Church of Simeon and Anna

The Church of Simeon the God-Receiver and Anna the Prophetess stands at the intersection of Mokhovaya and Belinsky streets and is considered one of the oldest surviving church buildings in Saint Petersburg. It was preceded by a wooden structure, laid down in 1712 and consecrated two years later in memory of the birth of Anna, daughter of Peter I. The stone building was constructed between 1728 and 1734 to a design by the architect Mikhail Zemtsov, with the interior stucco work carried out by the invited master Ignazio Rossi, from Ticino. The new building, with three side chapels, was solemnly consecrated on 27 January 1734; its bell tower rose to 47 metres, and the spire at its top was installed by the Dutchman Herman van Boles.

The church's name echoes the name day of Empress Anna Ioannovna, during whose reign it was built: a cartouche bearing her coat of arms survives above the southern entrance. The empress included the church among the court churches — until the construction of Kazan Cathedral, the clergy would gather here for the main feast days. Its architectural appearance combines Petrine Baroque with the more conservative old-Russian features typical of the Annine era: instead of a tower-type bell tower in the Western style, as at the Peter and Paul Cathedral, Zemtsov chose a tiered composition and set the refectory apart as a separate volume. The building is topped with a lit drum and a faceted dome. The carved four-tiered iconostasis was made by the master Konrad Gan, the stucco decoration by Ignazio Rossi, and the icons were painted by Andrei Matveyev and Vasily Vasilevsky. The main chapel is dedicated to Simeon and Anna, the right one to the Archangel Michael, and the left one to Ephraim the Syrian.

In 1797 Paul I honored the church with the Order of St. Anna, and for nearly a hundred years a wooden emblem of the order hung above the entrance; from 1829 the meetings of the order's Chapter of Knights were held here. In 1869–1872 the architect Georg Winterhalter renovated the building, adding a chapel in honour of the icon "Of the Three Hands" — this relic is now kept in St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral. From 1868 the church ran a charitable society with a children's shelter and an almshouse.

The Soviet authorities closed the church in January 1938: its furnishings were lost, and the building became a warehouse and later a museum of meteorology. Restoration in the 1950s preserved the building until it was returned to believers in the spring of 1991; the consecration was performed by Metropolitan Ioann (Snychev) in early 1995. Restoration work continued from 1996 to 2013, after which a minor consecration was carried out by Patriarch Kirill, and in 2017 Metropolitan Varsonofy consecrated the main chapel with the great rite. Today the church has five chapels, including a lower one, in the basement level, dedicated to Nicholas the Wonderworker.