Location : ST. ANDREW’S CATHEDRAL
Saint Petersburg.
The complex of St. Andrew’s Cathedral on Vasilyevsky Island includes several buildings: St. Andrew the First-Called Cathedral, a nearby church of the Three Ecumenical Saints, as well as the chapel of St. Equal-to-the-Apostles Grand Duke Vladimir. The first two churches, despite the lack of rich decoration characteristic of large cathedrals of the city, have a long history dating back to Peter I and are especially revered by parishioners of St. Petersburg.
Since 1725, residents of Vasilievsky Island have repeatedly requested the start of construction of this temple. As a result, a plot was allocated for construction – at the intersection of Bolshoi Prospekt and the 6th line. According to the plan of the architect D. A. Trezzini, a square was to appear nearby. In 1728 a forest was cut down here, and in 1729-1732 a wooden church was built. Her project, presumably, was composed by Carlo Giuseppe Trezzini. Money for its construction was bequeathed to one of the first gentlemen of the Order of St. Andrew – Admiral General Count F.M. Apraksin.
At first the temple was wooden, then the stone Church of the Three Saints appeared. In the same year, an old wooden building, standing nearby, burned down from a lightning strike. A few years later, according to the project of the architect A.F. Vista, St. Andrew’s Cathedral was built here, but did not have time to finish it, when the dome of the temple collapsed. In 1780, church services began in the cathedral, which continued even in the most difficult post-revolutionary times, when the building was looted.
Today St. Andrew’s Cathedral is a functioning Orthodox church and parishioners, like two hundred years ago, pray there on weekends and holidays.