Chesmenskaya Church Traditional Geocache
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
The cache is located in the surroundings of Chesme Church. The Chesme Church (Russian: Chesmenskaya church), is a small Russian Orthodox church at Lensoveta Street. It was built by the Russian court architect Yury Felten in 1780 at the direction of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia.
The church is located in an area that was known as Kekerekeksinen (Finnish: frog swamp) which is now in a housing area known as Moskovsky Prospekt, approximately halfway between Park Pobedy and the Moskovskaya metro station. The church was built between 1777 and 1780. It is a memorial church to honour the 1770 Russian victory at the Battle of Chesme in Chesme Bay (Turkish: Çesme) in the Aegean Sea during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774. Empress Catherine II chose the site as it was here that she got the news of the Russian victory over the Turks. In 1923, the church was closed and used as a storehouse. Between 1941 and 1945, the church suffered damages during the "Great Patriotic War". During the Second World War, the Institute of Aviation Technology took possession of the Church and the Chesme Palace. During 1970–75, it was fully restored under the supervision of the architects M.I. Tolstov and A.P. Kulikov. In 1977, the church became a museum of the Battle of Chesme (with artifacts from the Central Naval Museum). Religious control was restored to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1991, and regular church services have been held at the church since then. The church, built in Gothic Revival style, is in the shape of a wedding cake and faces southwest. Painted pink and white, the church appears like a candy cone, with long, vertical white stripes giving the impression that it’s rising straight up from the earth like a mirage and shooting upwards. The inspiration for adopting the pseudo-Gothic style of architecture was a symbol of the exoticism of the Turkish architecture but also reflected the Anglomania that significantly influenced the design of Catherine’s palaces and the parks surrounding them. This style introduced during Catherine's time came in vogue in Russia in the subsequent centuries as well. The church precincts have been used as a reliquary for war heroes since the time of its consecration and during the Siege of Leningrad. The cemetery is known as the "Chesmenskoe War Veterans' Cemetery", and contains unnamed graves dated 1812-1944 of those who died in Russian wars.
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)