Gothic Chapel Alexandria Park

Gothic chapel

Alexandria Park Peterhof

In 1829, after the completion of the Cottage, there was a need for a house church. The place for the future house prayer in the western part of Alexandria was chosen by Emperor Nicholas I.

The project was commissioned by the outstanding German architect K. F. Schinkel. Construction at the initial stage was led by the architect A. Menelas, completed the work after the death of Menelas, with 1831 architect I. I. Charlemagne.

The solemn laying of the church was made on May 24, 1831, the confessor of the Emperor, Protopresbyter Nikolai Muzovsky, in the Highest Presence.

In the summer of 1834, the construction was completed, and on July 3, 1834, the solemn consecration of the church in the name of the Holy Blessed Grand Duke Alexander Nevsky took place, performed by the same Protopresbyter Nikolai Muzovsky in the Highest Presence.

The temple was the home church of the imperial family, divine services were held there only in the summer.

The building is built in neo-Gothic style. Hence its second common name is the Gothic Chapel.

The northern, western and southern facades of the church are decorated equally. In the center - lancet #portals, above them - round rose windows with stained glass. To the eastern facade adjoins a three-sided protrusion - an apse. Above its side walls are bell towers – bars with three bells on each side. Eight spires are crowned with gilded Orthodox crosses. The building is richly decorated with lace cast iron and sculpture. Forty-three statues, made of chiseled copper according to the models of the sculptor V. I. Demut-Malinovsky, depict angels, holy apostles, evangelists and Our Lady with Child. Massive oak doors lead directly into the church hall. Inside, as well as outside, the church is decorated in neo-Gothic style: pointed arches, skyward vaults, round windows with stained glass windows. But by design it is an Orthodox temple. On the east side there is an altar, separated from the church hall by an iconostasis. All the icons were made by court painter Timothy Neff.

Since its consecration, the Gothic Chapel has served as the home church of four generations of Russian emperors – Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II. Regular services were held in the summer. A visit to the Gothic Chapel by the imperial family was called the “Small Exit”. On the days of special celebrations, "Great Exits" were made to the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul the Great Peterhof Palace.

In 1918 the #church was closed. In 1920, a museum was opened in the building, soon closed, and only after major repairs, in 1933 an exhibition on the history of the Alexandria Park was opened in it.

The building was badly damaged during the Great Patriotic War. After the restoration work carried out in 1970-1999, the museum was reopened in the church building. The building was consecrated, but services were not held there.

In 2003, restoration repairs were resumed in the Gothic chapel building, after which, on June 4, 2006, the church was solemnly consecrated by Metropolitan Vladimir of St. Petersburg and Ladoga.

Interestingly, on September 26 and 27, 2006, a coffin with the body of Empress Maria Fedorovna was exhibited in the church for several days, brought from Denmark for subsequent reburial in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg. Maria Feodorovna is the wife of Emperor Alexander III. Her ashes repeated the same path from Denmark to St. Petersburg via #Kronstadt and Peterhof, which the future Empress made when she first arrived in Russia.

In the Gothic Chapel, a divine service was held in the presence of members of the royal house of Denmark and descendants of the imperial family #Romanov.

Reminiscent of a medieval Gothic cathedral in miniature, the chapel serves as a spectacular romantic scenery of the park.

I invite you to tour St. Petersburg and the suburbs!