Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Mary

History

• In the early 18th century, many Finnish people participated.in the construction of Saint Petersburg and start building churches as Peter the Great guaranteed the freedom of religion. In 1703, a Swedish-Finnish Evangelical Lutheran church was built and, in 1733, on the land donated by Anna Petrovna, a new church building was constructed, later named the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Anna, which stands now next to the Swedish Consulate General on Malaya Konyushennnaya Street.
• In 1745, the Finnish people of this church went independent and built a wooden church on Bolshaya Konyuushnaya Street. In 1805, a new church building was built, designed by Architect Paulsson, named Saint Mary's Church, after Mariya Feodorovna, the mother of the tsar at that time, Alexander I.
• After the annexation of Finland by Russia, the relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland became closer, and, during the early 1890s, the membership of the church reached 17,000.
• As the Russian Revolution of 1917 came, the church went through the most difficult time. In 1938, the church was forced to stop functioning and the church building was first used as a residential space and later as a natural history museum.
• After Perestroika, the church building was returned to the church. Refurbishing of the building started in 1999 and the rededication was celebrated in 2002.

  Church activities

In its neighborhood

• Lutheran Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul
• Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Katarina

• Kazan Cathedral

• Armenian Apostolic Church
• Catholic Church of St. Catherine