The Smolny Cathedral in Saint Petersburg is among Russia's most striking examples of Baroque architecture, its soaring turquoise-and-white facade designed by Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the architect of the Winter Palace. Begun in 1748 as the centrepiece of the Smolny Convent founded for the Empress Elizabeth, it was left unfinished at her death and completed only in the 1830s by Vasily Stasov, who gave the interior a restrained Neoclassical treatment. The result is a rare union of exuberant Elizabethan Baroque exteriors with sober later interiors of great clarity. It remains a defining landmark of the former imperial capital's skyline and a celebrated concert venue.
