Petrogradskaya Naberezhnaya 3
Tel. 230- 8440
Bus: 14 Trolley: 3, 6, 40
Open: 10:30am- 4pm Tue- Thu, Sat- Sun
The Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Chesmenskaya)
is a functioning Orthodox church in St. Petersburg, located on
Lensovet Street, an architectural monument in the pseudo-Gothic
style. The building of the church was built to commemorate the
victory of the Russian fleet over the Turkish in the Chesme Bay of
the Aegean Sea in 1770. Together with the Chesme Palace, it was once
a peculiar ensemble, turned to the former Tsarskoye Selo tract. It
was the capitular church of the Order of St. George.
Currently, the church is an architectural monument of federal
significance. Near the church is the Chesme military cemetery.
The temple belongs to the St. Petersburg diocese of the Russian
Orthodox Church, is the center of the Moscow deanery district.
Rector - Archpriest Alexy Sergeevich Krylov.
The construction of the temple and the palace near the
Travel Palace was conceived and approved by Catherine II herself.
According to legend, at the site of the temple, the Empress received
news from the courier about the victory in the Battle of Chesme.
The solemn laying of the temple took place on June 6 (17), 1777 in the
presence of Catherine II, the entire court and the Swedish king Gustav
III, to remind him of the military might of Russia. The temple was built
according to the project of the architect Yuri Felten.
The
construction of the temple was completed by the tenth anniversary of the
victory of the Russian fleet in the Battle of Chesma. The solemn
consecration on June 24 (July 5), 1780 was performed by Metropolitan
Gabriel (Petrov). At the celebration, together with Catherine II under
the name of "Count Falkenstein", was present the Emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire Joseph II. In memory of the victory, Catherine II "ordered
to call the church and the palace Chesme".
Soon after the
consecration, the temple was transferred to the chapter of the Order of
St. George the Victorious. In this regard, for some time the Chesme
church was called "Georgievsky".
Catherine II often visited the
temple, in which there was a royal place for her. The church was
assigned to the court department. In 1802, the temple was transferred to
the jurisdiction of the Hof quartermaster's office.
Due to the
fact that the Chesme Church was cold and unheated, on December 11 (23),
1811, the winter Church of the Nativity of Christ was consecrated in the
Chesme Palace.
With the transfer of the palace to the Nikolaev
military almshouse, the temple was transferred to the military
department.
The temple was closed on June 1, 1919, but the
parishioners and ministers of the temple were able to resume services in
a new building - K.K. Weber's dacha at 29 Moscow Highway - where the
church lasted until July 17, 1924. In 1924, the bells were removed from
the bell tower and sent to be melted down. Instead of a cross,
sculptural images of an anvil, pincers and a hammer were installed on
the dome.
After the camp was closed in 1924, from 1925 to 1930,
the archive of the Glavnauka was located in the Chesme Church, and since
1930, the carpentry workshops of the Automobile Institute.
In
1930, a fire broke out in the temple, in which the interiors of the
church, including the iconostasis, were destroyed. In 1941, the church
building was transferred to the warehouse of the Aviation
Instrument-Making Institute.
The building was badly damaged
during the Great Patriotic War. In 1947, the church building was
conserved, and later it was decided to restore it as an architectural
monument. In the 1960s, large-scale restoration work began in the Chesme
Church according to the project of the architect A.P. Kulikov. The domes
were repaired, the brickwork was strengthened, the lost elements were
restored; renovated interiors. The bells were cast at the
"Monumentskulptura" factory. In December 1977, the Chesme Victory
Museum, a branch of the Naval Museum, was opened here.
On January
4, 1991, the community was registered, and on November 7, services began
in the church. On July 1, 1994, the church building was transferred to
the St. Petersburg diocese for unlimited use.
Work on the
restoration of the church began in 1996, and in November 1998 the
iconostasis, renewed according to the drawings found in the Russian
State Military Historical Archive, was consecrated by Metropolitan
Vladimir (Kotlyarov) of St. Petersburg and Ladoga.
Now the church
building operates a Sunday school for children and teenagers.
The stone building of the church was built in
pseudo-Gothic style.
The church has a compact "centric" plan,
which is a "four leaf". The basis of the interior space is a square
covered with a dome. Semicircular rooms adjoin the square on four sides.
Lancet arches rest on 4 pylons and unite these rooms with the central
one into a single whole. On the temple there are narrow vertical rods
against the reddish background of the walls, high lancet windows.
The facade of the church is decorated with an openwork white stone
ornament, a bas-relief on the pediment, lancet arches, a jagged parapet
and pointed turrets (pinnacles).
Five drums end in small domes
with miniature spiers attached to them. Each spire bears an apple with a
delicate openwork cross. A large bell weighing about 100 kg was placed
in one of the drums, the remaining 7 small bells were fixed in another
head.
Five drums end in small domes with miniature spiers
attached to them. Each spire bears an apple with a delicate openwork
cross. A large bell weighing about 100 kg was placed in one of the
drums, the remaining 7 small bells were fixed in another head.
The sculptures "Faith" and "Hope", symmetrically located above the
entrance, violate the canons of the image of women in Orthodoxy: both
are represented with loose hair and no headdresses. In addition, in the
right hand of “Faith” there is a typical Latin cross, the form of which
in Russia among the Orthodox was considered imperfect, associated with
Catholicism, and this cross itself was contemptuously called “kryzh”
(from Polish krzyz - cross).
The interior of the church is austere and simple. The
iconostasis is a restored copy of the iconostasis, created according to
the drawing by Yu. M. Felten.
The icons of the old Italian work
were of the greatest interest before the closure of the temple:
"The
Crucifixion of the Savior";
"The Washing of the Feet of the Apostles
by Jesus Christ";
"Holy Tsarevich Dmitry";
"John the Baptist" with
a view of the Chesme battle.
At the entrance to the church there
is a marble plaque with the inscription:
“This temple was built in
the name of the holy prophet, the forerunner and baptist of the Lord
John, in memory of the victory over the Turkish fleet won at Chesma in
1770 on the day of his birth. It was founded in the 15th summer of the
reign of Catherine II in the presence of Swedish King Gustav III under
the name of Count Hogland and consecrated on June 24, 1780 in the
presence of His Majesty the Roman Emperor Joseph II under the name of
Count Falkenstein.