In the former imperial capital of Saint Petersburg, the Chesme ensemble stands among the city's most original architectural complexes. The Chesme Church, built between 1777 and 1780 to designs by Yury Felten, is a rare and striking example of Gothic Revival in Russia: a compact quatrefoil plan in raspberry pink and white, its walls ribbed with slender vertical mouldings and crowned with pinnacles. It was raised, together with the neighbouring palace, to commemorate the Russian naval victory over the Ottoman fleet at Chesme in 1770. The film sets this unexpected piece of imperial fantasy against the grand Neoclassical landscape that surrounds it.
