| The Church of the Blessing of the Most Holy Virgin and the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky Це́рковь Благове́щения Пресвято́й Богоро́дицы и свято́го благове́рного кня́зя Алекса́ндра Не́вского | |
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| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Russian Orthodox |
| Location | |
| Location | Monastyrki Embankment 1, Saint Petersburg |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | Domenico Trezzini |
| Style | Petrine Baroque |
| Groundbreaking | 1717 |
| Completed | 1725 |
| Website | |
| www.gmgs.ru/expoz/blags | |
The Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (Russian: Благовещенская церковь Александро-Невской лавры), or in full, the Church of the Blessing of the Most Holy Virgin and the Holy Blessed Prince Alexander Nevsky (Russian: Це́рковь Благове́щения Пресвято́й Богоро́дицы и свято́го благове́рного кня́зя Алекса́ндра Не́вского) is a Russian Orthodox church in Saint Petersburg. It is in the Diocese of Saint Petersburg and is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
The church was one of the earliest buildings in the monastery complex, begun in 1719 and completed by 1725. The building contained two churches, the upper floor was dedicated to Saint Alexander Nevsky and was built to hold his relics, installed when the church was consecrated in 1724. The church on the ground floor, originally planned to be the monastery refectory, was dedicated to the annunciation of the Virgin Mary and was consecrated in 1725. Both were richly decorated by prominent Russian artisans and received important donations of decorations and fixtures from the imperial family. From its early years it became an important burial ground for members of the imperial family, their associates, and the Russian nobility. The wealthy paid for elaborate monuments, and the several noble families established burial vaults in the church.
The church was closed during the Soviet period, being divided up into office space, and used as a warehouse and storage area for other funerary monuments that were being removed from churches and cemeteries that were in the process of closure or demolition. The State Museum of Urban Sculpture took over the building and used it as a display space for historically and artistically important examples of funerary monuments and sculpture. In addition to those monuments already in the church, other monuments, or parts of them, were gathered from different locations to add to the museum's collections. It opened to the public in 1950, and survived the fall of the Soviet Union. The Orthodox Church has requested the return of the church, and in 2013 the vice-governor of Saint Petersburg announced it would be handed back to the monastery authorities. The issue has been complicated however over the issue of the future ownership and display of the monuments.