Church of Our Lady of Lourdes

Before the revolution, 3,700 French Catholics lived in the capital, who usually prayed at the Catherine Church on Nevsky Prospect. In the French embassy, as early as the 1860s, the idea of a separate church for compatriots arose, and at that time architect Nikolai Leontyevich Benois created a project for a building in the Gothic style. However, it was only in October 1898 that the ambassador, Count Montebello, thanks to the Russo-French rapprochement, managed to obtain the Highest Permission for the French to build their own chapel. At first, Manezhnaya Square was allocated for it, but due to protests from the Orthodox Church and the public, in the summer of 1900 a plot further from the center was purchased for 67,000 rubles in Koven Lane. Here, in the same year, according to the project of architect Thibault-Brignol, a member of the community, a small temporary parish church was built of wood.

At the request of the rector, Father Cuny, academician Leonty Nikolaevich Benois composed in 1902 a project of a three-nave basilica in the Romanesque style with a separate tall bell tower. According to this project, distinguished by a picturesque composition, the building was laid on June 23, 1903, in the presence of the French ambassador. It was erected with donations and lottery proceeds. In 1903, the first floor of the church was built, but then construction work was delayed due to a lack of funds to implement the planned design. Benois’s assistant, the young architect Marian Peretyatkovich, slightly modified the original project, and construction resumed.

The appearance of the new Catholic church turned out to be unusually ascetic and strict. The architecture of the building uses motifs of the Romanesque style. The church facade facing Koven Lane is asymmetrical. It is faced with large blocks of roughly hewn granite. The side part of the facade is crowned by a tall quadrangular tower with semicircular windows. Above the second tier of this tower rises an octagonal drum with a dome tapering upwards. On the other side of the facade is only a small tower, sharply differing in silhouette. In the center of the main facade is a portal in the form of an arch decorated with columns. There are two more entrances to the building. They are symmetrically located on different sides of the arch and lead to the lower floor of the church.

On the upper floor is a large spacious hall, the walls of which are decorated with Gothic-style columns. The interior decoration of the church is also distinguished by strictness and simplicity. First of all, a crypt with a temporary ceiling was built, which allowed services to begin immediately. This is now the lower hall of the chapel.

The French company Batignolles donated much Finnish granite to the community, leftover from the construction of the Trinity Bridge, and the Black Sea Plant donated cement, which ultimately led to a change in the original project. In 1908, Leonty Benois and his student Peretyatkovich developed a new version, proposing instead of naves a hall covered with a reinforced concrete vault, and a facade faced with roughly hewn granite, which gave the building an Art Nouveau appearance. The revised project required re-approval, during which legal difficulties arose, overcome thanks to the intervention of the French embassy. Construction was supervised by Peretyatkovich himself; the main contractor was the experienced engineer Smirnov, and the structures were executed by the "Reinforced Concrete" partnership. A bell cast at the K. Orlov factory was hung on the 30-meter bell tower. Holy water basins were made from sea shells.

The solemn ceremony of consecration of the church took place on November 2, 1909; the church was consecrated in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The consecration of the chapel in the name of Our Lady of France (Notre Dame de France) was performed on November 22, 1909, by Bishop Jan Cieplak in the presence of members of the diplomatic corps and government representatives.

Inside, the chapel was decorated with adjoining Gothic columns. The altarpiece "Joan of Arc – Defender of France" was painted in 1916 by the famous academic artist E. K. Lipgart (in 1957, the image was replaced by the painting "The Giving of the Keys to Apostle Peter" by Zakharov). The church houses relics of the Lord’s Cross and some holy objects transferred after the closure of St. Catherine’s Cathedral.

In this church, members of the Benois family and many St. Petersburgers of French origin were buried. Before the revolution, the community numbered 1,500 parishioners. The patronal feast is now celebrated on February 11; previously it was celebrated on August 15, the day of the Assumption.

The church was inactive in 1922–1923 but was not closed afterward (as it was still attached to the French embassy) and for a long time was the only functioning Catholic church in Leningrad. During these years, mainly Poles prayed there.

During the blockade, services ceased and only resumed in the autumn of 1945. Since then, the church has borne the name of Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1997, the interior was decorated with stained glass windows on biblical themes made by I. Baykova. On November 22, 2009, the community solemnly celebrated the centenary of the church’s consecration.

Sources:

https://www.citywalls.ru/house5359.html

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Храм_Лурдской_Божией_Матери_(Санкт-Петербург)