Church of the Dormition, Church of the Assumption (Saint Petersburg)

27 Leitenanta Smidta Embankment, Vasilievsky Island, Saint Petersburg (tel.: +7 812 321-74-73, +7 812 355-90-56), Metro station: "Vasileostrovskaya".

A town church of the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersky (Pskov-Caves) Monastery situated at this place before. In the late 1880s, the land was purchased by Kiev Pechersk Lavra, and a house church was arranged in the town church.

By 1894, the building was demolished. The now existing Church of the Dormition with a side chapel dedicated to All Pechersk Saints was designed by a civil engineer Vasily Kosyakov and an engineer Bronislav Pravdzik and built in 1895 to 1897. The high altar and the side chapel were consecrated in December 1897. The town church complex including a dwelling house as well was completely constructed in 1990.

It was richly and carefully finished; the architect used his favourite yellow brick, 14 grades of curved brick, tiles, and mosaic. Though his main achievement was presentable and simple appearance. The architect was innovative in using crossing arches to support the main drum. Thus, he did not install detached piers, thus created a spacious interior. It is supposed that Viktor Vasnetsov took part in the creation of a wall painting (being restored at the moment). The Church was famous for its ancient icons received from Kiev Pechersk Lavra.

The main Church's dome is decorated with relief ornaments and plated with stucco wreaths. Facade kokoshniks are adorned with encaustic tiles. The slender five-dome Church, risen high above the neighbouring houses, plays an important role in the panoramic view of not only Vasilievsky Island but also the whole body of the Neva River.

In February 1932, the Church's monks were arrested. The Church itself was closed on 23 January 1935. In 1956, the first city skating rink with artificial ice was arranged in the building. It was the rink where Leningrad school of figure-skating began to flourish. All interior frescoes were first whitewashed and then covered with oil paint.

The Church was handed over to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991. The building reconstruction required a huge investment of money. Today, there is a town church of the Optina Monastery. Fine art restorers, supervised by Yaroslav Shtirenberg, use sophisticated technologies to reconstruct the frescoes according to the survived painting's pieces.

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Church of the Dormition, Church of the Assumption

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