Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (Chesmenskaya)

The Chesme Church, or the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist, is one of the most unusual in St. Petersburg. It was built in 1777-1780 in the pseudo-Gothic style according to the project of the architect Yu. M. Felten, the author of the Old Hermitage and the fence of the Summer Garden. The church is decorated with lancet window and doorways, decorative pinnacle pinnacle turrets and a jagged parapet. The building is crowned with five miniature domes, the drums of which are also decorated with pinnacles. The church, founded in honor of the victory of the Russian fleet over the Turks in the Chesme Bay on the Aegean Sea, was built at the "traveling" palace of Catherine II. The Chesme Palace was intended for rest on the way from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo and was originally called "Kikeriki".