At the address: Nevsky Prospekt, 32-34 (metro station Nevsky Prospekt, Central District).
The Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria is a Catholic church in the city of St. Petersburg, one of the oldest Catholic churches in Russia.
In the courtyard of the buildings at 32-34 Nevsky Prospekt there is a passage to Italianskaya Street along a picturesque courtyard.
Historical reference
The Catholic parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria was founded in 1716. In 1738, Empress Anna Ioannovna signed permission to build a Catholic church on Nevsky Prospekt (Nevsky Prospekt).
The initial project was developed by Pietro Antonio Trezzini, the work that began under his leadership was stopped in 1751 after leaving his homeland. An attempt to complete construction in the 60s of the 18th century, made by the architect J. B. Vallin-Delamot, was also unsuccessful. All this time, the community served in a temporary church, the hall for which was equipped in a neighboring house (modern Nevsky Prospekt, 34). Only in 1782 the construction of the temple was completed under the leadership of Italian architects Minciani and A. Rinaldi, the latter was the head of the community.
On October 7, 1783, the temple, which received the status of a cathedral, was consecrated in honor of St. Catherine of Alexandria, patroness of Empress Catherine II.
During the USSR period the temple was not operational.
Between 1992 and 2008, the temple was reconstructed. Now the temple is open to believers. The church has a Sunday school, a catechumenate, and a Children's Center named after. Ursula Leduchowska, meetings of the Living Rosary Movement, lay Dominicans. The parish choir regularly performs at various festivals. The temple hosts concerts and meetings with cultural figures. There is a society helping those in need.
Organ evenings are held at St. Catherine's Basilica. Starts at 21:00.
The activities of the State Museum-Monument "St. Isaac's Cathedral" are expanding: cycles of organ concerts are being revived. An additional venue for concerts was the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Catherine, the oldest church of the Roman Catholic Church in St. Petersburg.
This is the only Catholic church in Russia that was given the honorary title of minor basilica (in 2013). This title is primarily given to historically significant and pilgrimage churches. The Basilica of St. Catherine of Alexandria in St. Petersburg became the only basilica in Russia.
The building, which is an architectural monument of federal significance, was built between 1738 and 1783 according to the designs of P. A. Trezzini, J. B. Vallin-Delamot, I. Minciani and A. Rinaldi. The temple was closed in 1938, and the utensils, icons and books from the church library were thrown into the street. The further fate of the cathedral is just as dramatic: a fire in 1947 seriously damaged the interior, after which the church was used as a warehouse for a long time, and in 1977 it was decided to turn the building into a Philharmonic organ hall (the temple was once famous for one of the best organs in St. Petersburg), but the fire of 1984 destroyed the ancient organ and stopped another reconstruction.
In the early 1990s, the revival of the temple began: large-scale restoration work, registration of the newly formed parish of St. Catherine. In 2000, the altar part of the temple was re-consecrated, and in 2003, the restoration of the main part of the temple was completed and the central gate was opened.
It is in the Basilica of St. Catherine that the cycles of organ concerts will continue, interrupted in January 2016, when the St. Isaac's Cathedral State Museum lost its main venue - the Smolny Cathedral Concert and Exhibition Hall, where organ concerts were especially loved by the public.
The unique organ “Monarke” by the Dutch company “Johannus”, created by the best Dutch craftsmen for the Smolny Cathedral, but dismantled and taken out of there in January 2016, will now sound under the arches of the Basilica of St. Catherine on Nevsky Prospekt. This organ is a state-of-the-art digital instrument, combining cutting-edge technology with the expertise of Europe's greatest organ builders.
I now call that day in St. Petersburg nothing other than the Day of the Three Churches. I still wonder how I was able to combine three different churches so successfully and not mix everything in my head into one big pile))) Probably because each of these churches is unique in its own way: very quiet and memorable for its beautiful, but with a completely unpretentious interior decoration, the Armenian Church of St. Catherine; a Catholic church, brutal on the outside and slightly ascetic on the inside, bearing the name of the same saint; and the stunning beauty of the Naval St. Nicholas Cathedral in Kronstadt - huge, bright and very noisy from the abundance of tourists in it.
About
, the story about the Kronstadt Cathedral is still ahead, and today I will show you the Catholic Church of St. Catherine.
To us on the noisy Nevsky Prospekt...
And more specifically, on the even side of Nevsky, where in the depths of the block between houses No. 32-34 the Catholic Church of St. Catherine is visible. Architectural style - early classicism: 
In the center of the main facade there is a huge arched niche with two columns: 
This is a Polish church, the history of which in St. Petersburg began in the time of Anna Ioannovna. It was the Empress who allocated a plot of land on Nevsky to Polish Catholics: 
At first the church was wooden; in 1763, a stone church was built according to the design of Jean-Baptiste Vallin-Delamot. It was already completed by Antonio Rinaldi, the temple was consecrated in 1783: 
Above the main entrance to the temple there was a marble tablet on which was written in Latin in bronze letters “My house is a house of prayer” (“Domus Mea, Domus orationis”) 
For a long time I could not enter the temple because I was hovering in front of the front door. She caught my attention so much with her decor! 
First of all, these crowns. How beautiful! 
Secondly, door handles. The fact is that the handle is made in the shape of a human hand))) 
In general, very soon I realized that I was preventing other visitors to the church from entering and leaving it and finally found myself inside: 
Those of you who periodically read my reports already know that I go to churches solely for the sake of architecture, studying interiors and, of course, I am always interested in their historical past. Therefore, I quite calmly visit churches of various denominations, having previously studied the rules of behavior in them.
This Catholic church is unlikely to amaze anyone with its lush decoration and abundance of gilding, but I really liked it for its calm beauty and delicate pastel colors of the interior: 
I also noted for myself that, despite its rather large size, there is no feeling as if the temple was pressing on you and you want to quickly get out, as sometimes happens in churches with gloomy Gothic architecture. In this regard, the Church of St. Catherine turned out to be very light and bright: 
Windows letting in daylight, with angels sitting on the sides: 
Openwork lamps on the wall: 
In 1998, the church held a solemn consecration of the chapel in honor of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima. The chapel is located to the left of the main altar: 
A sign near the entrance to the chapel explained that this room was intended only for worshiping parishioners.
Naturally, I didn’t break the rules, but took a couple of photos through the door. Buzzer helps me)) 
The church also has its own pride - an unusual large icon case with an image of St. Catherine placed in it: 
It is located near the balustrade of the main altar and appeared in the temple relatively recently, in July 2014.
Just in case, I’ll explain that an icon case is a box with glass in which icons are placed to protect them from candle soot and dust.
The difference between this icon case and those usually found in Russian Orthodox churches is the narrow fields of red velvet around the icon. They are made as a place for dedicatory and thanksgiving gifts. In Europe, precious rosaries and crosses of the healed are often placed on the walls next to a revered icon or statue, and sometimes directly on it. In Russia, dedicatory gifts are most often hung in an icon case on the image itself or its frame.
And the unusualness of the icon case in the Church of St. Catherine is that it combines these two traditions. Signs of gratitude to St. Catherine are under the glass of the icon case for greater security, but do not cover the icon itself. This way the icon will be able to remain at a short distance from the worshipers.
I will tell you about several historical facts that I found about this temple.
The temple was famous for its magnificent decoration and excellent acoustics, as well as its huge library: at the beginning of the 19th century it contained 60,000 volumes in 30 languages.
In 1829, the architect Auguste Montferrand, builder of St. Isaac's Cathedral, was married in the Church of St. Catherine. And shortly before Pushkin’s death - Georges Dantes and Ekaterina Goncharova, the sister of Natalya Goncharova, Pushkin’s wife. 
Various schools and gymnasiums operated at the temple. Since 1884, the Roman Catholic Charitable Society operated at the parish, which during the 35 years of its existence played a significant role in the life of the local Church. 
The kings of Poland, Stanislaw August Poniatowski and Stanislaw Leszczynski, were buried in the dungeons of the temple. To this day, the French general Jean Victor Moreau, commander-in-chief of the Allied armies in the war with Napoleon, rests in the crypt of the temple. 
In 1938, the temple was closed and destroyed.
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Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on Nevsky Sculptures of the Evangelists return to the attic of the Church of St. Catherine on NevskyUpload a photo 1.3 MB
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Copies of sculptures of the holy Evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John today began to be installed on the attic of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Catherine at Nevsky Prospekt, 32-34. Tomorrow the installation of the central sculptural group “Worship of the Cross” on the attic will continue. The exact time for completion of the installation is not yet known due to the significant technical complexity of the process. It is expected that the facade of the temple will be completely free of scaffolding next week. The issue of transferring the original sculptures to museum storage is currently being decided. In 2014, to resolve the issue of copying sculptures, a restoration council was convened with the participation of specialists from the KGIOP, the State Hermitage and the State Russian Museum, whose members unanimously came to the conclusion that the further presence of original sculptures in the open air is impossible, since the destruction of marble increases due to the influence of climate and aggressive atmospheric environment. The attic of the basilica was also in poor condition. All the main parameters of the sculptures (height, width, thickness), as well as all the nuances of the author’s plasticity and even the weathering of the historical stone were converted into copies. In order to avoid the transfer of significant surface defects and numerous losses from the surface of the original, the so-called “double molding” was used. The work was carried out by specialists from RM NASLEDIE LLC. Scientific and design documentation for the restoration of the sculptural group on the attic was developed in 2013. In the same year, work was completed to restore the entrance and recreate metal gratings for fencing side entrances to the porch and wall lanterns at the entrance for a total amount of 43.9 million rubles. In 2014, the restoration of the sculptural group on the attic of the temple was carried out in the amount of 19.8 million rubles. In 2015, work on copying four sculptures on the attic of the temple amounted to 42.7 million rubles. Work to strengthen the wall of the attic of the temple, as well as restoration of the roof, dome and façade of the drum in 2017 was carried out by JSC Renaissance-Restoration. The amount of funding for these works from the budget St. Petersburg under the KGIOP program amounted to 34.6 million rubles. rub. The brick attic above the wall of the main facade is 2 meters high. Its walls in the corner areas and the central part are significantly thicker, designed to accommodate heavy sculptures. Historically, the installation of sculptures on the attic of the temple was carried out after the completion of its construction, with the exception of the sculptural composition “Worship of the Cross”, which was installed along with the construction of the masonry wall. The cross was attached during the laying of the attic. St. Catherine's Church will host football players and fans during the 2018 FIFA World Cup as the central Roman Catholic church St. Petersburg. The complex of buildings of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Catherine occupies a rectangular section through the plan, facing Nevsky Prospekt and Italianskaya Street; consists of a church building and residential buildings with outbuildings located along the property boundaries. Permission to build a Catholic church on Nevsky Prospekt (now Nevsky Prospekt) was signed by Empress Anna Ioannovna in 1737. The initial project drawn up by architect P.A. Trezzini, was not implemented. The new project was developed in 1762 by the architect. J.-B. Wallen-Delamot. In plan, the temple is designed like a Latin cross; with a dome over the intersection of nave and transept. The building is moved deeper into the site and connected by arches to the church buildings flanking it. The main façade is cut through almost the entire height by an arched niche with two columns. Conceived by the architect. J.-B. Wallen-Delamot's composition with a huge arch in the center, two belfry towers and abundant sculptural decoration corresponded to the "Baroque" style prevailing at that time. The building was founded on July 16, 1763, but work on its construction was delayed; The architect A. Rinaldi, who led the construction since 1775, made significant changes to the 1763 project during implementation. He simplified the decoration of the main facade, removed the towers flanking the main entrance to the temple and completed the triumphal arch of the main facade along Nevsky Prospekt with a high rectangular attic decorated with sculptures. During the 19th - first quarter of the 20th centuries, the building was repeatedly repaired and partially rebuilt. The interior design has undergone significant changes; New volumes were added to the northern and western facades, and the ridge elevations were raised during the roof repairs. In 1938, the temple was closed, the building was used as a warehouse, and it was planned to organize an exhibition and concert hall in it. Fires occurred in the temple twice - in 1947 and 1984, as a result of which the interior decoration was practically lost. In 1992, the building was returned to the Roman Catholic Church. Repair and restoration work was carried out, and the interior was restored at the beginning of the 21st century. The Roman Catholic Church of St. Catherine has preserved the historical volumetric-spatial design and design of the facades. The building belongs to the best examples of the style transitional from Baroque to early classicism. It harmoniously fits into the ensemble of Nevsky Prospekt; its dome is one of the significant dominant features of the central part of the city’s main thoroughfare. Sculpture at the completion of the main façade of the temple was planned at all stages of the design. In the drawing of the main facade of the architect. P.A. Trezzini it is shown schematically. According to the project of J.-B. Vallin-Delamotte planned to install a sculptural group of two angels supporting a cross on the attic above the central part of the facade, and statues of saints on the flanking turrets. Arch. A. Rinaldi completed the building with a rectangular attic on which sculptures of the four Evangelists were installed - St. John, St. Luke, St. Matthew and St. Mark, and along the central axis - the sculptural composition “Adoration of the Cross”. This composition echoes the solution proposed by J.-B. Vallin-Delamotme, however, is distinguished by greater compositional completeness. The sculptures are made of white marble. The composition “Adoration of the Cross” consists of two kneeling angels, one of whom holds a cross, and two cherubs at the base of the cross. Forged steel cross with gilded lining made of non-ferrous metal (copper). The sculptures of the Evangelists are placed in pairs above the corners of the risalits of the main facade. The authorship and time of execution of the statues are not determined. They were installed simultaneously, probably in 1799-1780, during the construction of rafters and the construction of the dome of the temple, but the artistic design of the central group and the figures of the four Evangelists is different. The composition “Worship of the Cross” is made in a Baroque style; the style of the sculptures of the Evangelists allows us to attribute them to the era of classicism.