The Kazan Cathedral, built in St. Petersburg in 1811, became a true adornment of Nevsky Prospect and for a long time remained the largest church in the city. The idea for its creation belonged to Paul I, who decided to erect a new cathedral on the site of the old Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To this end, the emperor organized a competition in which architects Pietro Gonzaga, Charles Cameron, and Jean François Thomas de Thomon participated. Although Paul I had already chosen Cameron's project, Count Stroganov suggested the work of the young architect Andrey Voronikhin, who did not participate in the competition. The emperor liked Voronikhin's project, and he was appointed the chief architect, while Stroganov became the chairman of the construction advisory council.

Paul I wanted the new cathedral to resemble the Roman Cathedral of St. Peter. Voronikhin designed a majestic colonnade echoing the Italian temple. The 96 columns of the Kazan Cathedral did not surround it peripherally but were directed towards Nevsky Prospect, making the northern side ceremonial. Initially, it was planned to erect a colonnade on the southern side as well, but this idea was abandoned.

The northern gates of the cathedral were made of bronze after the model of the "Gates of Paradise" of the Florentine baptistery, created in the 15th century by sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti. Contemporaries criticized Voronikhin for borrowing in architecture, calling him a "copyist."

The Kazan Cathedral is also known as a museum of Russian natural stone. The main decorative material was limestone tuff from the Gatchina area, known as Pudozh stone, which resembled the Italian travertine used in St. Peter's Cathedral. Tuff was easy to process and was used for cladding the outer walls, creating capitals, friezes, and window frames. In the interior, Voronikhin used Karelian marble, local porphyry, and jasper. The interior decoration was adorned with 56 columns of pink granite with gilded capitals.

The cathedral is decorated with sculptures and bas-reliefs both outside and inside. Bronze statues of saints Vladimir, Andrew the First-Called, John the Baptist, and Alexander Nevsky were created by Stepan Pimenov, Ivan Martos, and Vasily Demut-Malinovsky. The reliefs of the interiors and facades were worked on by Fyodor Gordeev, Yakov Rashett, and Ivan Prokofyev.

The walls of the cathedral were adorned with paintings by famous artists such as Karl Bryullov, Fyodor Bruni, Vasily Shebuev, and Vladimir Borovikovsky. In 1837, the original iconostasis was replaced with a silver one created by architect Konstantin Ton. The construction of the cathedral involved not only renowned masters: in 1810, a serf artist named Taras Ivanov was purchased from landowner Teplov for a thousand rubles.