Annenkirch Lutheran Church in St. Petersburg, Russia, Serves as Both Worship Site and Cultural Space

Annenkirche, the Lutheran Church of St. Anne in St. Petersburg, was built in 1779. According to the RUSSPASS Journal feature, the church drew a large Lutheran community, and among its parishioners were Carl Fabergé, Pavel Pestel, Peter Lesgaft and Carl Brull.

After the 1917 revolution the building was put to other uses. It first housed the Spartacus cinema, and in the 1990s it became a rock club. In 2002 a serious fire left only charred walls with remnants of the historic interior. The city later remodeled the facade and carried out basic preservation work, and the building was returned to the Lutheran Church. The first service there was held at Christmas 2013.

The church is now both a functioning Lutheran congregation and a popular cultural site. A small team of volunteers, who had formed around the church while it was still semi-ruined, describes the church’s projects as an educational mission to tell audiences about faith through art. Cristina Shilova, identified as the church’s marketer, said that the exhibitions held there are Bible exhibitions and that visitors are welcome regardless of religion. She said the team hopes that visitors who learn about the projects will come to know more about faith and that their attitude toward the church will improve.

The team estimates that more than half a million people visit Annenkirche each year. The feature says the main audience is aged 25 to 40, and that many visitors learn about the church from guides or social media. One exhibition in the basement addresses the persecution of believers during the Soviet period, and its exhibits include real crosses from Finnish Lutheran graveyards, a way of passing on the history of the faith (Psalm 78:4).

The article reports that the church is preparing for a major restoration. During that work the church will not be able to host large events. The project team says it will continue its work at other sites, including the Pushkin church and the Church of St. John. The team also has the Open Church project, under which information stands have been set up at dozens of Lutheran churches in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area, and Saturday hours were recently added at those stands.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Russian)