The Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul is situated in the middle of the fortress. This is the most valuable architectural monument, the foundations of which were laid in 1712. The Cathedral was built by the architect Domenico Trezzini [1, p.70]. "The golden spire of the bell-tower, rising high above the Neva and marking Russia's exit to the Baltic Sea, dominates the architectural ensembles on the banks of the Neva"[2, p.136].
The cathedral is 121.8 meters (404ft.) high [1, p.70]. Especially noteworthy in the cathedral's interior decoration is the 18th-century carved iconostasis of gilded wood [2, p.136]. Almost all the Russian tsars, from Peter the Great to Alexander III(now including the last tsar Nicholas II), are buried in the Cathedral.
