One of the largest cathedrals in St. Petersburg. Impressive neoclassical exterior, richly decorated interior. The temple was built by Andrew Voronikhin in the years 1801-1811 and is the best of his creations. Paul I has set the task of the architect to build a cathedral, like the Vatican's St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. This is what the prototype he owes his great colonnade facing the Nevsky As planned Voronikhin same Colonnade was to be on the other side, but it was never implemented. By fate just built in 1811, the cathedral became a monument of Russian victories over Napoleonic France in the Patriotic War of 1812. Includes the tomb of Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, hero of the war of 1812. And in 1837, statues of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly, by Boris Orlovsky, were installed on the square in front of the temple. It is also interesting to note that on the north side of the cathedral (leaving on Nevsky) there is a bronze copy of the "Gate of Paradise" by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the Florentine Baptistery. A copy was made by caster Basil Ekimov. In 1930 the cathedral was closed, and in 1932 a unique museum of the history of religion and atheism was set up here. Now the museum moved into the building on Post Office Street, and once again this is a cathedral church.