The Church of St. Catherine () is a 19th-century Evangelical Lutheran church of the German Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Ukraine (GELCU) in

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper R ...

, Ukraine. Additionally, it is also called the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Catherine. It is the first church to be opened in

independent Ukraine Independent Ukraine (Ukrainian: Самостійна Україна) is a political pamphlet published in 1900 by Mykola Mikhnovsky in support of the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party The Revolutionary Ukrainian Party ( uk, Революційна П ...

. It is located on Karl Marx Avenue, next to the

Maxim Gorki Theater The Maxim Gorki Theatre (german: Maxim Gorki Theater) is a theatre in Berlin-Mitte named after the Soviet writer, Maxim Gorky. In 2012, the Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit named Şermin Langhoff as the artist director of the theatre. History It i ...

and Lazar Hloba Park.

Design

The church was built in the early

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. I ...

, with late Baroque features to enhance its appeal. Its current interior design is opulent, with altar pieces such as

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

es, exquisite icons, sophisticated saint plaster statues, items of devotion, and books with stylish bindings. Images from evangelical life were painted on the church's walls and ceilings.

History

Early in the development of the German community in the second half of the 18th century, the first Lutheran evangelists relocated to the settlement in the Katerynoslav Oblast. The oldest Lutheran village dates back to 1789 and was known as Josefstal. It is located in what is now the Dnipro Oblast of Samarivka, and it was about from Katerynoslav. At the cost of the city's German Lutheran population, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Catherine was founded in Katerynoslav (present day Dnipro) in 1852. In 1861, a plot of land was bought to construct a church. The actual building process started in 1865, and it was

consecrated Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service. The word ''consecration'' literally means "association with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different grou ...

in 1866. At the building, a Lutheran charity for impoverished people as well as a school were also established. In 1866, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Catherine was constructed using funds donated by the locals. The neighborhood helped to reopen it after the city officials had shuttered its operation several times. The church continued to function for precisely fifty years, closing its doors in 1933 due to the USSR anti-religious campaign, with the school closing its doors in 1938. This building was then converted into an archive and library for foreign book collection during the

Soviet era The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. Though the terms "Soviet Russia" and "Soviet Union" often are synonymous in everyday speech (either acknowledging the dominance ...

. The structure was then abandoned for a long period of time. Following these examinations, the church was placed in an emergency. The structure was given to the Dnipropetrovsk Revival Society in 1990, and they began a comprehensive restoration of the church.

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

and

petrovsk architects created the repair plan. In 1991, the church services were able get back on track. The vigorous efforts of the Widergeburt Society of Ethnic Germans in 1991, allowed the Lutheran religious community in Dnipro to resume its operations. Igor Yermolaev served as the first pastor of the church until 1994, when Gotthald Hyunke took over. On 24 October 1994, the church was fully restored and refurbished, and it was reopened. Igor Taranenko was the priest of the Church of St. Catherine from 1996 until 2009. Moreover, Serhii Mashevskyi, who was elected bishop of the German Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Ukraine in 2013, served from 2008 to 2013.

Gallery

File:Днвпро, просп. Яворницького 103.jpg, The church in 2012 File:Lutheran church in Dnipropetrovsk 06.JPG, The church in 2015 File:Кірха Святої Катерини (Дніпро) P1770315 пр-т Д. Яворницького (К. Маркса), 103.jpg, The church in 2020 File:Дніпро Євангелічно-лютеранська церква Святої Катерини.jpg, The church in 2023

References

External links

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Dnipro 19th-century churches in Ukraine Baroque church buildings in Ukraine Gothic Revival church buildings in Ukraine Lutheran churches in Europe