House Church and Prayer House of the Sergievsky Palace (Beloselsky-Belozersky) in St. Petersburg. Materials of Historical and Architectural Research

Abstract

The house church of one of St. Petersburg's famous palaces is a completely unexplored object compared to other monuments in the city, although it has great memorial significance. Within its walls, the rite of conversion to Orthodoxy was performed for Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, who was glorified as a saint. The historical and architectural research presented here provides an insight into the internal structure, composition, and appearance of the church, as well as the style of its decoration.

In addition to a brief historical reference in the Electronic Encyclopedia of St. Petersburg, images of the church's plans and sections from G.V. Baranovsky's album and sketches of the palace chapel by architect N.V. Sultanov are used. A comprehensive approach allows us to resolve contradictions in the description of the building's construction history. A hypothesis is put forward about the composition of the church complex, which included a rotunda house church (1852) and an owner's chapel-prayer room (1884).
Assumptions are made about the location of the prayer room of the palace owner, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich.