St. Mary's Church (St. Petersburg) is a Lutheran church, which is the center of the historical Finnish parish of Pietari. It belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran confession - the Church of Ingria. About the Church of St. Mary (St. Petersburg), its history, architecture and features will be discussed in this article.
Temple History
The first Evangelical Lutheran community in St. Petersburg was formed in 1630 in the Swedish city of Nyene and was part of the Swedish Lutheran Church. The community itself was mixed and formed as Finnish-Swedish.
According to the results of the Northern War, Sweden was forced to cede part of the territories, including Igermanland (the current territory of Russia, located next to Karelia). A considerable part of the inhabitants of the city of Nyena was forced to move to the city under construction on the Neva - St. Petersburg. Settlers included in the community began to hold their meetings from 1703.
In 1734, Empress Anna Ioannovna donated a large plot of land on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street to the community. In the same year, a cruciform church was erected, and in May it was consecrated in the name of St. Anna.
New Church
In 1745, the Finnish-Swedish community was divided due to internal disagreements, but services were held in a common church. After 23 years, the church passed to the Finnish part of the community.
In 1803, the Finns decided to build a new stone church. According to the project of G. Kh. Paulsen began a large-scale construction of a church with a capacity of 2400 people, which has a rectangular shape. The future temple was supposed to be built in the style of classicism. Two years later, the construction was completed, and in mid-December 1805, the Church of St. Mary (St. Petersburg) was consecrated. The temple was dedicated to Empress Maria Feodorovna (wife of Alexander III), the widow at that time.
An extraordinarily beautiful chandelier was moved from the old wooden church and installed in the new church. In 1878, the community thought about building another temple, but they failed to raise the required amount.
Temple in the 19th century
In 1899, a well-known architect in St. Petersburg, KK Kerkovius, developed a project for a new church. It was assumed that it would be built next to the Finland Station, where a large number of Finns lived. However, the second project could not be implemented due to lack of necessary funds.
The community still attended only the Church of St. Mary (St. Petersburg). The temple took care of many orphanages for girls and boys, shelters for the poor, which were opened at the expense of the church.
Church parish in 1885 opened a school for orphans and created a mutual benefit fund forpermanent parishioners of the temple. Services were held on Sunday, Wednesday and Catholic holidays. The church choir could be listened to not only by parishioners, but by everyone of any denomination.
However, in 1938, the Lenin Regional Executive Committee decided to close the Church of St. Anna, and transfer its building to the Hermitage.
Present
In 1940, where the Church of St. Mary was located, a building trust hostel was set up, and thirty years later, the "House of Nature" was opened in this building. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, pastor A. Survo made great efforts to restore the church, and the parish was revived. Four years later, the church was officially returned to the community, after which fundraising began for restoration.
In 1999, with the support of various organizations in Finland, the funds of parishioners and donations, the temple began to be restored. In 2002, all construction work was completed, a total of 20 million Finnish marks were spent. In May of the same year, the temple was re-consecrated.
Architecture
Looking at the photo of the Church of St. Mary, you can see the beautiful architecture. The rectangular building is crowned with a high drum with a hemispherical top. The main façade of the building is adorned with several Tuscan columns that support the triangular pediment.
A new organ with 27 registers was installed inside the temple in 2010. At the end of the same year, a new instrument was consecrated andsolemn worship. Today, organ music concerts are given here, which gather its connoisseurs.
Address of the Church of St. Mary: St. Petersburg, st. Bolshaya Konyushennaya, 8a. Arriving in this wonderful city and plunging into the beauty of its sights, take some time and be sure to visit the church - this unique Lutheran church will surely please you.
