Sts. Peter and Paul Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral
A Lutheran cathedral in Moscow
Sts. Peter and Paul Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral
Starosadskiy pereulok 7/10, Moscow
Phone:
+7 (495) 628-53-36
www.lutherancathedral.ru
Amidst the tangled of streets Ulitsa Pokrovka and Pokrovsky Bulvar rises a towering spire seemingly out of nowhere. Go through the gate and look inside the church, where soaring arches heighten the effect. It's one of two active Lutheran churches in Moscow, and it has a rich and complex history.
A church honoring Saints Peter and Paul was built in the German Quarter to replace one destroyed in the great fire of 1812. Frederick William III of Prussia and Tsar Alexander I both allocated funds to the construction. The congregation expanded, prompting an expansion and reconstructed that ended in 1905 with the consecration of the current Sts. Peter and Paul Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral. After the revolution, it was briefly the country's main Lutheran cathedral. But by 1939, the building had been converted into the Arktika movie theater, and later it housed a filmstrip production company.
The cathedral was almost completely plundered and destroyed. In the late 1950s, the spire was removed. A campaign to restore the cathedral was launched in the 1990s. In 2005, exactly 100 years after it was first consecrated, the alter was re-consecrated, and several years later restoration work was completed on the spire.
Key info: The cathedral hosts classical music concerts several times a week. The most impressive concerts are, of course, the organ performances. You can hear to Bach, Mozart here, as well as Stravinsky and even Gershwin.
