The Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (Russian: Лютеранская церковь Святых Петра и Павла or in German: Lutherische Kirche der Heiligen Peter und Paul, also known as Petrikirche) is a Lutheran church in the center of St. Petersburg on Nevsky Prospekt.

By decree of 26 December 1727, Emperor Peter II allocated land to the German Lutheran community in a deserted area near a large promising road between the current Bolshaya and Malaya Konyushennaya streets.

[4] Stylistically, the new church building belonged to the examples of Petrine Baroque architecture characteristic of St. Petersburg in the first third of the 18th century.

The building was made of brick, had a wooden turret and could accommodate 1,500 people (about a thousand below and five hundred in the choir).The Baroque altar was decorated with a gilded sculpture and four paintings: 'The Last Supper', 'The Transfiguration of the Lord', 'The Resurrection of Christ' and 'Jesus with Thomas the Unbeliever' ("The Appearance of Christ to Thomas and Other Disciples').

[5] The church interior also contained paintings depicting the apostles, made by the St. Petersburg Swiss painter Georg Gsell.

[13] In front of the church, marble figures of the apostles Peter and Paul were installed - copies of sculptures by the famous Danish and Icelandic sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, created by the Italian master Triscorni.

Four high reliefs with images of the evangelists, made from cement mass by the sculptor T. N. Jacques, were placed on the arcades of the loggia.

The sculptural decoration of the front facade was completed by the figure of a kneeling angel with a cross, placed above the attic between the towers.

In 1864, 2 stained glass windows based on the famous works of Albrecht Dürer "St. Peter and St. John" and "St. Mark and St. Paul".

Stained glass windows "Moses in the Desert with the Serpent" and "Jesus on the Mount of Olives" appeared in the vacant places near the organ.

In the same 1866, the church received another stained glass window as a gift, this time on the subject of "Jesus Preaching to the Disciples."

Finally, in 1871, a stained glass window with the image of the Holy Family and a shepherd kneeling before Christ appeared opposite.

[18] Meanwhile, the church building fell into disrepair, as the soil was too soft and the difference in pressure on it led to settlement of the walls and the appearance of cracks in them.

In the summer of 1883, Bernhard partially corrected the situation with the help of steel ties (which are still clearly visible in the building's interior), and over time the condition of the structure stabilized.

[20] According to Messmacher's design, a new painting of the walls and vaults was created: all the architectural elements of the interior were divided into separate geometrically regular sections - panels and were maximally saturated with decor.

He kept the three-story buildings in their original form, and in the built-on floors he repeated the same pattern of windows, sandstones and balconies, friezes, cornices and attics.

Despite the reduction in the size of the community and oppression by the authorities, Petrikirche worked longer than other Lutheran churches in the city, but at the end of 1937 it too was closed.

[23] After the end of the World War II, the heavily damaged building housed various warehouses, from theatrical scenery to vegetables.

Secondly, the difference in ground pressure led to uneven settlement of the building walls and the formation of cracks, aggravated by the construction of the pool.

Thirdly, during the reconstruction of the 1990s, the historical system of brick vaulted ceilings was damaged, which led to the appearance of cracks with an opening of up to 10 mm.

Large diameter holes are punched in the body of the so-called reverse vaults for the passage of metal columns of the new floor.

On September 30, 1999, in the church courtyard to the right of the main facade, a bronze bust of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by the St. Petersburg sculptor Levon Lazarev was unveiled.

The restoration was carried out at the expense of the budget of St. Petersburg within the framework of the program of the Committee for State Control, Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments (KGIOP) and was timed to coincide with the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

The cross, lost in the 1950s, has been recreated according to historical documents: it is made of oak and trimmed with gold-colored copper plates.

The installation of the bust was organized by the St. Petersburg International Festival Earlymusic with the support of the Delzell Foundation and the Consulate General of Germany in St.

Initially, they gathered for their prayer meetings in the house of Vice-Admiral Cornelius Cruys - approximately on the site where the New Hermitage is now located.

[36] On 25 June 1730, Pastor Heinrich performed a solemn service in the building of a wooden church in honor of the anniversary of the Augsburg Confession.

[41] The catacombs have a basin bowl, a surrounding basement with bases of granite pylons at the level of the old church hall, as well as murals with Christian symbols, completed in 2007 by an American neo-expressionist artist together with students from art schools in St. Petersburg.

These wall paintings, also created in 2007, are dedicated to the fate of the Russian Germans in Stalin’s Soviet Union and include six episodes (the deposition of the cross from the church, arrest in an apartment, deportation through the prison camp, logging ("labor army"), secret worship (communion) of the fraternal community on home, labor camp in Vorkuta).

The meeting center conducts German language courses, organizes youth exchanges, vacation programs, and summer linguistic camps.