Church of Our Lady of Mercy
The first stone of this church was laid in 1887. In 1896 a first chapel was consecrated. Two years later it was the turn of the high altar.
With its Neo-Byzantine style the church stands out from other religious buildings in Saint Petesburg. For its design, architects V. Kossiakov and D. Prussak found their inspiration in the old Saint Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul. Later the Saint Petersburg church was used as a model for the construction of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Novossibirsk.
The church was shut down in 1932. During Soviet times it became, among other things, a training centre for deep-sea diving. Even nowadays it hasn’t entirely been returned to the Church.
The navy ministry still owns the building. It agreed to give the church back provided that the clergy supplied the ministry with another training field. The two are engaged in a difficult face-off. However, a chapel was consecrated in the church of Our Lady of Mercy in 2008.