On 30 October 1748, Empress Elizabeth I ordered to found the Smolny Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Construction lasted for about a century. Architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli started to build it in 1748 and went on till 1763. His work was continued by architect Vasily Stasov from 1832 to 1835.
Compositionally, it was a cross-type complex. Four churches, built around the Cathedral at the junction of cellular buildings, rhythmically reproduce symmetry of its side domes, and thus are diagonally connected with five central domes.
Cupolas of the corner temples are flanked with twin chapels, which emphasize outer corners of the fence. Thus, the monastery buildings are dimensionally connected with the outside fence. The whole ensemble is permeated with rhythm and makes us to fix eyes on the central part of the composition and look up: fence towers first, then the cupolas of the corner temples, and finally five central domes.
Subordination of space and volume of the Cathedral is based on the golden ratio rule and shape of the Greek cross. The five-dome temple is seen as a centre of the four-dome monastery square that is inscribed in a star of the ten-tower fence. The main axis from west to east, which is a bell tower, the cathedral, and an eastern building stress the meaning of the monastery as a temple. The eastern building with Empress's cells looks as if an altar. The Monastery's composition including the temple and buildings, which become higher to the centre and facade, is a huge five-dome ship-like temple, the perfect type of orthodox architecture.
In 1749, Rastrelli revised the Monastery's project and designed a gate bell tower, which was higher than the famous Ivan the Great Bell Tower of the Moscow Kremlin complex.
However, due to lack of construction funds, Rastrelli changed the shape of five domes and made the building higher in the late 1750s. He brings the diagonally located lacy towers of the side domes nearer to the drum of the central cupola; now these were bell towers.
The cupola, the drum, and the bell towers were supported by massive pylons, which were decorated with Corinthian columns inside. The Cathedral has quite classical proportions. The architect visually separated the upper and the lower parts of the building. The lower part seems too wide and fits into a gap between side buildings like a smart pavilion. The Cathedral's foundation has a tinge of palace and temporal architecture. The five domes above it look surprisingly light and directed towards heaven like five candles.
The last design of the Monastery was approved in 1750. Rastrelli was assisted by students F. Strelnikov and V. Petrov, who were sent from the Chancellery. Francesco Bartolomeo supervised the design and construction processes.
From 1750 to 1756, a wooden model of the big cathedral and the entire Novo-Dyevitchiy Convent of the Resurrection was made in accordance with tested designs and profiles. However, as soon as May 14, 1751, it was moved to the Smolny Cathedral. Now, the model is kept in the Scientific and Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts. It helps to fully imagine the Rastrelli's unrealized idea.
A bell tower, which, unfortunately, remained on paper, is especially interesting. It is 140 metres (460 ft) high. The first tier was meant to be used as a triumphal arch — a front gate to the Monastery. The second tier was a gate church, as is common for many Orthodox monasteries. And four upper tiers were a belfry itself. Domes of the model can be moved so that you can examine the Rastrelli's interior design. It was planed to face it with pink and light grey marble, to gold-plate column capitals and all decorative elements.
In August 1762, Empress Catherine II issued a suspension order for a year, which suspended Rastrelli and let him go to Italy to receive treatment. One year later he was completely discharged.
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