St. Catherine’s Armenian Church

Categories / Religion. Church/Places of Worship (see also Architecture and Urban Planning)
Categories / Architecture/Architectural Monuments/Religious Architecture (see also Religion.Church)
ST. CATHERINE’S ARMENIAN CHURCH located at Nevsky Prospect, between the houses 40 and 42. An architectural monument of early Classicism. It was built in 1771-1776 (architect Y. M. Felten) on land allotted in 1770 by merchant I. L. Lazarev (Lazaryan) and consecrated on 18 February 1780. The large internal capacity of the building is attained by an exquisitely light drum crowned with a cupola. The southern facade facing Nevsky Prospect is decorated with an Ionic portico and fretwork. In 1908-09, the building was restored (the architect A. I. Tamanyan). In 1930, the church was closed, inner paintings and the iconostasis with images by artist K. L. Christinek were lost, the internal size of the building was reduced by the addition of new floors to house decorators’ workshops. In 1993, the church was given back to the Armenian community. It was consecrated after the repairs on 12 July 2000. From the late 18th to the early 20th centuries two neighbouring apartment houses facing Nevsky Prospect belonged to the church: No. 40 (1794-98, the decor of the late 18th - the early 19th centuries has survived) and No. 42 (1771-75, architect Felten, rebuilt in 1835-37, architect A. I. Melnikov and in 1907-09). M. M. Speransky lived in No. 42 from 1823 (A. I. Turgenev, P. A. Vyazemsky, А. Mickiewicz and others visited the literary salon of his daughters). In 1823-25 Decembrist G. S. Batenkov lived here, and in 1854-73 F. I. Tyutchev lived in the same building.

Reference: Антонов В. В., Кобак А. В. Святыни С.-Петербурга: Ист.-церков. энцикл. СПб., 1996. Т. 3. С. 275-276.

S. V. Boglachev. Antonov Viktor Vasilievich
Batenkov Gavriil Stepanovich
Christinek Karl Ludwig
Felten Yury (Georg Friedrich) Matveevich
Kobak Alexander Valerievich
Lazarev Ivan Lazarevich
Melnikov Avraam Ivanovich
Mickiewicz Adam
Speransky Mikhail Mikhailovich
Tamanov (Tamanyan) Alexander Ivanovich (Ovanesov)
Turgenev Alexander Ivanovich
Tyutchev Fedor Ivanovich
Vyazemsky Peter Andreevich, Duke
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, litera между д.40 и 42
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 42
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 40
Антонов В. В., Кобак А. В. Святыни Санкт-Петербурга: Ист.-церков. энцикл.: В 3 т. СПб., 1994-1996 Neoclassicism
1771