Church of the Nativity of St John the Baptist on Kamenny Island

Next to the Kamennoostrovsky Palace stands a small red-brick church that, from a distance, resembles a Catholic chapel — the Church of the Nativity of St John the Baptist, better known as St John's Church. It is a rare example of pseudo-Gothic architecture for Orthodox St Petersburg and one of the few churches in the city closely linked both to the history of the Knights of Malta and to the family of Alexander Pushkin.

The church's foundation stone was laid on 17 May 1776 in the presence of the highest ecclesiastical and naval authorities, and construction to a design by architect Yuri Felten was completed and consecrated on 24 June 1778. It was built at the personal expense of the heir to the throne, the future Emperor Paul I, for a home for disabled sailors of the Baltic Fleet. When Paul became head of the Order of Malta, the church was granted the status of the chapter church of the Order of St John of Jerusalem: a cemetery for Maltese knights was laid out beside it, and it was here that they took their oaths. After Alexander I came to the throne the cemetery was closed and the burials transferred to the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery.

The building is built of unplastered red brick and is topped, instead of the usual dome, with a pointed tent roof, which on the single-tier bell tower is supported by four corner columns rather than solid walls. Pointed, barred windows, a canopy over the entrance echoing their shape, and a cruciform plan complete the Gothic appearance, while inside the space is covered by groined pointed vaults, matched by a similarly stylised wooden iconostasis. Standing apart on the bank of the Bolshaya Nevka is the round chapel of the Icon of the Mother of God "Ruler of All": originally, in 1956, it was a technical pavilion of the Ushakovsky Bridge, and in 2002 it was rebuilt as a chapel in keeping with the neighbouring church.

The parish was popular with the imperial family and the St Petersburg nobility: Alexander I liked to pray here, and among the parishioners were the poet Gavriil Derzhavin and the military commander Alexander Suvorov. The church owes particular fame to the Pushkin family, who rented dachas nearby: in 1833, 1835 and 1836 three of Pushkin's children — Alexander, Grigory and Natalya — were baptised here, with the poet's friends Pyotr Nashchokin, Vasily Zhukovsky and Mikhail Vielgorsky standing as godfathers. According to some accounts, Pushkin also visited this church shortly before his duel with d'Anthès.

In the Soviet period the church was closed in December 1937, its property disappeared, and a fire destroyed the wall paintings. The building was saved from demolition by the efforts of the architect Yuri Stravinsky, who secured its listing as a protected monument; it later housed a sculptor's workshop and the gymnasium of a military sanatorium. The church was returned to the parish in 1989, services resumed in 1990, and it was officially transferred to the Leningrad Diocese on 10 June 1991.

Today St John's Church is an active parish church and one of the architectural landmarks of Kamenny Island, a reminder of how Orthodox tradition, the chivalry of Malta, and the family memory of Russian literature are all interwoven in the history of St Petersburg.