Kazan Cathedral built between 1801-1811 to the design of architect Voronikhin, is a masterpiece of this distinguished Russian architect. Because of the dates of its construction the cathedral was regarded by contemporaries as a kind of the War of 1812 memorial - Russian Napoleonic campaign. It is necessary to notice that the cathedral was built exceptionally of the home manufactured wares and only by local architects, thus from the very beginning the accent was made on patriotism. The Kazan Cathedral had unusual construction. As it should have been resembled to St. Peter's Cathedral and the Santa-Maria-Magiore in Rome, so the colonnade should have closed the area, but Voronikhin found the solution. The colonnade of the Kazan Cathedral is disclosed to the Nevsky prospekt. This architectural solution let Voronikhin the chance to create a great masterpiece. Nevsky prospekt stretches from the west to the east, and in same way orthodox temples are organized: in the west is an entrance, to the east is the altar, thus the Cathedral corresponds to the all canons.

In 1811 citizens of Saint Petersburg admired the new cathedral that became the largest temple in the city of that time. The height of the cathedral was impressive 71,5 meters. Inside and outside the cathedral was adorned with unique columns made of large granite monolith weighing 30 tons each. The Patriotic War of 1812 became a crucial point in the history of the cathedral. The temple constructed to house the miracle-power icon of Lady of Kazan was turned into the treasury of the victory relics and became a sort of museum of Russian war glory. The captured enemy banners and the keys of the French cities surrendered to the Russian Army are displayed here. Also there is a tomb of Field-Marshal Kutuzov who was commander-in-chief at that time. The monuments in front of the cathedral created by the sculptor Orlovsky in 1832 were mounted in honor of two commanding generals of the Russian Army, who defeated Napoleon – Barklay de Tolly and Kutuzov. Now the cathedral is active and open for visitors and all the religious holidays are celebrated there, although it houses the Museum of history of Religions.