page_title: Kronstadt Naval Cathedral
section_title: Construction
hierarchical_section_title: Kronstadt Naval Cathedral / Construction
caption_attribution_description: Marine_Nicolaus_kathedral_altar.Kronstadt
context_page_description: The Naval cathedral of Saint Nicholas in Kronstadt is a Russian Orthodox cathedral built in 1903–1913 as the main church of the Russian Navy and dedicated to all fallen seamen. The cathedral was closed in 1929, was converted to a cinema, a House of Officers and a museum of the Navy.
  The Russian Orthodox Church reinstalled the cross on the main dome in 2002 and served the Divine Liturgy in the cathedral in 2005. In 2013, the Patriarch of Russia, with Prime Minister Dmitriy Medvedev and his spouse attending, conducted the ceremony of grand reconsecration in the now fully restored cathedral.
context_section_description: 27 October 1901, the 14,000 strong garrison of Kronstadt was summoned for the groundbreaking on Anchor Square. Earthwork and work on concrete foundations and a granite base continued through 1902; the walls were laid in a massive ceremony 8 May 1903, with the Emperor in attendance.
  Despite social unrest that culminated in the Russian revolution of 1905, the cathedral was structurally complete in 1907; heating and ventilation were operational in 1908, enabling year-round work on the finishes. In 1907, Kosyakov brothers switched to producing detailed drawings and instructions to craftsmen and suppliers of interior finishes. 19 August 1908, they presented the revised album of these drawings to the Romanovs. Nicholas and Alexandra responded with numerous amendments and changes that were implemented by spring of 1909.
  In summer of 1909 the external finishes were completed, and the scaffolds removed. The building was clad in black granite (base and columns) and yellow brick (walls) with terra cotta inserts. Inside, the iconostasis was made of marble from the Urals. The four portals were decorated with mosaic images of Theotokos, Saint Nicholas, Peter, Paul, John of Rila and Mitrofan of Voronezh by Foma Raylian. Most interior paintings were executed by the school of Mikhail Vasilyev; icons were painted by Appolon Troitsky. Adjacent park was designed by E. G. Gilbikh.
  The cathedral was equipped with an independent central heating and a central vacuum cleaning system employing a complex network of pressurized manifolds and valves. Electrical lighting employed 5 thousand light bulbs.
  The cathedral was consecrated in a public ceremony attended by Nicholas II and his family 10 June 1913. Total cost reached an unprecedented amount of 1,955,000 roubles, not including donations in kind and unpaid labor by the seamen and civilians.
caption: The marble icon screen
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2012:07:28 22:49:33", "Image ExifOffset": "156", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5411", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1118", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "668"}