St Nicholas Naval Cathedral

Built on St Nicholas’ Square planned by architect Pyotr Yeropkin (first half of 18th century). Two-storey church with separately standing four-tier bell-tower was built by architect Savva Chevakinsky in the Baroque style (1753–62) on the site of an old wooden church (1743). Consisted of an upper and lower chapel – the upper Chapel of the Epiphany (Baptism of the Saviour in the River Jordan) and the lower Chapel of St Nicholas of Myra (patron saint of sailors and travellers). The main altar of the lower chapelh was consecrated in the presence of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1760). Chevakinsky also built the nearby bell-tower (1756–58). Catherine the Great upgraded the church to the status of cathedral (1762) and presented icons depicting saints on whose days the Russian navy enjoyed victories in the Russo-Turkish War. Obelisk in memory of sailors of the Alexander III, killed at the Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War (14 May 1905), was opened in the garden surrounding the cathedral (1908).