Walks around Saint-Petersburg#45.

Being close to Sadovaya Street in the center of St. Petersburg, we simply need to pay attention to another architectural and historical monument of the religious and cultural heritage of Russia. This building is the Naval Cathedral of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker and Epiphany. In the usual name of the Nicholas Naval Cathedral. This is one of the first Russian Orthodox cathedrals. which represents the era of Elizabethan baroque style in church architecture.

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In this territory in the early 18th century there were barracks of Russian naval servicemen. This is evidenced by the names of the nearby streets of St. Petersburg (Kanonerska Street and Kanonersky Lane). The Kononer is a ship artilleryman. The location was chosen because of the proximity to this place of waterways (the Fontanka River, Catherine's and Kryukov canals).

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The initiator of the construction of the temple was the president of the Admiralty, General-admiral Mikhail Mikhailovich Golitsyn. It was he who, in 1752, petitioned Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (daughter of Peter the Great) to erect a cathedral for the naval department of the Russian fleet.
The yard of the naval barracks was chosen as the construction site of the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral. The construction was carried out from 1753 to 1762 according to the project of the naval department architect Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky.

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Near the cathedral was erected a detached belfry.

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Empress Catherine II was personally present at the church consecration ceremony on July 20, 1762. She commanded to call this church the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral and celebrate in the cathedral the great victories of the Russian fleet.

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The interior of the St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral from the picture of 1843 looked like this.

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The main shrine of St. Nicholas' Naval Cathedral is the Greek icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker.

In 1870, the cathedral opened a hospital, a church school and a charitable society, a shelter and a women's hospice.

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View of the Nikolsky Sea Cathedral on photolithography in 1890.

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A view of the Nikolsky Sea Cathedral in the photo of 2013.

After the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, the cathedral was not closed and remained operational. Many of the dead crews of the Soviet Union and Russia, including submarines of the Komsomolets and Kursk submarines, were mentioned in requiem in the Nicholas Naval Cathedral.