The Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Anna on Kirochnaya Street, better known in the city by its German name of Annenkirche, is a monument of federal significance. Its value is not only associated with the construction date or the name of the architect Yuri Felten, the architect of many iconic places in St. Petersburg. Throughout its existence, the building has continued to play a role as a spiritual, cultural, or social center, attracting prominent city residents within its walls. Karl Fabergé attended services here, and Karl Bryullov was married here. After the church was converted into the “Spartak” cinema, Joseph Brodsky frequented it. And in the 1990s, rock concerts (no less!) were held here – for example, “Korol i Shut” (“King and Jester”), an iconic Russian punk band of the 1990s used to perform here – and a bar opened in what used to be the chapel.

The Fire

One of the important milestones was the year 2002: before the church was to be returned to the community, a devastating fire broke out. Over the course of several years, the hazardous condition of the building was remedied somewhat, the facades and roof were restored. However, the walls inside still bear traces of soot. Previously, this upset the visitors, but now many have become accustomed to them and cannot imagine Annenkirche without the “marble” pattern of soot.

Services resumed in 2013. The rector, Evgeny Raskatov, formed a creative team that turned Annenkirche into a well-known brand in the city: with its own merchandise, café, and popular immersive exhibitions on Easter or the Apocalypse. These exhibitions already have a “franchise” in the cities of Pushkin, Kaliningrad, and the “Brusnitsyn” cluster.

Sergey Kuznetsov, Chief Architect of Moscow

It is important that this is not a restoration of the church, because we are not restoring anything here, and we are not trying to restore any of the statuses that the building may have had at some point in time – neither a movie theater nor a facility built in the 18th century. On the other hand, it is not a reconstruction, because we are not going to radically change anything here: additions, annexes, superstructures – there will be none of that here. I would call our project a transformation of Annenkirche. I want to be as delicate as possible and go from the way the Annenkirche space has already developed, how it lives now and will live in the future. Maybe make it more comfortable here and there, offering some more elegant solutions. However, I am not going to impose my personal vision of the whole building.