A beautiful city - Churches, day 2

The day began with a hot shower, thermals, breakfast and a student meeting. It was definitely going to be a busy Friday as we had to fit in visits to 3 of the most notable churches in St Petersburg and a trip to the opera at the Mariinsky Theatre.

Kazan Cathedral

The scale of this church is breathtaking.

It is a very austere building from the outside, built to resemble St Peter's in Rome, and yet inside it is beautiful and calm, filled with hugh pink granite columns.



Photo taken inside the cathedral from http://stpetersburg-guide.com/history/kazan.shtml


 
We were amazingly lucky as the church had only a few visitors, but to one side a small mass was taking place which we could stand and watch. The singing of the choir and the priests was beautiful and filled the vast space. However this was no static service; the congregation consisted of a handful of women who stood and moved with the priests as they went from altar, to table with drink being poured by women from a large teapot like vessel, back to altar, over to bow and cross themselves and kiss a holy relic and back to one of the altars again.
For a while a group of us sat in quiet contemplation of this beautiful building, but beware don't cross your legs or one of the women who wander around making sure we behave ourselves will tsk you and make you uncross them. I read later that it is considered rude to cross your legs on a bus (and to blow your nose noisily) so perhaps it is rude everywhere in Russia.

Church of the Resurrection of Christ 'On Spilled Blood'

Built on the spot where Tsar Alexander II was mortally wounded it was used during the Soviet period as a warehouse and suffered damage in the second world war. It reopened in 1997 after almost 30 years of restoration. This is the truly jigsaw worthy image of a Russian church. It was absolutely mind blowing in the decoration of it.


Not the traditional view, but the view from across the busy road outside the Kazan Cathedral



The exterior is so impressively opulent after the severity of the Kazan Cathedral and this was the type of building I'd been looking forward to seeing. I thought this was impressive enough, but when you open the door and go inside the beauty and colour is awe inspiring. Every possible surface of the walls and ceilings are covered in mosaics of golds and other rich colours. I had to keep reminding myself that everything was mosaiced, the detail made you believe you were looking at paintings.

      

  

 




Proof that students came too. Loving the foot ware.

The donations boxes in the churches always seem to need emptying, and notes look much more generous than coins, but some of these notes are only worth about 35p 

To be continued ........