The paiting Church of St. Catherine, St. Petersburg by artist Eugeny Shishkin written in mixed media

Church of St. Catherine – the temple of the Armenian Apostolic Church in St. Petersburg. The first Armenians appeared in St. Petersburg shortly after the founding of the city. In 1710, they created their own community. At this time they gathered in private homes.
The first application for the construction of the Armenian Church of Archimandrite Minas was filed in 1714, but was rejected by the authorities. Only 25 September 1725 metropolitan community, there are 30 households, received the consent of the Synod for the opening of a house of worship in a wooden building on the third line of Vasilievsky Island
In January 1740 Luke Shirvani (Ghukas Shirvanyan) received permission to build a small stone church at his own expense. But after the death of Anna Ivanovna construction stopped.
May 2, 1770 under the application head of the Armenian community IL Lazarev (Hovhannes Lazarian) Catherine II issued a decree allowing “trading and military Armenians” to build temples in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Three weeks later, the Empress took place on the Neva against the arcade, on the site of the former court stables Minor.
The work was done on the project YM Felten from 1771 to 1776 years at a cost of 33 thousand. Rubles. Construction of the temple was carried out on the donations of people, but to a greater extent – on the money of the IL Lazarev