A recreated sculpture of angels with a cross was installed on the historical building of SPbDAtranslated

On October 15, 2026, the lifting and installation of a recreated sculpture of angels with a cross took place on the historical building of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy (SPbDA).

Before lifting the composition, a prayer service was held for the beginning of a good deed, and then it was installed over the pediment of the building using a crane, the SPbDA website reports.

It is clarified that the original sculpture of angels holding a copper cross, created according to the design of the outstanding sculptor Francois Thibault at the beginning of the 19th century, was lost after 1919.

Photo: spbda.ru

The author of the recreated composition was the St. Petersburg sculptor and restorer Pavel Ignatiev.

He admitted that until a certain moment he had not heard about this sculpture on the historical building of St. Petersburg, although he studied the urban plastic arts of the classicism era.

When the idea arose to recreate the sculpture, Pavel Ignatiev continued, it turned out that photographs of it from the early 20th century had survived. It became clear from them that by the time the photograph was taken, the composition was already poorly preserved.

Photo: spbda.ru

To authentically recreate the sculpture, materials from architecture and European sculpture of that time were used, and the experience of sculptural design of the Kazan Cathedral was also useful…