Nevsky Prospekt - part 2 (Kazan Cathedral)

Our Lady of Kazan. 17th-century copy
of the icon from the Elokhovo Cathedral in Moscow.

(Source: Wikipedia--public domain)

Our next focus on the Nevsky Prospekt is the Kazan Cathedral.
This is a 19th century painting of Kazan Cathedral (source: Wikipedia; public domain)

Whilst taking a stroll along Nevsky Prospekt you cannot fail to notice the impressive Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan. Kazan Cathedral, constructed between 1801 and 1811 by the architect Andrei Voronikhin, was built to an enormous scale and boasts an impressive stone colonnade, encircling a small garden and central fountain. The cathedral was inspired by the Basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome and was intended to be the country’s main Orthodox Church. After the war of 1812 (during which Napoleon was defeated) the church became a monument to Russian victory. Captured enemy banners were put in the cathedral and the famous Russian Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, who won the most important campaign of 1812, was buried inside the church.

The cathedral was named after the "miracle-making" icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which the church housed till the early 1930s. The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral for services in 1929, and from 1932 it housed the collections of the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism, which displayed numerous pieces of religious art and served anti-religious propaganda purposes. A couple of years ago regular services were resumed in the cathedral, though it still shares the premises with the museum, from whose name the word "atheism" has now been omitted.

(The photo and two paragraphs above come from here.)
Here is my photo of the end of one of the colonnades, the one near the statue of Kutuzov.
Here you can see the pediment and the dome.
This photo can give you an idea of the massive scale of the cathedral. The ladies at the foot of the stairs were begging for alms.

We went inside and attended most of the Divine Liturgy (Mass), as was our intention. We stood far from the sanctuary where we could observe without being out of place. I noticed one especially pious lady and took my cues from her on when to bow and when to cross myself (right side first in the eastern fashion).
--the BB