Description of the attraction
The emergence at the beginning of the eighteenth century near the borders of Estonia, the city of St. Petersburg, which quickly became a metropolis, could not pass unnoticed for her. The impact on the economy and culture is difficult not to assess. A lot of famous Estonians: politicians, artists, scientists, musicians, writers were connected with St. Petersburg by narrow ties. People came to the capital of the Russian Empire from all parts of it, including many Estonians. Gradually, an Estonian community was formed in St. Petersburg, and with it an Estonian Lutheran parish.
At first, Estonians attended services in Swedish, Finnish or German churches, where services were sometimes held in their native language. In 1787, it was allowed to conduct the service in Estonian every second Sunday after the main service, which was conducted in German. This moment is considered the beginning of the establishment of the Estonian Lutheran parish.
Soon, in 1839, it was decided to build their own church for worship in Estonian. The formation of an independent Estonian parish took place in 1842, in May, and already in July of the same year, the community decided to name its parish after one of the apostles - John, in the Estonian transcription - Jaan. This decision was later approved by the General Consistory. Finally, in 1843, the parish building, located in Drovyaniy Lane, was consecrated.
At that time, there were about five thousand Estonians in St. Petersburg, and the church was kept on their donations. By the end of the 19th century, due to the massive influx of immigrants from Estonia, the premises of the church could not accommodate all the parishioners, and it was decided to build a more spacious church. A plot of land was bought on Officerskaya Street, now it bears the name of the Decembrists. The first stone was laid on June 24, 1859 on John's Day. And in 1860 (November 27) the temple was consecrated in the same way. The history includes the architects Harald Julius Bosse and Karl Ziegler von Schaffhausen. They made a huge contribution to the construction of the temple and utility rooms. The temple had 800 seats. According to the testimony of contemporaries, the temple had excellent acoustics, every word uttered even in a whisper was clearly caught in all its corners.
As the Estonian community developed and grew, which in the early years of the twentieth century numbered more than twenty thousand people, a complex of different buildings was built near the temple. There was a school, an orphanage, a tenement house, a service house. A lot of charitable work was carried out on the basis of the temple of Yaakov. There were three services on Sundays, besides them weddings and funerals were held. An organ was installed in the church, the organist was constantly there. The choir worked, concerts were held. Orthodox Petersburgers also came to listen to organ music and the singing of the church choir. Many famous Estonian musicians and organists have passed through the organ school of the Jacob Church: Rudolf Tobias, Miine Härm, Johannes Kapel, Louis Gomilius, Konstantin Türnpu, Mihkel Lyudig, Mart Saar, August Topman, Peeter Suda.
The Soviet period brought the church into decay. The property was seized, it was looted and closed. The bell tower and the portal were destroyed. Church ministers suffered a sad fate: some were executed, others were repressed and exiled. Several warehouses, workshops and even a construction trust were placed in the church building and other premises. The Estonian parish suffered irreparable losses, the number of Estonians decreased and in 1950 amounted to about five thousand people.
In the early nineties, the Estonian community began to revive. At first, the society of culture was officially recognized. A year later, the Lutheran Church in Koltushi began to conduct services. And in 1994 the work of the Estonian parish was revived. Finally, in 1997, the church building was donated to the Estonian parish. Its revival began, the government of the Republic of Estonia rendered great assistance in this. In February 2011, the Church of St. John the Apostle was opened to the faithful.
