. The travels of théophile Gautier. .^ W^ J^ ST. ISAACS WHEN the traveller who has proceeded up theGulf of Finland, nears St. Petersburg, thefirst object upon which his glance rests isthe dome of bt. Isaacs, placed upon the skyline of thecity like a golden mitre. If the sky is clear and thesunlight strikes the dome, the effect is first impression is the correct one, the one to beremembered. The church of St. Isaacs shines in thevery first rank among the religious edifices which adornthe capital of all the Russias. Of modern constructionand recently inaugurated, it may be consid
. The travels of théophile Gautier. .^ W^ J^ ST. ISAACS WHEN the traveller who has proceeded up theGulf of Finland, nears St. Petersburg, thefirst object upon which his glance rests isthe dome of bt. Isaacs, placed upon the skyline of thecity like a golden mitre. If the sky is clear and thesunlight strikes the dome, the effect is first impression is the correct one, the one to beremembered. The church of St. Isaacs shines in thevery first rank among the religious edifices which adornthe capital of all the Russias. Of modern constructionand recently inaugurated, it may be considered a super-human effort of contemporary architecture. Seldomhas so short a time elapsed between the laying of thefoundation stone and that of the coping stone. An all-powerful will which nothing could resist, noteven material obstacles, and which did not hesitate atany sacrifice, is mainly responsible for this miracle ofcelerity. Begun in 1819 under Alexander I, continuedsteadily under Nicholas, and completed under Alexander 240. ST. ISAACS II, in 1855, St. Isaacs is a complete temple finishedinternally and externally, of absolute unity of style,bearing its fixed date and its authors name. It is not,like many cathedrals, the slow product of time, a crys-tallisation of centuries in which each epoch has, as itwere, secreted its own stalactite, and which too oftenthe sap of faith, stopped or slowed in its course, hasbeen unable to traverse to the end. The symbolicalcrane, that surmounts unfinished churches, such as thecathedrals of Cologne and Seville, never figured uponSt. Isaacs: uninterrupted labour has brought it in lessthan forty years to the point of perfection visible aspect of the church recalls St. Peters in Rome,the Pantheon of Agrippa, St. Pauls in London, in Paris, and the Dome of the the architect, Ricard de Montferrand, had to erect achurch with a cupola, he was bound to study that kindof buildings, and to profit, while mainta
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