Kazan Cathedral

This guide to Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospect follows Andrei Voronikhin, a serf boy freed by his patron Count Stroganov, who designs a cathedral bold enough to rival St Peter's in Rome despite the Orthodox Church's objections. It traces the ten years of serf labor that raised the curved colonnade, and General Kutuzov's visit here to pray before riding out to face Napoleon in 1812. Listen for the mention of the war trophies once kept in the sacristy just behind you.