The Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "The Sign" is an Orthodox church in the city of Pushkin (Saint Petersburg), located on Dvortsovaya Street, in the city center, near the Catherine Palace. The church is the oldest structure of the Tsarskoye Selo palace and park ensemble, the first stone building in Tsarskoye Selo. The Znamenskaya Church is affiliated with the Catherine Cathedral of the Saint Petersburg Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.

After the annexation of the Sarskaya estate and the adjacent settlements to the "chamber of Her Imperial Majesty," the population of this area began to increase. Already in 1715, 200 households of family and prosperous peasants were relocated here. And as early as March 1713, a priest with a deacon and a psalmist was sent to the estate. Services were held in the field church of Catherine I, which was located in the chamber of a wooden palace building constructed in 1710 before a separate church was built.

However, this church could not serve all the residents of the estate, and in 1714 a separate church began to be built. It was erected in a birch grove (now the Lyceum Garden). The work was completed by autumn. The consecration took place on November 2 (13), 1716, in the presence of the imperial family.

Already a year after the consecration, due to the growing Orthodox population in the Sarskaya estate and its surroundings, this church also proved insufficient. Therefore, in 1717, it was ordered to build a new wooden church on a stone foundation to the west of the Assumption Church, dedicated to the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos. The construction was completed by 1723, but it was only consecrated on August 6 (17), 1724. The consecration was conducted with special solemnity for that time.

Because of the consecration of the new church dedicated to the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, Sarskoye Selo began to be called Blagoveshchenskoye (Annunciation), but this name did not take hold, and after a month and a half, the old name was restored. The church did not stand long: on June 24 (July 5), 1728, it burned down to the ground due to lightning. The field church was saved.

The site of the burned Annunciation Church remained vacant for six years until 1734, when Tsarevna Elizabeth Petrovna, the owner of Sarskoye Selo, ordered a new church to be built, expanding the foundation left from the destroyed building. Architect Ivan Blank was invited for this; it is known that Mikhail Zemtsov also participated in the construction. The church was laid in mid-May. On July 6 (17), 1736, two side chapels were consecrated: the right one in the name of Saint Catherine the Great Martyr, and the upper one in honor of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. By 1742, the Znamenskaya Church was already able to accommodate all the village residents. This is evidenced by the fact that the nearby Assumption Church was moved on September 29 (October 10) to the cemetery beyond the Vangazi stream. In 1745, Elizabeth Petrovna ordered a grove with paths to be arranged around the church.

Two years later, in 1747, the church was completed. In mid-May, shortly before the full consecration of the church, the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Theotokos "The Sign" (Tsarskoye Selo) was transferred to Sarskoye Selo in a three-day procession. The procession included Elizabeth Petrovna herself, who sometimes carried the icon in her arms. After the icon was moved to the Znamenskaya Church, it was placed above the royal gates of the main iconostasis.

On September 8 (19), 1758, on the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, an incident occurred in the church described by Catherine II in her notes. On this day, the incurable illness of Elizabeth Petrovna, long hidden from the people, became publicly known. During the liturgy, the Empress felt unwell and went out onto the porch. Once in the fresh air, she fainted before the eyes of the crowd and was unable to recover for several days, even temporarily losing her speech.

Originally, the church had four chapels: the main one dedicated to the Icon of the Mother of God "The Sign"; the right, southern chapel dedicated to Saint Catherine the Great Martyr; the left, northern chapel dedicated to the righteous Zechariah and Elizabeth; and the upper chapel above the vestibule dedicated to Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker.

Under Catherine II, in 1772, a ceremonial porch with a balcony supported by four marble columns was added to the church. The ornament of the railing included the monogram "E II." Usually, after moving to Tsarskoye Selo in spring, the Empress attended services at the Znamenskaya Church annually on May 9 (21). The Empress listened to the liturgy from this balcony. A canopy on two poles was installed here to protect her from the rain. At this time, there was also a special platform for crossing from the palace to the church. In 1785, the Empress commissioned Quarenghi to design a stone gate bell tower at the entrance to the church grounds. However, in 1789, the bells were moved to a wooden bell tower erected above the church. By 1817, the bell tower had deteriorated, and a new wooden one was built in its place according to a design by Rusk.

Initially, the Znamenskaya Church was under the court department, later transferred first to diocesan jurisdiction (1805), then to military jurisdiction (October 24 (November 5), 1840, affiliated with the Lyceum), and after that back to diocesan (March 27 (April 8), 1842) and court departments (October 19 (31), 1845, as an affiliate of the palace Resurrection Church).

When the church was transferred to the court department, unlike the palace church, it was called the "Small Court Tsarskoye Selo Church." Services were held there year-round, except from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday. On February 16 (28), 1859, a permanent choir of singers was established at the church.

By 1865, services in the upper chapel of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker ceased, and it was closed. Its altar and iconostasis were transferred to Pavlovsk, to the Nikolaevskaya Church. New choir stalls were arranged in place of the altar (previously, they were located on a balcony built in 1736 behind the eastern wall of the chapel inside the church). As a result of renovations led by architect Vidov, the church's exterior changed: vestibules were built at the main entrance and the entrance to the sacristy adjoining the northeast side of the main altar; windows were cut; and the shapes of the dome and bell tower were altered.

In 1891, due to its small size, the two side chapels were abolished. A year later, their iconostases were transferred to the Rekonskaya Trinity Hermitage in Novgorod Province, and icon cases for the icons of the Kazan Mother of God and the miraculous Mother of God "The Sign" were installed in their place. In 1899, the entire church underwent major repairs according to a project by Silvio Danini; in addition to constructing a "room for the highest persons" with a separate entrance, the part of the church near the entrance was expanded. The church's plan changed to rectangular. Inside, the church was faced with artificial marble. A year later, electric lighting was installed in the building.

After the October Revolution, in 1918 and 1924, several inspections were conducted in the church, resulting in a significant reduction of valuables. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Znamenskaya Church remained the only functioning church in the city. On September 17, 1941, German troops occupied the city of Pushkin; in October, the church choir singers were deported. The rector of the church, Archpriest Feodor Zabelin, lived there until August 12, 1942. The Germans, evacuating the civilian population from the city, allowed believers to take the Znamenskaya icon. It ended up in Latvia and after the war was brought to Leningrad, where Metropolitan Gregory of Leningrad handed it over to the church of the Leningrad Theological Academy. By that time, the Znamenskaya Church was listed as closed: after the liberation of Pushkin, it was not returned to the faithful. In 1946, the building was transferred to the Central Museum Fund Storage and used as a book warehouse.

From 1960 to 1962, a large-scale external restoration took place under the direction of architect Mikhail Plotnikov. During the restoration, the church was returned to its original 18th-century appearance. Inside the church, intermediate floors were installed, and in the former right chapel, a restroom was arranged. After the work, restoration workshops of the Catherine Palace were housed in the Znamenskaya Church building.

Sources:

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Знаменская_церковь_(Пушкин)