ABSTRACT
Trezzini’s design of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul represents a radical departure from traditional Russian church architecture, based on a centralized, cross-domed plan. Here Trezzini created an elongated rectangular structure, whose modest baroque dome, on the eastern end, is subordinate to the tower and spire placed over the west entrance. Indeed, the tower was the main focus of Peter’s interest, and had priority over the rest of the structure, which was not completed until 1732. Rapid construction of the tower not only created a platform from which Peter could, in his obsessive way, survey construction progress over the entire area, but it also provided a frame for the carillon, with chiming clock, that he had commissioned in Holland. By 1717 Trezzini had completed the basic structure of the tower (the spire was assembled in 1720), and in 1720 the carillon was installed. By 1723 the spire, gilded and surmounted with an angel holding a cross, reached a height of 112 meters, which exceeded the bell tower of Ivan the Great by 32 meters.
