Church of St. Elijah the Prophet (St. Petersburg)

In 1715, far from the city, where this church now stands, the Okhta powder factories were founded. In 1717, a wooden chapel was built on their territory, consecrated in the name of St. Elijah the Prophet . In 1721, the chapel was demolished and in its place the construction of the wooden church of Elijah the Prophet, consecrated in 1722, began . In 1742 - 1743 , the wooden church was replaced by a wider wooden, but already on a stone foundation, church of Elijah the Prophet. Its consecration took place on July 18, 1743 . In 1760, a warm winter chapel was added to the church, consecrated in the name of Dmitry Rostovsky on December 27, 1760 . A small cemetery was founded in the church fence. The construction of the church standing there now began in 1782 , the church was built according to the project of the architect N. A. Lvov , presumably with the participation of I. E. Starov . It was completed and consecrated in 1785 .

The Elias Church is built in the style of early Russian classicism and is a circular rotunda surrounded by a colonnade of sixteen ionic columns. The walls are painted yellow. Between the two columns there are windows: at the bottom - arched, at the top - round. A round balustrade is held along the edge of the roof. A little closer to the center of the roof there is a squat black dome on a low, almost absent drum. The dome is crowned with a flashlight with a cross. Inside the church hall there are no pylons dividing the hall into naves. The whole hall is painted in blue, imitating the sky. In the center of the ceiling is a large image of Jesus Christ .

In 1805 - 1806 , according to the project of the architect F. I. Demertsov , a warm chapel was added to the church, consecrated in the name of Alexander Nevsky . The front facade of the extension was decorated with a four-columned ionic portico with a triangular pediment . This aisle and the main volume of the temple were not combined into one, but were located close to each other. The northern and southern facades of the annex are decorated with two ionic columns. A single-tier bell tower with a spire rose above this extension. In 1875 - 1877 , the Alexander Nevsky chapel was combined with the main building of the church due to the construction of an apse in the eastern part of the chapel and a vestibule in the western part of the church. In 1901 - 1902 , another rebuilding of the temple was carried out, during which the bell tower was built on one tier and the shape of the dome was slightly changed. The small consecration of the rebuilt church took place on July 8, 1911 . The bell tower is decorated with pilasters, both tiers on each side are completed by a triangular pediment. The second tier completes a small dome. Its completion, in turn, is a flashlight topped with a spire with a cross.

May 8, 1923 the church was given the status of a cathedral. From that moment until 1938, the temple was one of the renovation ones . July 11, 1938 Ilyinsky Cathedral was closed, its building was transferred to the MPVO . In 1974, a fire occurred in the temple building. In 1983, after the fire, the restoration of the temple began, in 1988 it was returned to the diocese. On December 22, 1988, the Alexander Nevsky chapel , which was not damaged by fire , was consecrated. In 1989, the main temple was consecrated, it operates to this day.

• Ilyinskaya settlement (travel, St. Petersburg)

• Official site
• Church of St. Elijah the Prophet in the folk catalog of Orthodox architecture
• Temple of St. Elijah the Prophet on the site al-spbphoto.narod.ru