Smolny Convent is a Baroque ensemble of buildings situated

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Smolny Convent is a Baroque ensemble of buildings situated on the curve of the left bank of the River Neva, in the city St. Petersburg, Russia. The complex’ name means “Holy Virgin Convent of the Resurrection”. It was built at the behest of Empress Elizabeth I in the years 1748. Designed by the Italian architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the Smolny Convent consists of a cathedral and a complex of buildings surrounding it.

Four single-domed churches on the corners enrich the silhouette of the ensemble – a masterpiece of Elizabethan Baroque. The plan it forms a square in the shape of a crucifix, made of cell buildings and widows’ house, in the centre is the five-domed Smolny Cathedral. A blue-and-white building is considered to be one of the architectural masterpieces of the architect, who also redesigned the Winter Palace and many other major St. Petersburg landmarks.

According to Rastrelli’s plan, the 160-metre high projected bell-tower was to become the tallest building in St. Petersburg and whole Russia. Never constructed, the model is kept in the Scientific-research Museum of the Academy of Arts. Elizabeth’s death in 1762 prevented Rastrelli from completing this grand design.