Church of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God in Pulkovo

The first mention of the church in the "village on Polkola" dates back to 1500. According to the Cadastral Books, there was the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was destroyed in the 17th century during the years of Swedish rule.

On October 14 (25), 1749, in the Lower Podgornaya settlement of the village of Bolshoye Pulkovo, a wooden church was consecrated by Archbishop Theodosius (Yankovsky). Between 1755 and 1757, the church was restored after a fire and consecrated on July 28 (August 8), 1757, by Bishop Sylvester (Kulyabka). Part of the icons from the iconostasis of the Nikolsky chapel of the Znamenskaya Church from Tsarskoye Selo were transferred to the new church. The church was dismantled in 1793.

The decision to build a new stone church was likely made in 1782, as on October 2 (13), 1782, the Construction Office of the village of Tsarskoye signed a contract with contractor Herman Afanasyev, which stipulated the full readiness of the church for consecration by September 1 (12), 1784. On May 29 (June 10), 1783, Catherine II designated the site for the new church, which was laid on May 30 (June 11) by the dean priest Stefan Ivanov.

The church was built according to the design of architect Giacomo Quarenghi using state funds allocated by the Empress.

The church was solemnly consecrated in 1785. In 1831, a stone chapel was built within the churchyard, closer to the highway. In 1908, the church underwent repairs.

The church was built in the neoclassical style. Its exterior reflects Empress Catherine II’s enthusiasm for "reviving antiquity." Quarenghi embodied the image of a small church oriented toward early Christian antiquity as understood in the neoclassical era. In composition, internal spatial organization, and facade decoration, the church is very similar to those built by the architect at the same time: the Ascension Church in Fyodorovsky Posad and the Transfiguration Church in Moscow Slavyanka. The similarity of the designs was such that researchers were not always certain about the accuracy of their attribution.

The church has a simple cubic volume with a single space covered by a wide cylindrical vault. The building is covered with a four-sloped roof without a dome or spire. The western facade of the church is crowned with two square towers, one of which housed the bell tower. The building has three entrances: central, northern, and southern. The narthex was added in 1823 with funds from the St. Petersburg merchant Vasily Semyanov and was not restored during the church’s reconstruction. In the niche of the altar apse is the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God, executed in tempera technique.

The corner of the building was reinforced inside with pylons to contain the thrust of the vaults, which makes the interior space cruciform. The side niches inside are also covered with cylindrical vaults of the same height as the main longitudinal vault, and their intersection in the center of the church forms a cross vault. The church is illuminated through large semicircular windows in the upper part of the niches. Inside, the walls of the church are golden with white moldings, cornices, and paneled frames. An ornamental band runs under the cornice. The central vault (as well as the altar and western vaults) is painted blue, with images of the four Evangelists on its sides.

The church has a single altar. On the Upper place is the image of the Resurrection of Christ. The four-tiered iconostasis is white with gilding, restored as a copy of the original, painted according to drawings and instructions by Quarenghi by the academic painter of the Imperial Academy of Arts Ivan Akimovich Akimov. The first iconostasis was carved in 1784–1785 by master Franz Bryullo.

Among the shrines in the church before its destruction was a front altar cross with relics of saints: Saint Athanasius of Constantinople, Great Martyr Barbara, Martyr Basil, Saint Gregory the Miracle-Worker, Venerable Nikon the Dry, and Venerable Titus of the Pechersk Lavra.

The church was closed by the Soviet authorities in 1938. The church and chapel buildings were demolished to the ground during the Great Patriotic War during the Soviet troops’ counteroffensive.

By early 2011, only the foundations of the church and the adjacent one-story stone clergy house remained. During restoration work, bed frames and a chimney for a "burzhuyka" stove were found in the church’s basement. The remains of the church will likely be conserved.

In the summer of 2009, a wooden eight-pointed worship cross was installed on the church’s foundation. At that time, due to plans to create the "ExpoForum" congress and exhibition center in this area, a project to restore the church appeared.

On September 14, 2011, away from the old foundation, the first stone was laid for the new church. The laying was performed by Bishop Markell (Vetrov) of Peterhof, concelebrated by Archpriests Viktor Moskovsky and Gennady Zverev and Priest Daniil Vasilevsky. The new church is a replica of the original building and is located at a higher point than originally. It now stands on the territory of the "ExpoForum" congress and exhibition complex. According to architect Rafael Dayanov, the old church dominated the area, and due to changes in urban planning, the building had to be moved so it would not be located in a hollow.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Smolensk_Icon_of_the_Mother_of_God_in_Pulkovo