Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church, Orthodox church in Nördliche Vorstädte, Potsdam, Germany.
The Alexander Nevsky Memorial Church is a square brick building on Kapellenberg hill, its pink walls divided by pilasters and narrow recessed windows. A keel-shaped arch frames the west portal, above which hang three icons painted on slate by August von Kleber in 1851. Five domes crown the cube, the central copper helmet dome rising from an arcaded drum.
Prussian King Frederick William III commissioned the church between 1826 and 1829 for Russian soldiers living in the neighboring Alexandrowka colony. The project demonstrated the close military and political alliance between Prussia and the Russian Empire at that time.
The church is named after Saint Alexander Nevsky and was built to serve the Russian community in Potsdam. It stands at the heart of a special connection between Russia and Prussia that is reflected in its design and its role for the local Russian population.
The church stands on the Kapellenberg hill at the northern edge of the Alexandrowka colony, a short walk from the colony's lanes. It is an active parish of about 100 members, so visits are tied to services rather than fixed visiting hours. The small cemetery around the building, enclosed by Schinkel's cast-iron fence of 1830, can be seen from outside.
The building was designed by two renowned architects: Russian Vasily Stasov and Prussian Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who united their traditions. This rare artistic collaboration between the two cultures appears in few other structures from this period.
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