SCURK HALL OF FAME

The following is quoted from Lee's Web Page describing this building. "Named after the patron saint of Peter the Great, the colossal St. Isaac's Cathedral dominates the Saint Petersburg skyline as the largest orthodox cathedral in the city. Commissioned by Czar Alexander I in 1818, the present 300,000 ton building was finally completed in 1858 after 40 years of construction. Architect Auguste Ricard de Montferrand embellished his heavily classical design with a gilded dome covered with 100 kilograms of pure gold. The monolithic columns of the austere exterior porches are of pink Vyborg granite and reach over 50 feet high and weigh 114 tons each. The interior is lavishly decorated with immense quantities of gilding, lapis lazuli, and malachite, creating a sumptuously grand worship space. Ironically, St. Isaac, in whose name all this titanic magnificence was done, was a relatively obscure Dalmatian monk."