The Lutheran Kirkha of St. Catherina is situated center of city. This building is more then 200 years old. By some miracle the Kirkha escaped the fate of other churhes in Arkhangelsk that were destroyed during the anti-religious campaign in the late 1920s.
The Kirkha existence in Arkhangelsk is connected with the old german settlement. The majority of people who lived there came from Western Europe. In 1768 they began to build a new stone Kirkha to replace the old wooden one.
During the Civil War (1918-1919) the Kirkha hosted a hospital for the Entente`s expeditionary corps. In 1929 the Kirk`s existence as a church was over. Then, the building was used by the organisation Komsomol for some years.
At the beginning of the 1980s it was decided to restore the building and bring back as mush as possible of the atmosphere of the Kirkha by turning it into a hall for chamber music concerts.
Today the Kirkha or Pomorskaya philharmonic hosts different concerts and festivales. To find more about the programm surf the link.