconostases of 

 the class described by Herr Hallman, in his able paper on the 

 Greco-Russian Church, contained in the second part of the 

 "Transactions of the Institute." The plan, therefore, is simple 

 and majestic — its parts well defined and presenting a great variety 

 of effects. The perspective view also offers a busy and pic- 

 turesque aspect. The lofty spire and the central dome, sur- 

 rounded by its four minor turrets, has an effective and distinct 



character, devoid of monotony, although perhaps not very pure in 

 detail, or severe iu its composition as a whole. The outside di- 

 mension of the square mass of the church was 173 feet. Its 

 greatest width from outside to outside of the apsidal ends of the 

 transept was 222 feet. Its extreme external length from the front 

 of the tower to the exterior of the eastern apsis 280 feet; conse- 

 quently it was an edifice of no mean dimensions. 



The magnificent ideas of the emperor, who desired to have a 

 temple commensurate with the vast empire over which his rule ex- 

 tended, led him to submit to public competition the project for the 

 new fabric, but none of the plans submitted seemed calculated to 

 meet the jiublic expectations. 



Alexander the First then directed the Chevalier de Montferrand 

 to prepare designs, with the express command, to preserve as much 

 as possible the old church, particularly the space occupied by the 

 three inconostases, or altar screens, already consecrated. Many 

 projects were consequently submitted to the Czar, who adopted 

 one, which seemed best adapted to the special purpose of its desti- 

 nation, and combining best with the buildings by which it was 

 more immediately surrounded. 



In order to carry the works into effect, the architect immedi- 

 ately proceeded to clear the locality and to erect spacious work- 

 shops, offices for the clerks, habitations for certain of the police 

 and officials, barracks for a military guard, a steam-engine, and 

 other indispensable contrivances. 



The foundations were immediately excavated to the depth of 

 above 33 feet below the surface of the ground. Fir piles were then 

 driven throughout the whide extent, 12 inches in diameter and 21 

 feet in length, their distance apart being equal to tlieir diameter. 

 The earth around the heads of the piles was cleared to the depth 

 of 14. inches, and charcoal driven in to fill up the vacuity, and the 

 whole surface presented 10,762 piles. 



Upon these were placed two courses of granite, composed of 

 large blocks. The points of support, and particularly the founda- 

 tions of the four piers of the dome, were also carried up in solid 

 granite, and the rest filled up with ordinary construction, but 

 forming a regular mass of compact masonry throughout the whole 

 surface of the monument. 



While these works were proceeding, the architect was directed 

 to proceed to Finland, to e.xamine the quarries whence were to be 

 extracted the forty-eight monolithic blocks for the shafts of the 

 columns of the portico. These quarries are situated in two small 

 islands on the shores of the Gulf of Finland, between Vibourg and 

 Fredericsham. These shafts in the rough were 7 feet in diameter 

 and 56 feet long. They were embarked two on a vessel, and then 

 transported by the Neva to St. Petersburg, and there finished off. 

 These columns are certainly the largest ever employed for such a 

 purpose. Those of the Pantheon at Rome are only between 

 46 and 47 feet long, and they exceed in size any others of antiquity 

 now remaining. The peristyle of the dome has 24 columns, 42 feet 

 high. Those noble columns, which many of us know, in the Baths 

 of Diocletian, and those in the Baths of Caracalla, are only 38 feet 

 high. 



Again, there are 32 columns in the steeples of this church, also 

 monoliths; they are 30 feet high — thus presenting a series of 104 

 monolithic columns in granite ; in number and size, and costliness 

 of material, excelling every other monument of ancient or modern 

 times. 



We will now proceed to consider the plan of the building, which 

 presents the elementary type of the Greek cross. (The engrav- 

 ing, Plate II., exhibits one half of the plan, the south side of the 

 cathedral, the otlier half being precisely similar.) This, however, 

 is hardly marked with such distinctness as in the older church, 

 there being several supplementary chapels and vestibules, which 

 give somewhat of complexity to the arrangement. In the centre 

 is the intersection of the four equal arms of the cross, surmounted 

 by the dome; and again at the extreme angles of the parallelo- 

 gram are four square divisions, surmounted by the four steeples. 

 The church is placed due east and west — .the altar to the east, 

 with its several iconostases, and the principal entrance at the west, 

 with its three doorways under an octastyle portico, projecting only 

 one intercolumniation from the body of the building. The east 

 end has a similar portico. In the ordinary arrangement of 

 churches we should expect that the west end would form the prin- 

 cipal entrance, and consequently would receive the greater degree 

 of embellishment. But in this instance there are two nobl'i por- 

 ticoes at the ends of the north and south transepts; octastyle, 

 like those at the east and west end, but having a depth of three 

 intercolumniations, instead of one, with deeply-recessed large 

 niches, the whole composition being in imitation of that at the 

 Pantheon of Rome in every respect. Apparently, this greater 



