St. Mary's Church (Finnish: Pyhän Marian kirkko) is the cathedral of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ingria in Russia and is located in Saint Petersburg.
Full name: Cathedral of the Church of Ingria-Evangelical Lutheran Parish of St. Mary's Church.
Also known names: the Cathedral of St. Mary, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Mary, the Church of Ingria in St. Petersburg.
This is a Russian Lutheran church of the Scandinavian tradition (Finnish), most of the parishes of which are located in the Leningrad Region and Karelia.
The cathedral is located in the center of St. Petersburg, on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street, near Nevsky Prospekt - one of the most visited and beautiful streets of the city.
Rectangular in plan, the church building was crowned with a dome with a cross. The dome stands on a slender drum.
The main facade of the church facing Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street, distinguished by a portico of four columns of the Tuscan order with capitals and completed with a triangular pediment.
Also, the facade of the building has three doors and two niches on the first floor level, four windows on the second floor level and is decorated with pilasters with capitals.
The interior of the Church of St. Mary is simple in execution, has a central nave, part of which is divided into floors-balconies, supported, among other things, by monumental columns with architectural capitals.
The church has a neo-baroque organ, which is a special decoration of the church hall and was consecrated in December 2010.
The cathedral hosts divine services, concerts of classical and sacred music, organ evenings, and a Sunday school. St. Mary's Parish is involved in missionary and youth work.
The history of Finnish-speaking parishes dates back to 1611, when the first parish, which is part of the Church of Sweden, was founded on the territory of Ingria, in Lembolovo (the land then belonged to Sweden and was settled by the inhabitants of central Finland). Since 1618, the parishes were incorporated into the Diocese of Vyborg. The official registration of the Church of Ingria took place in September 1992.
As a result of the Northern War, Ingermanland became part of the Russian Empire. At this point, the Church of Ingria had 28 parishes.
After the foundation of St. Petersburg in 1703, Peter I allowed the creation of a Swedish-Finnish parish in the city for the inhabitants of the former city of Nien, some of whose inhabitants moved to St. Petersburg during the Swedish War.
In 1734, the Empress Anna Ioanovna granted the Finnish-Swedish community a plot of land in the area of Nevsky Prospekt, where the first wooden church was built, sacred in honor of St. Anna.
In 1745, the community was divided into Swedish and Finnish.
In 1767, the church completely passed into the possession of the Finns and, in 1803, the community began the construction of a new stone church designed by the German-born architect Gottlieb Christian Paulsen. On December 12, 1805, the birthday of Emperor Alexander I, the church was consecrated in honor of St. Mary - after the mother of the emperor-Maria Feodorovna. The church became the main church of the community in Russia.
Under the care of the parish of St. Mary there were shelters, a chapel on the Finnish site of the Mitrofaniev cemetery and the prayer house of St. Mary in Lakhta.
Some changes to the facade and interior of the church were made in 1871 by architect C. K. Anderson and in the 1890s by architect L. N. Benoit.
The decline of the church began in 1929, when it was forbidden to study in parishes, work with children and young people, and social service. In 1938, the Church of St. Mary was closed, the building was nationalized. The building was subsequently rebuilt.
Since 1990, the Lutheran parish of St. Mary was revived and re-registered, to which only a part of the premises was allocated in the church.
In 1994, the parishioners ' struggle for the entire church building was crowned with success. Since 1999, with the support of donations from the Lutherans of the Finnish parishes, the restoration of the building of the shrine has begun according to the project of S. I. Ivanov and E. Lonka.
St. Mary's Church was re-consecrated on May 19, 2002, in the presence of Archbishop Jukka Paarma of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, President of Finland Tarja Halonen, and Governor of St. Petersburg Vladimir Yakovlev.
In September 2002, St. Mary's became an episcopal church, which corresponds to the cathedral - St. Mary's Cathedral.
It is recommended to come to the concerts in St. Mary's Cathedral half an hour before the start. Donation - from 300 rubles.
St. Mary's Church website: stmaria.
Address of St. Mary's Church: 8A Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street.
Coordinates of St. Mary's Church: 59°56'17"N 30°19'25"E (59.938056, 30.323611).
Nearest metro stations: "Admiralteiskaya", "Nevsky Prospekt" and "Gostiny Dvor".
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