Chesme Church

Lonely Planet review

One of the city's most wonderful buildings, this red-and-white Gothic beauty looks not unlike a candy cane, with long, vertical white stripes giving the impression that it's rising straight up from the earth like a mirage and shooting upwards. Designed by Yury Felten, it was built between 1777 and 1780 in honour of the Battle of Chesme (1770).

The church's remote location is due to the fact that Catherine was on this spot when news arrived of her great victory over the Turks. Ever capricious, Catherine ordered that a shrine be built on the spot to preserve this great moment in Russian history. It now seems particularly incongruous with its surroundings, as Stalin's ill-fated city centre has since grown up around it.

While it's definitely more visually impressive from the outside, do go inside to see some of the icons including a beautiful painting of Christ's arrival in Nazareth.