Epiphany Church on Gutuevsky Island (Saint Petersburg)
2 Dvinskaya Street, Saint Petersburg (tel.: +7 812 251-70-27), Metro station: "Narvskaya".
Emperor Alexander III and his family's miraculous escape from the Borki train accident, which happened near Kharkov on 17 October 1888 (Old Style), gave rise to construction of a great number of churches dedicated to this event. Custom officers, exchange contractors, and port officials, who lived in Gutuevsky Island and in the mouth of the Neva River, where a merchant harbour was moved after the Sea Channel was opened, decided to celebrate the miracle.
First, a stone chapel was intended to be built below the dam, near the Channel. However, since a parish was situated quite far away, it appeared to be more reasonable to construct a big wooden church and dedicate it to St. Alexander Nevsky. Civil architect S. Andreyev had already finished a design, when a local manufacturer Ivan Voronin donated a large sum of money (100,000 roubles) for a stone building, stipulating that his family's burial vault was there.
A new church's design, seating 1,400 people, was developed by civil engineer Vasily Kosyakov and engineer Bronislav Pravdzik. The work was finished very quickly. It took just a month to make a design. They followed the example of a church, which was being constructed at Borki Railroad Station, near Kharkov (laid in 1889 and designed by Architecture Academician Robert Marfeld). Donations for the construction of the Church were collected even faster. The Gutuevskaya Church's design was a bright example of the flowering period of the so called 19th-century "Russian Style". Many people consider Nicholas I a spiritual parent of the style. Being based on architectural and artistic traditions of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was virtually legalised by both the Government and the Church in the second half of the 19th century.
The Kosyakov and Pravdzik's design followed all principles of a "ship"-kind Orthodox church layout. The building is stretched from west to east and successively consists of a porch, a bell tower with a forechurch, a refectory, a church's core, a high altar with a chapel adjacent to an apse from east, and two side-chapels symmetrically built from north and south.
On 29 April 1891, Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich (later Emperor Nicholas II of Russia) also miraculously escaped from an attack by a Japanese fanatic in Otsu. A year later, the foundations of a church with a chapel burial vault was laid by archpriest Alexander Zhelobovksy to commemorate this event.
In 1897, the rough draft of the Epiphany Church was finished. On 29 April 1899, Metropolitan Anthony together with Father John of Kronstadt consecrated the main side-chapel. On 18 July 1899, the left side chapel of St. John the Faster was consecrated and dedicated to the benefactor, who promised to build also an alms-house and an asylum. The right side-chapel was dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.
A big central dome and four small domes are perfectly balanced and form an expressive and memorable silhouette. Old Russian architectures always paid great attention to this. This monumental church's appearance was characterised by open brickwork of walls, many ornaments made of circle bricks and shirinkas with tiled insertions, colourful majolica belts, cornices, and insertions. A western portal is isometric; the entrances are framed with doubled arches. Icon cases have mosaic icons. Kokoshniks' laces feature ceramic relieves in the bottom. The central dome's elegant helmet is upon a massive drum, which, in its turn, rests on a complex "octagon on square" system. The Church, decorated with columns and kokoshniks and finished with ornaments, is a true wonder of construction and stone carving art.
The Church's interior was very spacious and gaily decorated. Faience, ivory-looking, low one-tier iconostasis was made by a famous Moscow company owned by M. Kuznetsov, who was awarded a medal for this design during the 1900 Paris Exhibition. Its colour perfectly contrasted with gilded bronze of the holy door. An icon was painted by A. Postnikov; wall paintings depicting the Saviour's life scenes by A. Slavtsov, who visited the Holy Land to paint its landscapes from life; ornaments were made by N. Budakov. Carvings were done in Pavel Abrosimov's workshop, while outdoor mosaics were the work of the famous mosaic expert Alexander Frolov's workshop. Bells were cast by A. Samgin's factory. They were shown during the Chicago World's Fair.
In 1910, Calvary was consecrated with donations from parishioners. In 1913, an altar and a table of oblation were decorated with marble and Slavtsov's icons. The Church's western wall featured two-tiered galleries. All Church's inner walls were painted.
The Church was shut down on 5 May 1935. Its last dean Vasily Medvedsky was executed by shooting.
After the Church was closed, it was occupied by a vegetable store, a soap factory, and Frunzensky Department Store's warehouses. There was a car fleet within the Church's area. During these years, canopies and domes above the altar, rich furnishings, the central dome's frame and its relief gilded belt along the roof, and unique "carpet" paintings hanging between the windows, on slopes and friezes were completely lost. Brickworks of two side chapels with kokoshniks and window openings of up to 3.5 m high, icon mosaics of the central drum, the Christ's mosaic image, a unique iconostasis consisting of mosaic icon cases of 3.5 m high and made of white faience (12 small pieces of which were found in a basement of another building as late as 1997), and many other things were also irretrievably lost.
The building was severely damaged during World War II, when it was set on fire. By the end of the 20th century, only a smoked, disfigured skeleton remained of the formerly splendid church.
In 1976, specialists of Restavrator Workshop made the first attempt to repair and restore the building. They wanted at least to reconstruct the facades, restore the Church's original appearance, strengthen and preserve its structure.
In 1980, Restovrator's architect K. Vorpulyov restored the Church's facades. In 1991, the Church was handed back to the believers. On Epiphany Day, 19 January 1992, the first service was held.
On 20 November 1991, the Committee on Governmental Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments of St. Petersburg approved repair and reconstruction works. In 1992, real activity on improving the emergency state of the building was finally initiated. All window metal frames and some of forged grills of the ground floor windows were restored. The building's basement was cleaned out and damp-proofed. The outer walls coated with soot were cleared. The Church's main dome was newly gilded. The small domes and canopies were reconstructed. On 4 May 1995, a cross was erected on the dome.
In the first half of the 19th century, the monumental dome of a church dominated the architecture of St. Petersburg's riverside; that church was the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in S'ezdovskaya (then Kadetskaya) Liniya Street, on Vasilievsky Island.
On religious holidays, the Church's high bell tower used to sent the loud chime of it...
In August 1794, the solemn consecration of the city of Odessa took place; during this ceremony, the site for construction of a church of Nicolas the Wonder-Worker was consecrated in Sobornaya Square; and in 1795, the first stone was laid. This Church became the forerunner of the future Cathedral.
The construction works on the Church, to a design...
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