The first wooden Lutheran church in Saint Petersburg was built in 1704 (according to other sources, in 1705) within the Peter and Paul Fortress by the first Ober-Commandant of Saint Petersburg, Roman Bruce. This church already bore the name of Saint Anna and had a bell tower. Later (according to some sources in 1710, according to others after Bruce’s death, i.e., after 1720) it was moved to the Mytny Dvor on Gorodovoy Island in the area of the Sytniy Market.
Lutheran gatherings in the form of house churches were held at Liteyny Dvor from 1711, and sometimes the prayer place was the hall of the Mining College. The pastor of these gatherings was Johann Shatner. Besides Germans, from 1715, captured Swedes also prayed here. In 1720, the building of a separate church at Liteyny Dvor was laid, and in 1722 it was consecrated; however, it bore the name of Saint Peter. Subsequently, the church of Saint Peter came to be the name of the Lutheran church founded in 1728 on Nevsky Prospect. In 1740, the old church was replaced by a new, much more spacious clay-walled one, which from October 16 was called the Church of Saint Anna. The funds for construction were provided by Empress Anna Ioannovna, and the architectural project was developed by Pyotr Yeropkin. The building was laid on May 3, 1735, and construction was completed after a full five years. The church was solemnly consecrated on October 26, 1740, almost four months after Yeropkin’s execution. Johann Shatner continued to serve as the church’s pastor. The church’s facade was decorated with pilasters, and a small bell tower was crowned with a spire. On January 3, 1736, a German school called the “School of Saint Anna,” or Annenschule (German: Annenschule), was opened at the church.
During the reign of Empress Catherine II, on July 20, 1775, a new stone church was laid according to the design of architect Yury Felten. The church was consecrated on October 24, 1779. The Church of Saint Anna was located in an open area, facing two streets, and Felten created two almost equally important end facades for it. The northern facade facing Furshatskaya Street was designed as a semicircular rotunda with Ionic columns, topped with a small dome on a hexagonal drum. The southern facade facing Kirochnaya Street was a pilastered portico, also richly decorated. Ionic columns also decorated the church’s interior—they supported spacious galleries and divided the main prayer hall into three naves. The new church could accommodate about one and a half thousand people.
In 1826, the former Fourth Artillery Street (previously Fifth Line) was renamed Kirochnaya Street after the Church of Saint Anna. In 1850, an organ made by the German firm E. F. Walcker was installed in the Church of Saint Anna. The church altar was adorned with the painting “Ascension of Christ” by Ernst Liphart.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the church parish numbered about 12,000 people, including female students of the Smolny Institute of Lutheran confession. Besides the already mentioned school, the church operated a charity for the poor, almshouses, an orphanage, a girls’ shelter, a hospital, and an agricultural shelter “for fallen women.” One of the last pastors of Annenkirche from 1891 to 1935 was Pastor Arthur Malmgren (1860–1947), who headed the German-Swedish consistory of the Petrograd district from 1920.
In 1935, the church was closed, and in 1939 architects Alexander Gegello and Lev Kosven adapted it into a cinema called “Spartak.” (https://reveal.world/story/kirha-kinoteatr-rok-klub-kirha-chetyre-zhizni-annenkirhe).
On December 6, 2002, a fire broke out in the Church of Saint Anna, completely burning it down. The church stood in a ruined, burnt state for six years. In 2010, the building’s facades were restored. The church was reborn like a phoenix from the ashes. Very significant city events took place here, such as the St. Petersburg Economic Forum and “Germany Week.” Every year, the Church of Saint Anna hosts the brightest Christmas Market.
In the ominous walls of the church, Glukoza’s music video and the fairy tale “Abigail” were filmed. Of course, regular services are held at Annenkirche, all donations are saved for interior restoration, and life is gradually returning to normal and moving forward.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St._Anne_(Saint_Petersburg)
