Katharinenkirche, Lutheran church in central Kyiv, Ukraine.
The Katharinenkirche is a Lutheran church on Luteranska Street in Kyiv, built in 1855–1857 to a design by architect Ivan Shtrom, with construction and interior finishing by Pavel Shleifer. The building is distinguished by its acoustics and originally housed an organ donated by the merchant Keln. A Lutheran school once stood next to the church.
German colonists settled in Kyiv in the second half of the 18th century and first worshipped in the home of Georg Bunge, keeper of the city's first pharmacy. A wooden church on Spaska Street (1794–1795) burned in the Podil fire of 1811; a new wooden church was founded on the Lipky outskirts on 25 June 1812. The present building, designed by Ivan Shtrom and built with interior finishing by Pavel Shleifer, was laid on 19 June 1855 and consecrated on 4 August 1857. Closed in 1938, it housed a club, a warehouse and from 1973 the directorate of the Museum of Folk Architecture and Life; it was returned to the congregation in 1998 and reopened in 2000.
The church serves as a gathering place for the Lutheran community and hosts regular services in German. It represents a different religious tradition within a city dominated by Orthodox churches.
The church stands on Lyuteranska Street in the Lypky district, the street named after the German residents and their church. Two congregations share the building: the Lutheran parish of St Catherine and the Anglican Church of England in Ukraine, the country's only Anglican community. Visitors may find services in German and English held at different times.
The organ was a gift from the merchant Keln, and the church was noted for its acoustics. In 1854, members of the congregation founded a singing society here, followed by a choir and a symphony orchestra. The street took its name, Luteranska, from the church and its German residents.
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