Gothic Chapel (Peterhof)
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Gothic Chapel in Peterhof is the most imposing of Gothic Revival structures situated in the Alexandria Park of Peterhof, Russia. It was designed at the request of Nicholas I of Russia by the fashionable architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in 1829.
The church was erected between 1831 and 1833 under direction of Adam Menelaws and Ludwig Charlemagne. The sculptor Vasily Demut-Malinovsky designed 43 copper figures lining the walls. Despite its exuberant Gothic exterior, the structure functioned as the Orthodox Church of Saint Alexander Nevsky prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917. The interior, seriously damaged during the World War II, was not restored until 1998.
During the reburial of Empress Maria Fyodorovna in September 2006, her coffin was brought to the chapel which served as her home church during the reign of Alexander III. A funeral service was held in the church on September 27.
