One of the most famous Orthodox churches in the town of Kingisepp is the Catherine Cathedral, striking with its unprecedented beauty and grace. The cathedral was erected between 1764 and 1782. The main architect of the project, Antonio Rinaldi, decided to build the cathedral in the mature Baroque style, which was incredibly popular in Western Europe at that time.
Before the Catherine Cathedral was erected on the main and central square of Yamburg, a small wooden church was built on this place, but in 1760, due to a big fire, it was completely burnt down. Soon a new project was envisaged, but already a stone cathedral. As mentioned, the project was undertaken by Antonio Rinaldi - a famous architect of the 18th century. After the project was approved, namely on 2 August 1764, according to the decree of Empress Catherine II, the construction of the cathedral was started. The construction dragged on for quite a long time and was completed only by 1782. During the construction, the temple building, originally a stone, but one-domed church, largely transformed its appearance and presented itself as a beautiful five-domed cathedral. The interior decoration of the majestic cathedral resembled the palace chambers.
In the spring of 6 April 1783, the cathedral was consecrated, after which it was named Catherine Cathedral in the name of the Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria. During 1912, according to the project of D.M. Rezvoy, restoration and repair works were carried out.
In 1912, the cathedral was renovated.
If we judge about the architectural features of the Catherine Cathedral, the appearance of the temple leads to admiration, because the height of the temple reaches 45 metres. On the west side of the temple building is adjoined by a three-tiered bell tower. The church foundation is made of large slabs, poured between the joints with a mixture of brick rubble and lime. The plinth, made of hewn slabs, is laid slightly above the ground, directly on the foundation. The cathedral vaults and walls are made entirely of brick, while the bases and capitals are of limestone.
In plan, the cathedral is represented as an equilateral cross with somewhat rounded ends, and there are four small round towers on its diagonal. At the west side is a square in plan bell tower, equipped with a portal with a front entrance and porch. All around the perimeter of the temple walls there is a plinth, the height of which is 0.9 m, and it consists of six rows of limestone hewn slabs.
The bell tower is equipped with three portals, which are decorated with decorative treatment. The openings are made in the form of arches and are fitted with a double platband, from the outer part of which can be seen a sandric supported by flat brackets. The sandric consists of three brackets, with the middle one acting as a lock. Above the centrepiece there is a semi-circular pediment with a small cornice. All the temple facades and the central drum are broken by means of fillets and pilasters. The window openings on the outside are framed with ordinary plaster platbands with archivolts..
Catherine's church has five chapters, which is a traditional technique of Russian Orthodox architecture.
