Description of the attraction
The Church of the Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign is located in the center of Pushkin on Palace Street, not far from the Catherine Palace. The temple is the first stone building of Tsarskoye Selo, the oldest building of its palace and park ensemble.
After the Sarskaya manor was attributed to the "room of her majesty", the population of the area began to grow. In 1715, 200 households from wealthy peasants were transported here. And two years earlier a priest, deacon and clerk were sent to the manor. Services were performed in the camp church of Empress Catherine I, located in a chamber of a wooden palace building. But this temple could not serve all the inhabitants, and in 1714, in a birch grove (today a lyceum garden), the construction of a separate temple began. The work was completed by the fall. The temple was consecrated on November 13, 1716 in honor of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos.
But a year later it turned out that even such a church was not enough for the manor. For this reason, in 1717 it was decided to build a new church in honor of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos. The construction of this temple was completed in 1723.
On July 5, 1728, the temple burned down from a lightning strike. For 6 years the place of this church was empty, until in 1734 the mistress of the Sarsk village, then the crown princess Elizaveta Petrovna, ordered to build a new church, expanding the foundation of the Annunciation Church. The construction was attended by I. Ya. Blank and M. G. Zemtsov. On July 17, 1736, two chapels of the church were consecrated. The new church could now accommodate all local residents. Therefore, the nearby Assumption Church was moved to the cemetery. In 1745, a grove was built around the Church of the Sign by the order of Elizaveta Petrovna.
The construction of the temple was completed in 1747. In mid-May, the Tsarskoye Selo icon of the Most Holy Theotokos of the Sign was transferred here. Initially, the church had four chapels. During the reign of Catherine II, a front porch with a balcony was added to the church, and the monogram "E II" was included in the lattice ornament. Every year, on May 21, when the empress came to Tsarskoe Selo, she attended services in the church, listening to the liturgy on the balcony.
In 1785, Catherine instructed D. Quarenghi to develop a project for a stone gate bell tower, which was to be located at the entrance to the territory of the temple. But in 1789, the bells were hung on a wooden bell tower built over the temple. In 1817, due to its dilapidation, a wooden bell tower was built on this site according to the project of L. Ruska. By 1865, services in the upper aisle of Nicholas the Wonderworker ceased and it was closed. On the site of the altar, new choirs were arranged. During the reconstructions carried out under the direction of the architect A. F. Vidova, the external appearance of the church has changed: the shape of the bell tower and dome was changed, vestibules were built to the entrance to the sacristy and the main entrance, windows were cut through. In 1891, two side chapels were abolished. In 1899, a major overhaul of the Church of the Sign was carried out according to the project of S. A. Danini.
After the revolution, a number of revisions were made in the church, as a result, the number of church relics was greatly reduced. By the beginning of the war, the Church of the Sign remained the only active church in the city. During the war, the church was closed, and after the liberation of the city it was never returned to the believers, its building was used as a book warehouse.
In the 60s of the XX century, a global external restoration of the temple was carried out under the leadership of the architect M. M. Plotnikov. The temple was returned to its original appearance. In 1991, the temple was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church, but in a rather deplorable state. In 1995, restoration work began here, which has almost been completed by now.
The Church of the Sign is the only building of I. Ya. Blanca, which is a striking example of architecture from the times of the Peter the Great Baroque. The temple is a one-domed stone basilica with a wooden bell tower. Its walls are painted with ocher, along the facade - with white pilasters. On the west side, a four-column portico with a balcony is attached to the building. The temple has three entrances: south, west and north. The building of the temple is three-nave, the middle nave is two floors.
Inside the church, the walls are painted turquoise with white edging. The flooring is parquet. The Baroque iconostasis is a restored copy of the original iconostasis.
To the left of the main entrance in the vestibule there is a round cast-iron staircase that leads to the choir, installed in 1878. On the second floor, where the altar of the Nikolsky side-altar used to be, there are choirs, from there the staircase goes up to the bell tower.
