The directory «Plots of stamps in the catalogue»

Kazan Cathedral

The vast Kazan Cathedral on the Nevsky Prospect in St Petersburg was modelled by Andrey Voronikhin after St Peter's Basilica in Rome. Although the Russian Orthodox Church strongly disapproved of the plans to create a replica of the Popish cathedral in the Russian capital, several courtiers infatuated with Roman Catholicism supported Voronikhin's Empire Style design. The construction was started in 1801 and continued for 10 years.

After Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812, and the commander-in-chief Mikhail Kutuzov asked Our Lady of Kazan for help, the church's purpose was to be altered. The Patriotic War over, the cathedral was perceived primarily as a memorial to the Russian victory against Napoleon. Kutuzov himself was interred in the cathedral in 1813, and Alexander Pushkin wrote celebrated lines meditating over his sepulchre. In 1815 keys to 17 cities and 8 fortresses were brought by the victorious Russian army from Europe and placed in the cathedral's sacristy. In 1837, they erected two magnificent bronze statues of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly in front of the cathedral.

In 1876, the first political demonstration in Russia took place in front of the church. After the Russian Revolution, the cathedral was closed. In 1932 it was reopened as the Atheism Museum. Services were resumed in 1998, and four years later the cathedral was returned to the Russian Orthodox Church. Now it is the mother cathedral of St Petersburg metropoly.

The cathedral's interior, with its endless columns, echoes a ponderous outward colonnade and reminds one of a sumptuous palacial hall (69 meters in length, 62 meters in height). The interior features numerous sculptures and icons executed by the best Russian artists of the day. A wrought iron grille, separating the cathedral from a small square behind, is sometimes cited as one of the finest ever created. In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, as in the famous elliptically curving colonnades that Bernini added to the facade of Saint Peters Basilica in Rome, which embrace and define the Piazza.

Montenegro, 2011, Kazan catidral

Russia, 2002, Barklay Monument near Kazan Cathedrals

Russia, 2002, Kolumns of Kazan Cathedral

Russia, 2011, Kazan Cathidral, monuments to Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly

Sao Tome e Principe, 2003, Kazan Cathedral and Kutuzov Monument

USSR, 1960, Voronikhin and Kazan cathedral

Russia, 2011.09.20—25, Sankt-Petersburg. Bicentenary of Kazan Cathidral

USSR, 1969.01.21, Leningrad. Kazan Cathedral

USSR, 1990.05.09, Leningrad. Kazan Cathedral

Russia, 1997, Kutuzov Monument in Sankt-Peterburg

Russia, 2002, Stamps to 300th Anniv of Sankt-Peterburg

Russia, 2003, Kazan Cathedral

Russia, 2004, Kazan Cathedral

Russia, 2008, Saint-Petersburg. Kazansky cathedral

Russia, 2011, Bicentenary of Kazan Cathedral

USSR, 1965, Cupola of Kazan Cathedral

USSR, 1972, Fragment of Kazan Cathedral

USSR, 1976, Kazan Cathedral

USSR, 1978, Kazan Cathedral, Kutuzov monument

Russia, 2007, Aleksandr Stroganov, Kazan cathedral

Russia, 2009, Kazan Cathidral

USSR, 1970.11.10, Kazan Cathedral, Kutuzov monument

USSR, 1970.11.10, Fragment of Kazan cathedral

USSR, 1972.09.13, Kazan Cathedral, Kutuzov monument

USSR, 1972.09.13, Fragment of Kazan cathedral

USSR, 1972.10.18, Kazan Cathedral, Kutuzov monument

USSR, 1973.09.14, Leningrad. Kazan Cathedral

USSR, 1973.12.13, Leningrad. Kazan Cathedral

USSR, 1974.04.08, Kazan Cathedral, Kutuzov monument

USSR, 1979.10.19, Fragment of Kazan cathedral

USSR, 1980.10.03, Kazan Cathedral, Kutuzov monument

USSR, 1990.12.24, Kazan Cathedral, Kutuzov monument