Memorable Dates of Russia: Exhibition "Alexander Nevsky. The Legend of the Saint" presented at the Vladimir and Suzdal Museum-Reserve marking the 800th anniversary of the Saint Prince

The Vladimir and Suzdal Museum-Reserve opened the exhibition "Alexander Nevsky. The Legend of the Saint". It is part of the All-Russian Inter-museum Project "Alexander Nevsky: The Great Northern Route".

The project unites three exhibitions. The first exposition was successfully launched in April in Veliky Novgorod (Novgorod State Integrated Museum-Reserve). The second exhibition runs in Vladimir (Vladimir and Suzdal Museum-Reserve), and the third will start in December, in St. Petersburg (State Museum of the History of St. Petersburg).

The exposition aims to show the history of the creation and development of Alexander Nevsky's image in the minds of his contemporaries and descendants in the XIII-XXI centuries, displaying artwork and archaeological findings, documents and literary monuments. Items from Vladimir and Suzdal collections of archaeology, weapons, seals, coins, icons, fabrics and paintings reveal this multifaceted theme. The exhibition features more than two hundred items from the Museum-Reserve and private collections.

Vladimir plays a significant role in the preservation of historical memory of Alexander Nevsky. The veneration of the Grand Prince began in Vladimir, already in the XIII century. The all-Russian canonization of Alexander Nevsky took place in 1547. Therefore, the church authorities created a church service, compiled a new hagiography and began to develop his iconographic image of a schema monk. In the early XVIII century, Alexander Nevsky became a symbol of the struggle of Emperor Peter I for the northwestern lands and one of the patrons of St. Petersburg. In 1723, the emperor ordered the transfer of holy relics of the Grand Prince to the new capital.

The Vladimir and Suzdal Museum-Reserve preserve unique exhibits relevant to the burial of the Prince. There are such valuable items as the icon Our Lady of the Sign, which was located over the burial place of Alexander Nevsky; a shroud for the shrine with the image of the Saint Prince, embroidered by the queen (later nun) Paraskeva Mikhailovna in the early XVII century; the book with gift lists from the Monastery of Nativity of Theotokos. One of the most prominent exhibits is a unique wooden sculpture of St. Alexander Nevsky of the XVII century from the Trinity Church of Vorsha village, presented with the blessing of Metropolitan Tikhon of Vladimir and Suzdal.