Datsan Gunzechoinei

The Datsan Gunzechoinei is a large Buddhist temple in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the northernmost Buddhist temple in Russia.

In 1909, Agvan Dorzhiev got permission from the Tsar to build a large and substantial Buddhist datsan or temple in Saint Petersburg which he hoped would become the residence of the first Buddhist ruler of Russia.

However, the Russian Orthodox Church campaigned strongly against construction of this "pagan" temple across the country, which considerably delayed its construction. However, the first service was held on 21 February 1913, and construction was completed by 1915, when Tsar Nicholas II confirmed the arrival of a staff of nine lamas: three from Transbaikalia, four from Astrakhan Province, and two from Stavropol Province.

A second large service was held on 9 June 1914 to consecrate a large gilded copper statue of the sitting Buddha Shakyamuni, which was a gift from King Rama VI of Siam (Thailand), and a standing Buddha Maitreya, a gift from G. A. Planson of the Russian Council in Bangkok.

The consecration of the datsan was held on 10 August 1915, when it was given the name of Gunzechoinei, or 'The source of the Buddha's Religious Teaching that has Deep Compassion for All Beings.'

After 1917, the building was ransacked and used for many purposes. It was briefly taken over and damaged by a Red Army detachment in 1919. Some repairs were carried out in 1922, major restoration was undertaken about 1926 but soon after there was a general persecution of Buddhism throughout the Buryat-Mongol Republic and the Kalmyk Autonomous Region, and monasteries were closed and their property including sacred books, altar ornaments, etc., seized, and lamas heavily repressed.

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