Among the huge number of churches in St. Petersburg, and possibly even the whole of Russia, there is one special one, the architecture of which is striking in its uniqueness, is the Chesme Church. It looks like a cardboard toy house painted in white and red stripes. Today it is a functioning Orthodox church, which is a magnificent architectural monument built in a pseudo-Gothic style. It rises on Lensovet Street, between Moskovsky Prospekt and Yuri Gagarin Avenue.
The Chesme church itself, or rather, the entire complex of structures, is an equilateral triangle, in the corners of which round towers are attached. In the center is a large round hall. Massive walls are decorated with lancet window and doorways. The building can be compared to a medieval knight's castle.
At the beginning of the XIX century, the building was slightly rebuilt. He had annexes - three outbuildings, which with their appearance simplified the palace a little.
The facade of the building is decorated with delicate white stone ornaments. Five reels end with domes on which miniature spiers are mounted. Each of them carries an apple with an openwork cross. In one of the drums is a large bell, whose weight is slightly less than 100,000 kg, 7 small bells are located in another chapter. At the entrance to the building there is a marble board with a special inscription.
Chesme Church has its own legend. According to her, the place on which this building was erected was not chosen by chance. Here, on the seventh verst of the tract that led from the capital to Tsarskoye Selo, one messenger told the empress the good news of a glorious victory. For this reason, at the place of receiving such news in 1977 this temple was laid. The construction of the church was completed on the 10th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Chesme. Solemn lighting was performed by Metropolitan Gabriel. The empress herself was present at this event.
In 1919, the Chesme Church was closed. And five years later, the bells were removed and sent for re-melting. Crosses were removed from the domes and a sculptural image was made, consisting of ticks, a hammer and an anvil. Here, by 1930, the archive of Glavnauka was located, and then the carpentry workshop of the Road Institute was opened. In addition, in the same year a fire occurred in the building, as a result of which the interior of the church was completely destroyed, including the iconostasis. The building was no less affected during the war. Only in the 1960s did the restoration of the temple begin as a monument of architecture.
Chesme Church (St. Petersburg) has a strict, and at the same time simple interior decoration. An exact copy of the iconostasis was made, which was made according to the drawing by Yu. M. Felten. The main attraction of the church is a collection of old Italian icons. The most famous of them: “The Crucifixion of the Savior”, “The Holy Tsarevich Dmitry”, “John the Baptist”. They are the most popular with numerous tourists.
This St. Petersburg church is currently an architectural monument of federal significance. Among residential buildings, sports and educational institutions, office buildings rises a cult object, which has a rather unusual appearance. Near the church there is the Chesmensky cemetery, on which not only the soldiers who participated in the Suvorov campaigns are buried, but also those who took part in all the military battles that took place on this territory.