🏛 Church of the Nativity of the Virgin and the Rukavishnikov Crypt

Гатчинский р-н, с. Рождествено, ул. Соколова, 2

A church consecrated in 1883 on a high bank; nearby is the marble burial vault of the Rukavishnikovs, Nabokov's relatives: Ivan Rukavishnikov was the church's benefactor.

The first church here was built in 1713 by order of Tsarevich Alexei — the village took the name Rozhdestveno ("Nativity") from it.
The present stone church in the Byzantine style was built by the Synod's architect Ivan Bulanov and consecrated on 9 September 1883.
In 1937 the church was closed, and the priest, deacon and psalmist were shot along with their families.
Services resumed in 1941 during the occupation and have not stopped since.
Until 1865 the bells of the first wooden church hung right on trees.

Part of these routes

Vyra and Rozhdestveno: Pushkin and Nabokov