Church of the Catherine Palace

Camp Temple

After the transfer of the Sarskaya Manor to Catherine Alekseevna , a marching church of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine was installed in her palace, where the clergy were determined on March 12 [23], 1713 . It was the first royal temple. The marching church had a carved blue iconostasis with gilding, the icons of which were painted on canvas, and a throne with an oak lid and symbolic images of four evangelists.

When separate temples appeared in the settlement, the camp church was transferred to the Assumption Church , then to the Annunciation Church . After the latter burned down in 1728 , the utensils were returned to the Assumption, and then transferred to the newly-built Znamensky Church . However, in 1817, the camp church was again moved to the chapel at the hospital , and in 1872 the throne was placed in the church at the Nikolaev male gymnasium .

The iconostasis transferred to the Catherine Palace Museum in 1930 was lost during the occupation of the city. The throne was probably lost earlier.

Other palace temples

In the right wing of the palace, on the ground floor, under the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in the 1740s, a small (“room”) church was consecrated. The temple was abolished after 1761 .

In August 1796, Catherine II ordered the construction of a “room” church between the palace and the cold bath. The temple was built "in draft" by 1797 , the final decoration was entrusted by Paul I to the architect P.V. Neelov . However, later, by order of Alexander I, the unfinished temple was dismantled, and its place was planted with trees.

Modern Church

The reconstruction project of the Great Catherine’s Palace in the mid- 18th century provided for the construction of the temple, first as a separate building “between the right wing and circumference”, but these plans were not realized, and they decided to arrange the church in a special wing. The author of the project was the architect S. I. Chevakinsky .

In the spring of 1746, construction work began on the wing, and on August 8 [19], 1746, in the presence of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich and his wife Ekaterina Alekseevna , a solemn laying of the church took place, which was performed by Archbishop Theodosius of St. Petersburg and Shlisselburg (Yanovsky) . The consecration of the temple on July 30 [ August 10 ], 1756, was led by the St. Petersburg Archbishop Sylvester (Kulyabka) in the presence of the Empress. At the end of the consecration, a salute of 51 guns was given.

On May 12 [24], 1820, as a result of a fire, the church burned down, most of the interior was lost. The restoration of the temple was carried out under the guidance of the architect V.P. Stasov . The restored church was re-consecrated on April 2 [14], 1822 by the Archbishop of Tver and Kashinsky, Jonah (Pavinsky) in the presence of Alexander I.

After the Znamenskaya Church was transferred to the court department on October 19 [31], 1845 , she was assigned to the palace Resurrection Church, which from that moment became known as the “ Great Court Tsarskoye Selo Church .” Divine services in the Resurrection Church were rare: baptism, marriages and funeral services for members of the Imperial family, as well as divine services from Great Thursday to the first day of Easter .

On June 16 [28], 1863, the church was again damaged in a fire, but the utensils and most of the icons were saved. In the fire, the “Stasovskie” church heads suffered, but A.F. Vidov returned them to a look that was more in line with the style of the Elizabethan baroque. The consecration of the renovated church was performed on October 27 [ November 8 ], 1864 by Protopresbyter Vasily Bazhanov .

Divine services in the church ceased in 1917 , although the church was officially liquidated on May 22, 1922 . The premises of the temple served as a museum space. During the occupation of Pushkin by the Spaniards and Germans, a garage was built in the church, and the interior was looted. The roof was pierced, and the domes riddled with bullets ^[1] .

Restoration work in the palace began only in 1957 , in the temple was a warehouse of surviving palace utensils and architectural details. In 1963, the domes were restored, but the temple itself has not yet been completely restored.

Since 1993, prayers are extremely rare in the church; formally, the temple was attributed to the parish of St. Sophia Cathedral . In the summer of 2015, the museum announced a competition for restoration work ^[2] . The restoration of the temple was carried out in accordance with the Venice Charter and was completed by April 2019 . On April 12, 2019, the dean of the Tsarskoye Selo district, Archpriest Nikita Zverev, together with the clergy of the city’s temples, served a thanksgiving service. From April 13, 2019, the temple and adjacent halls are included in a separate excursion route.

The facade of the church, facing Sadovaya Street , was created by F.-B. Rastrelli, who used the solution of the so-called two-tier colonnade: at the level of the first and second floors is heavier and more massive, at the third and fourth floors - lightweight. The purpose of the building determined the symbolism of decorative sculpture - figures of angels, heads of cherubs. At the same time, according to the general architecture, the building retains the character of a secular structure.

The church (northern) outbuilding is crowned with five gilded domes. Initially, the project provided for a dome, but on October 14 [25], 1746, Elizaveta Petrovna ordered "do not build a dome over the church, but five chapters in proportion." In this regard, the project was partially revised.

The premises of the church are architecturally divided into four parts: the altar, nave, choirs and places under the choirs. The choirs and the room below them are separated from the church itself by a wall parallel to the iconostasis, which has three spans below and three windows above. You can get to the choirs through the doors connecting them on the one hand with the rest of the palace (through them emperors and the court entered), on the other - with the Lyceum (through the corridor).

Before the destruction of the temple in it were :

The walls of the church are painted in the color of Prussian blue , established by Elizabeth Petrovna in 1749 .

114 icons were written for the temple, inserted into niches framed by gilded frames. The icons were painted, by order of Elizaveta Petrovna, “by the most skilled painters from landowners and from monasteries,” among whom was I.P. Argunov .

Those who suffered in the fire of 1820 , they were restored by D.I. Antonelli or re-written by A.E. Egorov , A.I. Ivanov and I.F. Tupylev .

At the altar was a gilded carved epiphany canopy on eight columns. The six-tier iconostasis ^{[3] of} carpentry work with 45 images, decorated with gilded columns and pilasters, was created according to the design of F.-B. Rastrelli artel led by court master Johann Dunker. Icons for the main iconostasis were written by German artists - G. Groot , G. K. Prenner and others.

The picturesque ceiling was painted for several years (starting in 1749 ) by the artist Giuseppe Valeriani . He died in a fire in 1820 and was re-written based on the memoirs of the artist V.K.Shebuev . In the altar was the ceiling “Glory of the Holy Spirit”, written in 1822 by D. I. Antonelli, and after the fire of 1863, recreated by A. F. Belloli ; the ceiling in the choirs with the images of Saints Faith, Hope, Love and Sophia was begun in 1823 by Otto Ignatius, and completed by Gustav Gippius.

Currently :

By 2010, the restoration of the architectural and decorative decoration of the church, gilding of the domes ^[4] . The interior of the temple has been partially preserved. Restored part of the gilded frames. Of the icons, only 3 images are left. After the occupation, a canopy and a ceiling were preserved in the altar. The images of the archangels Michael and Gabriel are restored. By April 2019, the walls were replenished with the architectural and partially sculptural decoration of the temple, the ceiling was restored in the altar part, almost all the images of the iconostasis were restored.

The most valuable were:

• an eight-kilogram chalice of pure gold made in the style of rocaille - a gift from Elizabeth Petrovna ^[5] ;
• altar silver cross of 1703 with 39 particles of relics;
• utensils donated by Catherine II to the Sophia Cathedral and transferred here in 1812 .

The uniforms of Alexander I and Nicholas I were also kept in the church.

• Meshchaninov M. Yu. Temples of Tsarskoye Selo, Pavlovsk and their immediate vicinity: A Brief Historical Guide. - 2nd ed., Rev. and additional .. - St. Petersburg. : Genio Loci, 2007 .-- pp. 11-13, 19-20, 21, 76-83. - ISBN 5-9900655-3-1 .
• Yakovkin I. History of Tsarsky Village. - SPb. , 1829. - T. I. - S. 47-48.

• Church wing of the Catherine Palace. Church of the Resurrection