Description of the attraction
The only church in Russia dedicated to St. Anna Kashinskaya is located in St. Petersburg on the Vyborg side. Holy noble princess Anna was born in the 13th century. The fate of the daughters of the Rostov prince and the wife of the prince of Tverskoy were prepared for widowhood, the death of their son, and a monastic inheritance. In the 17th century, Anna was canonized, then decanonized and, after some time, canonized again.
The history of the Church of St. Anne begins in 1894, when in St. Kruchinin under the holy monastery, the foundation was laid for the courtyard of the Kashinsky Sretensky monastery. At this place, the chapel of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was erected, in honor of the rescue of the heir to the throne Nicholas (Emperor Nicholas II) in Japan from an assassination attempt. In 1901, according to the project of the architect Andreev, a 3-storey stone outbuilding was erected, a little later, premises for utility services were built.
The foundation stone of the present church began in September 1907 on the site of the old St. Nicholas chapel. The project was developed by A. P. Aplaksin, former diocesan architect. The architect was faced with a difficult task: it was necessary to build a church on a narrow plot of land stretched from east to west near the already existing buildings. According to the project, the temple with a chapel and a bell tower, facing Bolshoi Sampsonievsky Prospekt, will be connected from the north-east with an outbuilding, forming a common architectural ensemble of the Kashinsky convent's courtyard. The ceremony of consecration of the main altar of the church took place on December 18 (31), 1909. This coincided with the celebrations in the Tver province of the restoration of the veneration of Saint Blessed Anna.
The Church of St. Anna Kashinskaya was built in the neo-Russian style. Developing a sketch of the facade and external decoration of the temple, Aplaksin turned to the images of ancient Novgorod, Moscow, Yaroslavl, Pskov architecture, bringing in elements of modernity. The transition to the onion dome on the bell tower and the drums of the church was made by the masters of the PK Vaulin artel. Arched niches are covered with paintings. The now lost central porch was a locker with a dome, decorated with the likeness of the crown of Russian emperors. The center of the ensemble is a four-pillar temple building with apses.
In the church of St. Anna Kashinskaya, there are three thrones above each other. This architectural solution is unique both for St. Petersburg and for other churches in Russia. Another feature is the arrangement of the choirs, which are located on the four sides of the hall. In the eastern choirs, which are now lost, there was a special chapel of the royal family.
The 1917 revolution suspended work on the temple. With the change of power, there have been changes with the church of Anna Kashinskaya. The temple was open to believers until 1925. In 1932, the nuns were arrested. Fifteen sisters were sent into exile, three died in the camps. The priest of the temple and his family were persecuted.
In 1933, the church was closed, it was planned to blow it up. Church utensils and icons were looted. Little was saved - the icons of St. Anna of Kashinskaya and the Chernigov Mother of God, which are kept in the Sampsonievsky Cathedral, a frieze with majolica by S. Chekhonin, now in the St. Petersburg Museum of City History. In 1939, the workshops of the art combine were housed in the church.
In March 1994, the church of Anna Kashinskaya was returned to the diocese of St. Petersburg. The dilapidated shrine, devoid of crosses and domes, was handed over to the Vvedeno-Oyat convent. Restoration and restoration work began in 1995. On Christmas Day, the first liturgy in 60 years was held. The temple was raised from the ruins: the roof was restored, the windows were glazed, the heating system was brought in, the bathrooms in the altar were dismantled, the bell tower and the chapel were restored, the chapters were restored. In 1996, the last cross was installed over the church.
Currently, restoration work has been completed, and the church of St. Anna Kashinskaya is open to believers. The unique iconostasis is a real decoration of the church. The church contains parts of the relics of Anna Kashinskaya, the relics of Saints Sergius and Barbara, the parents of the Monk Alexander of Svirsky. Not far from the monastery there is a holy spring with a bath.
