June 12, St. Petersburg will not only celebrate the Independence Day of Russia, but also the 150 - th anniversary of one of the main attractions of St. Petersburg: St. Isaac's Cathedral. The temple was being built from 1818 to 1858 under the project of Auguste Montferrand.

Festive events will begin on Sunday: on this day within the walls of the Cathedral will be held a concert of spiritual music performed by Russian composers. June 11, Smolny Cathedral opens an exhibition dedicated to Isaac's Cathedral.

June 12, Within the Cathedral's walls will be held a solemn liturgy. Festive events will continue with the concerts of sacred music performed by various choral ensembles of St. Petersburg.

Once the celebrations will be finished, the city authorities will conduct the engineering checks of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Now is revealed a little sediment and deformation of the building. Research should establish the extent of building's destruction. In addition, conservation and restoration of monumental painting on plaster to be held in the Cathedral this year ( last time such works were carried out in the middle of last century). Will also be made the reconstruction of ventilation and heating systems.

Experts have expressed fears about active building around the Cathedral, what could impact negatively on the unique architectural monument. "We have asked to leave the security zone there, but we were not heard. The impact will be known after the research. I am confident about that, for example, the construction of the metro station "Admiralteyskaya" influenced the building" - told the Deputy Director of Buildings exploitation, Boris Podolsky.

Since the beginning of this year, St. Isaac's Cathedral was visited by around 1.7 million people and its colonnade over 750 thousands tourists.