Notre Dame de Lourdes Roman Catholic Church (Saint Petersburg)
7 Kovensky Lane, Saint Petersburg (tel.: +7 812 272-50-02, +7 812 272-04-42), Metro stations: "Chernishevskaya", "Mayakovskaya".
Before the 1917 Russian Revolution, approximately 3,700 French Catholics lived in St. Petersburg. As a rule, they prayed in St. Catherine's Church in Nevsky Avenue. As far back as the 1860s, the French Embassy intended to build a church for its compatriots. At the same time, architect Nicholas Benois designed a Gothic building. However, only as late as 1898, after a Franco-Russian rapprochement, Louis Napoleon Lannes, Duke of Montebello, managed to get imperial permission to construct the Roman Catholic Church.
First, Manezhnaya Square was chosen for construction, but the Russian Orthodox Church and the public protested against it. Thus, on summer 1900, a piece of land in Kovensky Lane, away from the city centre, was bought for 67,000 roubles. Later in the year, a small wooden temporary parish church was built there under the design by architect Oskar Thibeaux-Brignolle, a community's member.
By request of the Church's prior, Father A. Cuny, Leon Benois designed a three-aisled Roman basilica in 1902, which featured a high individual bell tower. On 23 June, 1903, the foundations of the very beautiful building were laid in the presence of the ambassador, Duke of Montebello. Construction was financed by donations and revenue from lottery ticket sales. First of all, a crypt with a temporary ceiling was built, which made it possible to start church services immediately. Later, it became a lower room of the Church.
Batignolles Comapny donated to the community a lot of Finnish granite, which remained after construction of the Trinity Bridge, while the Black Sea Shipyard gave cement. As a result, the original design was modified.
In 1908, Leon Benois and his follower Marian Peretyatkovich suggested a new design that had a hall with a ferroconcrete vault instead of naves and a granite-faced facade, which made the building look modern.
The modified design could not be passed due to some legal problems that were finally solved by the French Embassy.
The construction process, which took place in 1908 and 1909, was supervised by Petretyatkovich himself. Experienced engineer S. Smirnov was a main contractor. The structures were made by Zhelezobeton Association. The 30 meter high bell tower was completed with a bell, which was cast by K. Orlov's factory. Holy water stoups were made of sea shells.
On 22 November, 1909, the Church was consecrated and dedicated to Our Lady of France.
While the whole building is strictly symmetrical, its facade is not. One of its sides is crowned with a high four-panel tower, walls of which are cut with narrow semicircular windows. The tower's second tier features a colonnade of long columns without capitals. Above the tier an octagonal drum rises. It has a faceted tapering dome with a cross. The tower is contrasted to a small faceted tower with a slightly different dome on the opposite side of the facade.
The main entrance is an arch-like doorway decorated with columns. Two more entrances on its both sides lead to the lower floor, which is separated by two rows of piers supporting vaults. A large room upstairs is illuminated through high windows of long walls and bridged with a high vault. The walls are adorned with Gothic columns. The interior decoration is notable for its severe simplicity.
The Church had adjacent Gothic columns inside. A high altar's icon "Jeanne d'Arc, the Defender of France" was painted by famous artist Ernest Liphart in 1916. In June 1957, the icon was replaced by a picture "Jesus is giving Peter the keys of Christ's Church" measuring 3 by 5 meters and painted by Zakharov right in the Church.
Fractions of the Holy Cross and some sacred objects from St. Catherine's Cathedral, which was closed, are stored in the Church.
The Church performed requiem services over Benois' family members and many French people living in St. Petersburg. Before the 1917 Revolution, the French Community numbered 1,500 parishioners.
The Church was closed in 1922 and 1923. However, since then, it has always been opened, because it belonged to the French Embassy, and was the only functioning Catholic Church in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) for very long time. During these years, mostly Poles prayed there.
No services were held during the Leningrad Blockade. They were resumed only as late as autumn 1945. Since then, the Church has been named Notre Dame de Lourdes.
In 1997, mosaic and painted stained-glass windows with iconographic scenes were finally installed after three years of works. The windows were painted and inlaid with mosaic by Isabella and Mikhail Baikovs.
The Cathedral has a long history starting from the first years of St. Petersburg's existence. Coachmen, who were settled by Peter I on the banks of the Liga River (formerly, the Black River) in the newly founded capital, did not have a church. Upon a petition by coachmen Vasily Fedotov, Peter Kusov and their friends, archmandrite Theodosius ordered...
The Chapel was built in 1907, upon the design by architect Alfred Parland. It was consecrated on 27 April 1908.
In November 1930, the Chapel was shut down....
WorldWalk.info
en
info@worldwalk.info