[6] For the bicentennial of the Battle of Poltava the ground floor of the bell tower was decorated by memorial plaques citing Peter's selfless encouraging words to his army on the day.

Though the place was subordinate to the state Russian Orthodox Church, the name of Sampson the Hospitable was convenient to give the last shelter to remains of many foreigners from Western Europe of other Christian denominations who helped Peter and design and build the city,[6] such as Domenico Trezzini, Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond and Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

The memorial was made of an engraved Gothic granite arch with bronze details such as a drawing desk with the first city plan, an inkstand with a quill, and a memento mori - a human skull.

The cemetery later also "accommodated" several members of the opposition to the Baltic German rule of Ernst Johann von Biron, made the regent of Russia after Empress Anna's will.

[7] The church gave the name of its title saint to the main thoroughfare of the district - the part of the road towards Vyborg within the city limits, Bolshoy Sampsoniyevskiy prospekt (Rus.

"Greater Sampson's Avenue"), with Maly ("Lesser") Sampsoniyevskiy prospekt starting from the cathedral doors to the riverbank of the Bolshaya Nevka, one of the largest distributaries of the Neva.

[8] Developing more slowly than centrally located city areas,[2] the Vyborg Side yet had a number of factories, including sugar refineries, calico printers, food storehouses, brick kilns, a spinning yard, Dutch breweries by the 18th century.