On the day of St. Sampson June 27, 1709 Russian troops defeated the Swedes at Poltava, in honor of this event, Peter I personally laid the wooden church on the spot where a temple was built in 1740 in the stone. Its traditional five domes and hipped bell tower with onion dome Cathedral resembles Russian churches, which were built a century earlier, and this is different from most churches of the XVIII century in St. Petersburg.

In the shape of the temple you can see elements of the pre-Petrine era and European architecture. So the bell tower of the temple ends with an octagonal tent with small windows and an onion head, which was typical of many churches in Moscow and Yaroslavl in the 17th century. The temple is crowned with a dome on a high faceted drum. A refectory and a multi-tiered tented bell tower adjoin it. 4 small chapters were attached to the main drum in 1761.

In 1909, in the year of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Poltava, a monument to Peter the Great (sculptor M. Antakolsky) was opened in front of the bell tower of the church. Also on the facades from the north and south sides were memorial plaques with the words of Peter the Great addressed to the warriors of Russia before and after the Battle of Poltava.

The main value of the temple is the carved gilded iconostasis of the first half of the 18th century, whose height is 11 meters. The images in the main iconostasis were made by artists A. Kvashnin, A. Pospelov, T. Bazhenov. In the temple there are unique icons of the first half of the 18th century - the signature images of I. Kvashnin and A. Pospelov and others. In 1894, part of the relics of the Monk Sampson was transferred from the Panteleimonovskaya church to the church of St. Sampson.

Useful information

Work schedule: from 16 September. on the 30th of April. 11.00-19.00; from May 1 to September 15. 10.00-19.00; functioning church, free admission; website

Address: St. Petersburg, Prospect B. Sampsonievsky, 41; tel: +7 (812) 294-57-51

Sampson Cathedral in St. Petersburg

Lepnina, Sampsonievsky Cathedral in St. Petersburg

Dome, St. Sampson Cathedral in St. Petersburg

View of Sampsonievsky Cathedral in St. Petersburg

Sampson Cathedral View in St. Petersburg from the city