The Church of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God in Sennaya Square, demolished in 1961, could have been saved, and its destruction was illegal, according to Sergey Semenov, a researcher at the Center for Rescue Archeology of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His statements were recently shared by the “ArcheoCode” Telegram channel.

Officials disregarded a direct order from the Minister of Culture, Ekaterina Furtseva, who had instructed a special Moscow commission to examine the church and determine its fate. The commission concluded that the building should be preserved, and Furtseva sent a letter to Leningrad with this instruction just one day before the demolition.

Three options for placing the vestibule for the “Ploshchad Mira” metro station were developed in 1960, with the church’s demolition being the least preferable. Despite the existence of alternative plans, the Department for the Protection of Architectural Monuments of St. Petersburg, allegedly for ideological reasons, chose to destroy the church.

A week after the explosion, while filling the construction pit of the Gorkovskaya metro station with debris from the destroyed church, a cache of gold royal chervonets was discovered. Authorities prevented the builders from keeping the gold.

The church holds historical significance for its use of innovative measurement techniques. Before its demolition, employees of LISI (Leningrad Civil Engineering Institute) pioneered the use of stereophotogrammetric methods during a study initiated by Furtseva. Later, during excavations in 2013, the site became a testing ground for 3D photogrammetry.

Currently, the foundation and cellars of the church remain at the site. Semenov suggests that these preserved structures could be transformed into a museum.