Stained Glass by Ernst Tode for the German Reformed Church in St. Petersburg: The History and Iconographic Features

The paper is the first to analyse the stained glass ensemble created in 1898—1901 by the workshop of Ernst Tode (1858—1932) for the German Reformed Church in St. Petersburg. The series decorated the interior of the church that was located at the confluence of Bolshaya Morskaya Street and Moika River Embankment. In the 1930s the church was radically rebuilt for the Palace of Culture of Communication Workers, and the stained glass panels disappeared. The lost set can rightly be considered the largest commission completed by the famous Riga workshop for the then Russian capital, but so far researchers have made no attempts to clarify the circumstances of creation, iconographic and artistic features of this piece of stained glass art. A number of rare and previously unknown images emerged during the project. The article provides new insights into the most prolific and creative period of Ernst Tode who was one of the leading North European glass designers and makers of the day. The findings contribute to our knowledge of the workshop’s output and allow for the comparative analysis of the described panels and the surviving windows in the churches of the Baltic Sea region. Overall, the study fills an important gap in prior research on the history of stained glass in Russia and particularly the use of decorated windows in ecclesiastical buildings of St. Petersburg at the turn of the 20th century.