Lutheran Church of St. Catherine, Lutheran church building in Vasileostrovsky District, Russia.
The Lutheran Church of St. Catherine is a Protestant house of worship in the Vasileostrovsky District of Saint Petersburg with a symmetrical layout. The structure displays three arched windows on its facade, rounded corners, and pilastered sides decorated with stucco work and cornices throughout.
The parish was founded in 1728 and first met in a stone house on Vasilyevsky Island; a church consecrated in 1744 to the Apostle Peter stood on that foundation. The present building was laid on 22 June 1768 to a design by Yury Felten and consecrated on 26 January 1771. It was rebuilt in 1902–1903 under architect L. H. Marshner, adding 200 seats. Closed in 1935, the building later housed a miners' club, the Gidroproekt institute and a Melodiya recording studio before the congregation regained it in 1989.
The parish founded in 1728 ran a widows' almshouse, an orphanage, a boys' gymnasium and real school, a girls' gymnasium and elementary schools by 1917. The church hall was divided into three naves by Corinthian columns, with gilded statues of Faith and Love and a marble statue of the Saviour by the sculptor Bock. The parish was closed in 1935 and its pastors repressed; worship resumed in the building in 1989.
The church stands at 1a Bolshoy Prospekt of Vasilyevsky Island, at the corner of the Kadetskaya Line, a short walk from the Vasileostrovskaya metro station. The entrance is through the four-column Doric portico, now a recessed loggia after the 1902–1903 stair annexes. The building is a federal cultural heritage site, and the ongoing restoration means the apostle statues in the wall niches are not being restored.
The church hall was fitted with choirs in the late 19th century, along with gilded statues of Faith and Love and a marble statue of the Saviour by the sculptor Bock. A large organ of 48 registers was installed at the same time. The present mechanical organ, installed in 1999, replaced an instrument removed and lost.
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