Sophia Cathedral
| St. Sophia (Ascension) Cathedral Софийский (Вознесенский) собор |
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| Basic information | |
| Location | Pushkin, Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Geographic coordinates | 59°42′18.89″N 30°23′38.05″E / 59.7052472°N 30.3939028°E |
| Affiliation | Russian Orthodox |
| Rite | Orthodox |
| Municipality | Saint Petersburg, Tsarskoye Selo |
| State | Russia |
| Country | Russia |
| Year consecrated | 1788 (1989, 1999) |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Cathedral |
| Status | Active |
| Architectural description | |
| Architect(s) |
Charles Cameron, Ivan Starov; the bell tower - Leon Benois |
| Architectural type | Cathedral |
| Architectural style | Palladian |
| Groundbreaking | 1782 |
| Completed | 1788 |
| Specifications | |
| Direction of façade | West |
| Capacity | 5,000 |
| Dome(s) | 5 |
| Spire(s) | Stone, granite |
The Ascension Cathedral in the town of Sophia (now a part of Pushkin) in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg, was one of the first purely Palladian churches to be built in Russia. Rather paradoxically, it may also be defined as "the first example of Byzantinism in Russian architecture".
The cathedral was founded in July 1782 at the instigation of Catherine II of Russia as a reminder of her lifelong Greek Plan. The Tsarina, eager to liberate Constantinople from the Turks, wished to have a replica of the Hagia Sophia in the proximity of the Catherine Palace where she spent her summers. But the first project - an exact copy of the Hagia Sophia - was very expensive.
Then the Empress called upon her favourite architect, Charles Cameron, to design this "Byzantinesque" church, but the Scottish architect, though well versed in the Palladian idiom, had a vague idea of what Byzantine architecture stood for. His design called for an austere and monumental whitewashed exterior, with Doric porticoes on each side, probably a reference to the works of Lord Burlington.
Construction works, supervised by Ivan Starov, lasted for six years. In the eventual variant, the five wide domes were placed on squat drums, vaguely reminiscent of the Hagia Eirene. The church was consecrated on 28 May 1788 in the presence of the Empress. During the two decades that followed, the Imperial Academy of Arts had the interior adorned with Neoclassical paintings. A detached two-storied belltower was added considerably later, in 1905, to a design by Leon Benois.
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Wikipedia