FELTEN, Yuri Matveevich
(b. 1730, St. Petersburg, d. 1801, St. Petersburg)

Exterior view

1777-80
Photo
Chesme Church, St. Petersburg

The Chesme Church (Church of St John the Baptist Chesme) is a small Russian Orthodox church. It was built by the Russian court architect Yury Felten at the direction of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. A memorial church, it was erected adjacent to the Chesme Palace between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo to commemorate the anniversary of Russia's 1770 victory over Turkish forces in Chesme Bay in the Aegean Sea during the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774.

The five-domed church marked the first appearance of a pseudo-Gothic style in Russia. Built on a quatrefoil ground plan, the church is virtually shrouded in a network of these stylistic elements, combined with exotic devices from Turkish architecture.