SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Peterhof

Categories / Architecture/Architectural Monuments/Religious Architecture (see also Religion.Church)
Categories / Religion. Church/Places of Worship (see also Architecture and Urban Planning)
SS. PETER AND PAUL CATHEDRAL IN PETERHOF, located at 4/ 32 Sankt-Peterburgsky Avenue, Petrodvorets. An architectural monument in the Russian style. The construction project was ordered by Emperor Alexander III and commissioned by the Ministry of the Imperial Court. The construction, which lasted from 1894 to 1905 on the hill by Tsaritsyn Pond was overseen by architects N. V. Sultanov and builder V. A. Kosyakov (see Kosyakov Family) who designed the building in the shape of 16-17th centuries Russian architecture. The pyramidal building, which is 70 metres tall, is encircled with a covered gallery and crowned with five hip domes, holding 800 people. The walls are faced with dark red and light yellow bricks and embellished with sandstone columns and glazed tiles, and the apse features decorative arches. Earlier the facades had been adorned with icons of saints and patrons of the members of the Imperial family. The hip-roofed belfry and a chapel are located near the entrance. The interior paintings were ordered by Sultanov and done by Moscow craftspeople N. M. Safonov, V. I. Kolupaev and Palekh icon painters; the icons on bronze plaques were made by V. P. Guryanov. The main altar boasts a five-tier iconostasis made of glazed tiles; the other iconostases are from white marble. In 1938, SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral was closed down. During the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, it was damaged and used as a storehouse. In the 1970s-80s, the Cathedral was restored (architect E. P. Sevastyanov), and in 1989 - returned to the eparchy; in 1994 the main altar was consecrated anew.

References: Султанов Н. В. Описание новой придворной церкви свв. и первоверховных апостолов Петра и Павла, что в Новом Петергофе. Репр. изд. 1905 г. СПб., 1992; Фролов В. А Храм Петра и Павла в Петергофе: Особенности архит.-образного решения // Краеведческие записки: Исслед. и материалы. СПб., 2001. Вып. 8. С. 91-117.

S. V. Boglachev. Alexander III, Emperor
Guryanov Vasily Pavlovich
Kolupaev V.I.
Kosyakov Vladimir Antonovich
Safonov Nikolay Mikhailovich
Sevastyanov E.P.
Sultanov Nikolay Vladimirovich
Sankt-Peterburgsky Avenue/Peterhoff, town, house 32/4
Султанов Н. В. Описание новой придворной церкви свв. и первоверховных апостолов Петра и Павла, что в Новом Петергофе. Репринт. изд. 1905 г. СПб., 1992
Фролов В. А. Храм Петра и Павла в Петергофе: Особенности архитектурно-образного решения // Краеведческие записки. СПб., 2001 Ministry of the Imperial Court
St. Petersburg Eparchy