The Church of St. Catherine (арм. Սանկտ Պետերբուրգի Սուրբ Կատարինե
եկեղեցի) is the temple of the Armenian Apostolic Church in St.
Petersburg. Located at Nevsky Prospekt, 40-42.
The first Armenians appeared in St. Petersburg almost immediately
after the founding of the city. In 1710 they created their own
community. At this time they gathered in private houses. The first
petition for the construction of an Armenian church from Archimandrite
Minas was submitted in 1714, but was rejected by the authorities. Only
on September 25 (October 6), 1725, the metropolitan community, numbering
30 households, received the consent of the Synod to open a prayer house
in a wooden building on the 3rd line of Vasilyevsky Island. In January
1740, Luka Shirvanov (Ghukas Shirvanyan) received permission to build "a
small stone Armenian church at his expense." But after the death of Anna
Ioannovna, the construction stopped. In accordance with the manifesto
issued in July 1763, on the free practice of church rites by all peoples
who settled in Russia, places were allocated in both capitals for the
construction of churches of other faiths and buildings associated with
them.
On May 22 (June 2), 1770, according to the petition of the
head of the Armenian community, I. L. Lazarev (Hovhannes Lazaryan),
“with other Armenians”, Catherine II verbally ordered “to allow them to
build a church in St. Petersburg”. A place for the church was allotted
on the site of the former Small Court Stables "in a noble position near
the capital on Bolshoy Prospekt, opposite the stone Gostiny Dvor, which
is why the construction of the church required considerable capital
...".
The work was carried out according to the project of Yu. M.
Felten rather quickly, and already in 1772 the church was consecrated.
Its construction cost 33 thousand rubles. I. L. Lazarev personally
donated 30 thousand rubles for the construction of the temple, for which
the church was built in accordance with the ceremonial splendor of the
center of the capital. For such a service, the community allowed him to
build his own house on church land on the south side in line with the
development of the avenue (Nevsky Prospekt, 42). The residential
building built according to the project of Felten cost Lazarev 50,000
rubles. The construction of the northern wing was carried out a decade
later. Having built the buildings entirely with his own money, Lazarev
thereby strengthened the authority of the most influential person in the
Armenian community. He later sold the houses for the same price to the
parish.
On February 18, 1780, the Armenian Archbishop Joseph
(Argutinsky), with the participation of eight priests and in the
presence of Prince G. A. Potemkin-Tauride, consecrated the temple in the
name of the Great Martyr Catherine, the heavenly patroness of the
Empress. The church became the center of Armenian culture in St.
Petersburg: a printing house and a national school were opened under it,
which still operates to this day.
In 1794-1797, gates were built
in front of the church.
In 1841, the first major overhaul of the
church was carried out by the architect L. F. Vendramini.
At the
end of 1858, a cast-iron gate grill was installed, cast at the Chopin
factory according to the project of N.P. Grebenka (existed until the end
of the 19th century).
In 1865, the original turret was turned
into a belfry for three bells.
In 1887, the artist I. K.
Aivazovsky presented the community with the painting “Christ on Lake
Tiberias”.
In 1900-1906 A. I. Tamanyan made a new overhaul of the
building, strengthening the walls and ceilings and making choirs.
In 1915, particles of the relics of the Apostle Thaddeus and St.
Gregory the Illuminator were transferred from the sacristy of the Great
Church of the Winter Palace. The parish was subordinate to the
Nakhichevan-Bessarabian episcopate with the center in Chisinau.
In May 1930 the church was closed. In 1931-1934 it was divided by
ceilings. The building housed the headquarters of the air defense, and
after the war - the workshop of the scenery of the theater of musical
comedy.
In 1990, the Armenian community, headed by a descendant
of O. Lazaryan, Vyacheslav Pashaevich Lazaryan, requested the return of
the church. On March 14, 1993, the first service was held in it, after
which restoration began.
The complete consecration of the temple
was carried out on July 12, 2000 by the Patriarch-Catholicos of All
Armenians Garegin II in the presence of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and
All Rus'. On that day, the relics of St. Gregory were returned to the
community from the Hermitage.
The building was built by the architect Yu. M. Felten in the depths
of the site, in the alignment of houses No. 40 and 42 designed by him,
the facades of which are extended along the line of Nevsky Prospekt (the
construction of the northern wing was carried out a decade later,
possibly by Felten's assistant architect Egor Sokolov). Because of this,
the main facade of the church inevitably had to be oriented towards the
Nevsky, and the main entrance to the temple - not from the west, as is
customary, but from the south. Despite the fact that the only apse of
the church is oriented to the east, the interior of the church becomes
quite complex.
The architect based the architectural solution of
the facade on the same principles that he was guided by when creating
the Lutheran Church of St. Catherine on Vasilyevsky Island a little
earlier, but at the same time significantly enhanced its decorative
design, and the portico itself received a stronger takeaway and
additional side walls, from the ends decorated with pilasters. In order
to give more variety to the wall surface, different shapes of openings
are used: rectangular and arched in the first tier and small round
windows (combined with square panels) in the second. Instead of strict
capitals of the Tuscan order, here in the columns of the portico and
double pilasters that fix the corners of the facade, Felten used Ionic
capitals “with pendants”, and on the walls between the window openings
of the first and second tiers there are bas-reliefs reproducing a
typical baroque motif - putti heads in the clouds. Angels also erect a
cross over the front door to the temple. The field of the pediment is
filled with a multi-figure composition: "Catholicos Grigor the
Illuminator performs the baptism of Tsar Trdat III."
In the
interior, the main decor element is 20 paired columns of a composite
order, placed at the corners of the square under the dome and in front
of the altar apse. Lined with yellow artificial marble, with white
capitals, they look expressive against the background of white marble
walls. Above the columns - without interruption, along the entire
perimeter of the room - a decorative cornice with denticles stretches.