Description of the attraction
In a small town in the northern part of the Leningrad region - in Priozersk - there are courtyards of several Ladoga monasteries, which include the Compound of the Transfiguration of the Savior Valaam, located at the All-Saints Church, as well as the Compound of the Konevsky Monastery, located at the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos. In Russia, a tradition has developed that the churches of All Saints were usually erected in cemeteries or next to them. This tradition is completely justified, since at all times the relatives of the deceased wanted his Guardian Angel to always be next to a dear person.
In the area of the old Orthodox cemetery in Priozersk, the earliest burials of which date back to the 60s of the 18th century, the All-Holy Church was erected, the second name of which is St. Andrew's Church. It is worth noting that the funds needed for the construction of the Keksholm church (Keksholm - this was the name that referred to this city at that time), a total of about 26 thousand rubles, was donated before her death by the daughter of a wealthy merchant Avdotya Andreev. It becomes clear that the relatives of the deceased's elder brother (Fedor) were not at all satisfied with this state of affairs, as a result of which a civil procedure was conducted for a long time, during which the illegality of the will of the deceased was proved in various ways. Fortunately, most of the jurors were Orthodox Christians, or maybe they were just lucky, but one way or another, the trial was won.
In the winter of December 17, 1874, in the city of St. Petersburg, the last will of the deceased was fully legalized at the city court session. Initially, the project of the Church of All Saints was prepared by order of Martin Stenius, the governor of Kexholm. The project was entrusted to Frans Shester (1840-1885), an architect and narrow specialist in Orthodox churches. But the project developed by the Sixth was rejected by the Holy Synod.
To develop the second project, Arenberg Johann Jakob (1847-1914) was invited, who has extensive experience in building Lutheran churches, as well as houses for secular gentlemen, among which the governor's house in Vyborg and the famous school in Helsinki can be distinguished. It is clear that this kind of structures had nothing to do with Orthodox construction. Like the first project, the second was also in no hurry to approve.
In the spring of 1890, the chief prosecutor nevertheless approved the architect's project, after which the construction of the temple began immediately. Within two years, a full-fledged temple was built from an unplastered red building, lined with Valaam bricks. In 1894, the church was consecrated according to the existing Orthodox rites. Judging by the records of the Holy Synod, at the end of the 19th century in Russia every year from six hundred to nine hundred churches were built.
The new temple was built single-domed and had a hipped-roof bell tower. In addition, the construction of this church building was an important event for the inhabitants of the western territories of the Russian Empire. But not everyone thought so, because the architect developed the project of the church in the traditional "neo-Russian" style, which is clearly expressed in the elements of wooden architecture that are not traditional for Russian stone churches, represented by picturesque carved cornices in the interior and exterior decoration. The All Saints Church also reflects elements of five different stylistic styles: Romanesque, Old Russian, Classicism, Baroque and Gothic. The inherent division of forms along the vertical component is clearly reflected in classicism; semi-columns, which do not carry any functional component and are necessary only for decorative design, belong to the Baroque style. Most likely, such architectural features, including such an extensive combination of styles, make the Church of All Saints in the city of Priozersk not only original, but literally the only and unique creation of that time.
