Kazan Cathedral encircles a small square with a striking double row of beautiful columns. The architect Andrei Voronikhin, who built the church in 1801-1811, was inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. After the War of 1812, the church became a monument to the Russian victory over Napoleon. Captured enemy banners were put in the cathedral and the famous Russian field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, who won the most important campaign of 1812, was buried inside the church. The cathedral was named after a "miracle-making" icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which the church housed till the early 1930s. The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral for services in 1929, and from 1932 it housed the collections of the Museum of History of Religion and Atheism.
Kazan Cathedral encircles a small square with a striking double row of beautiful columns. The architect Andrei Voronikhin, who built the church in 1801-1811, was inspired by St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. After the War of 1812, the church became a monument to the Russian victory over Napoleon. Captured enemy banners were put in the cathedral and the famous Russian field marshal Mikhail Kutuzov, who won the most important campaign of 1812, was buried inside the church. The cathedral was named after a "miracle-making" icon of Our Lady of Kazan, which the church housed till the early 1930s. The Bolsheviks closed the cathedral for services in 1929, and from 1932 it housed the collections of the Museum of History of Religion and Atheism.