Вестник Екатеринбургской духовной семинарии (Mar 2023)
The Sacral Architectural Dominants at Saint Petersburg of the Late 18th Century: the Cathedral of Catherine II and the Castle of Paul I
Abstract
The connection of St. Michael’s Castle as an imperial residence with the medieval European image of a fortress-church and with the legend about the Archangel Michael’s appearance indicates that Paul I opposed this new architectural expression of Russian absolutism to the construction of architectural sacral dominant in the imperial capital (St. Isaac’s Cathedral) by Catherine II according to the patterns of ancient Rome. The interpretation of this cathedral as the temple of Peter the Great is traced in the poetic texts of that time very clearly. When starting the construction of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, Catherine II followed the ancient Roman model of self-sacralization of a ruler: the latter used to build a temple, dedicated to his predecessor (who had been sacralized already). Comparison of the rituals of foundation of St. Isaac’s Cathedral in 1768 and St. Michael’s Castle in 1797 is of specific interest in the context of information about other similar ceremonies of that time, connected with both church and secular buildings. At the laying of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, Catherine II just “duplicated” the actions of bishop, while Paul I pushed bishop into the background when founding the St. Michael’s Castle. One can assume that Paul I desired to replace the concept of the ensemble, combining St. Isaac’s Cathedral and the equestrian statue of Peter I, by another centre, which united St. Michael’s Castle with, so to say, Paul’s personal “Bronze Horseman” (the sculpture by Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli). When St. Michael’s Castle was finished its sacral status was indicated by the inscription, placed on its southern facade (the edited quote from Ps 92. 5 — «God’s holiness befits Your house forevermore»). Paul I perceived his castle as an architectural antithesis to the cathedral of his mother. He tried to escape from the eclectic space of elegant religious and political game of Catherine II to the area of serious, non-gaming and somewhat “ponderous” Middle Ages. But due to the irreversibility of historical process he had to remain within a discourse of game. Perhaps this circumstance can be considered as at least one of the sources of that sense of tragedy, which is associated with Paul’s Pre-Romanticism so clearly.
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