Trinity Petrovsky Cathedral

18th century

According to legend, on May 14 or 16, 1703, Tsar Peter I chose a place for the church and cut down a rakita bush on it, in fact , the beginning of construction in accordance with this legend began a little later - on October 1. A memorial plaque was later installed on the cathedral: “it was built by the sovereign emperor Peter I on May 16, 1703, in memory of the capture of the new Canza or Shantsi, which was on the fortress of Okhta”. However, on the plan of the central part of St. Petersburg in 1706, it has not yet been designated. The Trinity Church is not mentioned in the detailed descriptions of foreign travelers who visited the city in the early years of its existence.

In April 1709, a royal decree followed to build a church; in the same year, probably the start of construction. The cathedral was consecrated on July 10, 1711. Located in the then center of the capital, the Trinity Church was considered a cathedral for some time.

Two years after the consecration, the church was expanded with aisles and a refectory, over which stood a two-tier bell tower with chimes taken from the Moscow Sukharev Tower , which played "Lord Have Mercy" every quarter hour.

In 1721, in a specially arranged side chapel of the cathedral, a church was placed in the name of Rev. Chariton the Confessor, created in 1708 after the victory at Lesnaya and accompanying Peter I on all campaigns.

In 1727, the miraculous Kazan Icon of the Mother of God was handed over to the Kharitonevsky chapel from the abolished Church of the Nativity of the Virgin for a while, which was later transferred to the newly-built church on Nevsky.

In January 1732, a decree was followed to erect a stone church on the grounds that “this church was completely dilapidated <...> and it is impossible to light candles, which always die out from the wind”, which made it necessary even to dismantle the bell tower. The projects were completed by P. M. Eropkin and Mikhail Zemtsov , it did not come to their implementation, and the prepared building materials went to the Winter Palace .

Services began in 1739 in the Gostiny Dvor and in the Synodal Chancellery. In the same year, Ivan Blank wrote a new project, and two years later the project of a domed two-story church was submitted by Mikhail Zemtsov, but in April 1743 it was ordered, after dismantling the dilapidated wooden building, to restore “exactly what it was before”. Perestroika was led by Harman van Bolos under the direction of architect I. I. Slyadnev.

On June 1, 1745, the chapel of St. Chariton was consecrated in the church, which was soon transferred to the Synod church, and on May 17, 1746, in the presence of the Empress, it was the main one. Some of the icons came from the old iconostasis, some were painted by I. Ya. Vishnyakov and M. L. Kolokolnikov.

March 27, 1750 a newly built temple burned to the ground from a fallen candle; only the iconostasis from the aisle, Peter's relics and some of the utensils were saved.

In 1752, a decision was made to resume the Trinity Cathedral. In 1754-1756, it was built in its original place according to the design of S. A. Volkov. Despite the desire to recreate the temple in its former form, in its appearance, size and internal layout, it was quite different from the old one. According to the surviving plan of the 18th century, the sizes were smaller than the sizes of the Peter Church. On June 1, 1756, the restored cathedral was consecrated.

XIX century

From 1802 to 1805, a major overhaul of the dilapidated cathedral was carried out under the supervision of architect Luigi Ruschi . The temple was converted into a warm one, it made double log walls with a gap filled with lime.

The temple was badly damaged by the flood of 1824 . Damage was repaired by architect Pavel Filippov .

From 1867 to 1896 , the rector of the church was Archpriest Alexei Lavrovsky .

From 1868 to 1877 , the temple housed an ancient shrine - the Greek icon of the Mother of God , brought in 1821 to Russia from the Greek monastery of Monemvasia destroyed by the Turks.

The next major repair was carried out in 1875-1876 by the architect E. E. Anikin, who brought a new foundation under construction and built a chapel. Additional images for the temple were written by academician Alexander Beideman . December 19, 1876 was followed by the consecration of the renovated building. Emperor Alexander II commanded "so that the cathedral remains forever wooden."

In 1888 , after the salvation of the Imperial family during a train crash near the Borki station near Kharkov, clergy suggested building a new church of the Mother of God of God according to the design of G. I. Karpov and P. A. Grigoriev. A donation subscription was announced, and the architect Grigoryev even drafted the temple. But gradually the business died out.

The idea put forward in 1896 to erect a three-chapel church to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the capital remained on paper - only a chapel was built near the Kronverksky garden , designed by A.V. Malov.

The anniversary of the cathedral almost coincided with this date and was celebrated on October 22, 1903 with the participation of Metropolitan Anthony and John of Kronstadt .

Cathedral Construction Projects (1913-1917)

On the night of February 7-8, 1913, due to malfunction of chimneys, Trinity Cathedral was badly damaged by a fire: the dome, roof, attic, narthex and bell tower burned down, only the altar part was preserved. The bells melted in high fire.

Famous architects were invited to the conflagration. Having examined the remains saved from the fire, Leonty Benoit , Vladimir Suslov and other guests expressed their opinion about the inexpediency of preserving the wooden church and its restoration in pre-fire form.

By this time, the construction of the cathedral mosque was completed , the appearance of which in the historical center, near the Trinity Cathedral, made a painful impression on many Orthodox. The maid of honor of the Empress Anna Vyrubova wrote: “A grand mosque that dominates the entire surrounding area was erected next door to the Peter the Great Trinity Cathedral, which burned down this year. <...> Without violating the principle of religious tolerance, one has to bitterly acknowledge that this religious view of a Christian is heavily offended by this grandiose view of a church of other faiths in one of the best places in the capital of the Orthodox state. The grave impression made by the already built mosque seems to be weakened by the only construction of a grandiose temple on the site of Trinity Cathedral, which would obscure the mosque and deprive it of its dominant character over the area. The fire of the old shrine of St. Petersburg and the need for the reconstruction of the temple that arose from here is, as it were, an indication from above. ”

In August, Dmitry Loman hands over the note to the Synod Chief Prosecutor, Vyrubova, adding that she “was at the reading of their Majesties and agreed to what was stated in it ...”. Forwarding this note further, Loman remarked: “The mosque has already been built and, of course, it would have seemed completely impossible to demolish it, which would have excited a lot of completely unnecessary conversations. But there is another worthy way out. ”

The building committee for the construction of the stone cathedral was headed by Prince John Konstantinovich . The patronage of the committee was assumed by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna , and later, from May 1915, and her eldest daughter, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna . The architects were given an extremely complex artistic and political task - to build a huge temple in a style that did not know such dimensions, heights and volumes.

It was originally intended to build the largest cathedral in the Russian Empire with a capacity of up to 16,000 people. A special meeting of architects stopped at a figure of 10,000, which then decreased to 6,000 - 3,000 worshipers in the upper and cave temples.

On the last day of 1913, Nicholas II of the four “samples of church architecture” proposed for the new cathedral indicated Vladimir-Suzdal temples “in memory of St. Alexander Nevsky, the great warrior and fighter for the Russian cause on the Neva, who had rested in Vladimir on Klyazma before transfer of the Holy relics of the saint to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra under the Emperor Peter I ”.

Services at this time took place in a temporary wooden temple, which was built in 1914, 40 meters to the southeast. The temporary temple stood until 1927, when the restoration of the cathedral was completed.

From the first steps, the work of the temple ran into difficulties: the purchase of land belonging to the Grand Duke Pyotr Nikolaevich did not take place because of the high price, which he called the head of the Court. the prince. A huge sum of almost 2,800,000 rubles was requested for the plot, moreover, the committee was refused even the extension of the term of the sale negotiations: “The question of buying ... is raised not just for the simple purchase of the required place, but is caused by a deep artistic desire to build the cathedral so that he flaunted on the banks of the Neva and was clearly visible ... It is necessary to obtain this land, otherwise the view of the cathedral may subsequently be built up. "

Six leading neo-Russian style architects were invited to participate in the competition - Vladimir Pokrovsky , Alexey Schusev , Andrey Aplaksin , Vladimir Suslov , Lev Ilyin and Vasily Kosyakov . The latter refused to participate in the competition due to departure abroad. Instead, the sixth contestant was the clerk of the committee A. I. Kipnes. Collaboration on projects was allowed.

The chairman of the Society of Architects-Artists Pavel Suzor appealed to the chairman of the construction committee, Grand Duke John, with a request to announce a public tender for the preparation of a project according to a previously developed program. The answer read: "... By the highest instruction <...> the opportunity to declare a publicly accessible contest <...> is eliminated. The procedure for inviting architecture artists to participate in the competition for the presentation of temple projects is highly established in the formation of the Committee, which is under my chairmanship, and is no longer subject to discussion."

The architects at their special meeting to develop the conditions under the chairmanship of Privy Councilor L. I. Novikov decided to “give the surroundings of the cathedral a uniform appearance with the temple,” referring to “accompanying the main program of the structure”: the clergy house, a separate belfry , a chapel on the site of the burned out Cathedral, Neva embankment with a descent and Jordan on it.

To assess the projects, the Academy of Arts Meeting elected professors Leonty Benoit , Grigory Kotov , Alexander Pomerantsev and Mikhail Preobrazhensky . The deadline for submission was October 1, 1915. Projects exhibited at the Mariinsky Palace .

Vladimir Pokrovsky presented 10 paintings - more than other participants in the competition. In his explanatory note to the project, he wrote: “I met with the need to resolve the issue of capital importance. It seemed or significantly avoided not only the forms of prototypes, but also the spirit of Vladimir-Suzdal architecture, allowing all sorts of small extensions and porch porches, with which the program abounds, or, grouping everything into one common organism, focus on the main thing - the cubic that prevails in this era the shape of the temple. I preferred to choose the second technique and tried to conduct it in its purest form. "

“To enhance grandeur” the temple received 13 chapters (symbols of the Lord Jesus Christ and 12 apostles), 9 chapters illuminated the cathedral, 4 chapters reserved for placing bells with a total weight of two thousand pounds, the facade is divided into seven clearings on each side, the height with the main cross domes of 35 fathoms .

Judging the review of all the projects, the judges expressed the opinion: “... if we dwell on the totality of the judgments of both representatives of the academy and members of the subcommittee, then the work of Academician Pokrovsky should be recognized as the best”, “the facades ... are artistically designed, but differ in the abundance of chapters, which gives the upper part of the structure some anxiety".

However, the final decision, at the request of the Empress, was to be taken in the Tsarskoye Selo Alexander Palace , where in early June 1916 the projects of all six competitors were delivered. Explained instructed to give a member of the committee, Prince Mikhail Putyatin .

By the decision of the Holy Synod, the remains of the burnt Trinity-Petrovsky Cathedral were supposed to be transported to Strelna and transferred under the courtyard of the Shamordinsky Kazan Amvrosievsky monastery . The Imperial Archaeological Commission objected to this, but since the parish of the cathedral had no funds for the restoration of the cathedral, the definition of the Synod was not revised.

On April 17, 1917, Prince John Konstantinovich resigned as chairman of the committee. In the same month, an unknown person made a request addressed to the Commissioner of the Provisional Government for the former Ministry of the Imperial Court with a request “not to refuse to notify ... about the fate of the mentioned projects of significant artistic value” and below “Make an order to return these projects to the Committee”.

Trinity Cathedral in 1917-1933

In 1923-1926, the restoration of the cathedral was completed in the form, as before the last fire. It was carried out at the expense of the parish under the supervision of the Restoration Workshop of the Leningrad Branch of Glavnauka . The restoration project was carried out on the basis of historical documents by Evgeny Katonin .

Since 1926, Archbishop Alexy (Simansky), who returned to Leningrad, served in the cathedral.

The cathedral was closed on August 15, 1933 and two months later it was demolished by decision of the Regional Executive Committee, although it was listed as a unique architectural monument. Some of the icons from it went to the Russian Museum , property - to the Vladimir Church . The vacant place was taken by the square, broken after the war.

In 1956, a new building was built on the site of the disassembled cathedral (house 3-5 on Troitskaya Square) and a lawn was broken.

At present, the place where the cathedral stood is referred by the KGIOP to the identified objects of cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia. ^[one]

A particularly revered icon of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called with a life from the Trinity-Petrovsky Cathedral is now located in St. Andrew's Cathedral on Vasilyevsky Island . ^[2]

Currently, near the site of the cathedral is the temple chapel of the Trinity Zhivonochnaya ^[3] , built in 2002-2003 in memory of the demolished Trinity-Petrovsky Cathedral - a gift from the Baltic Construction Company to the city on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. ^[four]

Services are regularly held in the chapel. ^[five]

Петербургский фольклор связывает с собором известную мистическую легенду, классический вариант которой можно обнаружить на первой странице романа Алексея Толстого « Хождение по мукам »: «Ещё во времена Петра Первого дьячок из Троицкой церкви, что и сейчас стоит близ Троицкого моста , спускаясь с колокольни, впотьмах, увидел кикимору — худую бабу и простоволосую, — сильно испугался и затем кричал в кабаке: „Петербургу, мол, быть пусту“, — за что был схвачен, пытан в Тайной канцелярии и бит кнутом нещадно» ^[6] .

Текстологический анализ показывает, что А. Н. Толстой использовал протоколы реальных допросов Тайной канцелярии. На их основе можно заключить, что кикимора была замечена в 1722 году и, следовательно, является старейшей зафиксированной в Санкт-Петербурге нечистью ^[7] .

• RGIA, f. 754, оп. 1, д. 11.
• RGIA, f. 789, оп. 13, 1914 г., д. 65.
• ГНИМА, ф. Покровского, опись-смета, I-34 а-д, II-28.

• « Русский паломник ». 1913 г. № 8. стр. 127, 128.
• Антонов В. В., Кобак А. В. «Святыни Санкт-Петербурга». Том 1. СПб. 1997 г. ( см. статью здесь, также фотографии и рисунки ).
• Гаврилов С. А. «Зодчий В. А. Покровский в Петербурге — Петрограде — Ленинграде» // Невский архив. Выпуск VI. СПб.: «Лики России». 2003 г. Стр. 471—497.
• Сорокин П. Е. Археологическое изучение Троице-Петровского собора // Археологическое наследие Санкт-Петербурга. — СПб., 2003. — Вып. 1. — С. 25-74.

• Собор ПРЕСВЯТОЙ ТРОИЦЫ (Троице-Петровский) на сайте «Энциклопедия Санкт Петербург»