After being closed since 1938, the church was reopened for worship and Granda built its new tabernacle.
Granda has had the privilege of being commissioned to produce a new tabernacle for the church that would fit in with the classicist style of the church. It is a unique piece, a special tabernacle in gilded metal with dome and drum, enriched by smooth green marble columns. The door has been decorated with a enamel of the Annunciationmodeled on the table that Murillo The Annunciation of the Virgin Mary, and which is in the Prado Museum of Madrid.
In each of the upper angles of the tabernacle, the figures of the Four EvangelistsSt. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke and St. John. The tabernacle was installed and blessed last June.
Historical data
On June 28, 2006, one of the Catholic churches built at the beginning of the 19th century in one of the most traditional historical sites in Russia, was returned to the Catholics 50 years after it was confiscated by the Soviet power..
This is the church of San Juan Bautistalocated in the town of Pushkin (or Tsarskoe Selo "City of the Tsars", as it was formerly known), in northwestern Russia, just a few kilometers from the city of St. Petersburg.
The church had remained closed since 1938 to convert it into a physical education practice room and, later, into a concert hall.
The construction of the church of San Juan Bautista was started between 1823 y 1825 by order of the Tsar Alexander Iafter the existing wooden temple in Tsarskoe Selo became too small to accommodate the faithful.
On November 21, 1826, the church was blessed and completed in its entirety by the archbishop of the diocese of Minsk, Lipski. After the subsequent arrest of the pastor, already in Soviet times, political pressures made those in charge sign a document declaring that they were "unable to repair the church and pay the corresponding property taxes to the State".
Thus, in 1938 the church of San Juan Bautista was closed to worship until 1991, when on March 17 a religious celebration was held again.
For two centuries, the village of Tsarskoe Selo was considered to be the most important "gala residence" of the tsar during the summer. From 1811 to 1843 here was also located the Imperial Lyceum of Tsarskoe Selo where the national poet of Russia, Alexander Pushkin, was educated.
