Dukhovskaya Church

The Dukhovskaya Church, formally the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, is a former Russian Orthodox church in Saint Petersburg. It is in the Diocese of Saint Petersburg and is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Built into the existing wing of the monastery that linked the Holy Trinity Cathedral and the Annunciation Church, the new church was designed to ease overcrowding of the Annunciation Church. As built, the church was richly decorated with a three-tiered iconostasis and paintings and sculpture from some of Russia's leading artists. The church was consecrated in 1822 in the name of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and shortly afterwards a small aisle at the choir end of the church was consecrated in the name of Saint Sergius of Radonezh. Renovations took place in 1867, and extensions were made to increase burial space. In 1881 the Dukhovskoy Church hosted the funeral of author Fyodor Dostoevsky, and in the mid-1890s a small chapel was consecrated to Saint Evdokia. Despite calls to protect the important historical and artistic heritage of the church, it was not one of those selected for conversion into a museum necropolis during the Soviet period and was instead passed through various organisations, who at times used it as a boiler room, for coal storage, or as temporary accommodation. The church was brie

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