Kazan Cathedral Design in St.Petersburg
Right after the victory over Napoleon army (1812), Russian achitecht Andrey Voronikhin got a difficult order. Tsar Aleksander wanted him to design an imperial style cathedral, with massive colonnade “like St.Peter Cathedral in Rome”. Definitely the main entrance of the Cathedral had to face Nevski avenue, the main street of the capital city. At the same time the cathedral was to be the orthodox church, so the main entrance had to be oriented to the West.
Solution
Voronikhin decorated a small obscure door to the North (Nevsky prospect) by the massive St.Peter’s style colonnade. If you walk the avenue, you will never say that it is not the main entrance. But in fact, the main entrance which is used by believers, with big heavily decorated gates faces the West, as it supposed to be in Orthodox Church. The colonnade hides the real entrance to the Cathedral telling the message of separation the real spiritual life from parade, crowded and always busy Nevsky avenue.
