History and Culture: "Revival of the Lost..." exhibition, devoted to the post-war restoration of St. Isaac's Cathedral, opened at the Pushkin Museum-Reserve

The «State Memorial Historical-Literary and Natural-Landscape Museum-Reserve of A. S. Pushkin «Mikhailovskoye» (the Pushkin Museum-Reserve) in Pskov Region launched the exhibition "Revival of the Lost...", devoted to the post-war restoration of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

The Great Patriotic War caused significant damage to the St. Isaac's Cathedral's decoration. The painting was damaged due to low temperatures and dampness. The most challenging task was to restore the frescoes of the attic, ceilings and domes. Artists from the Special Scientific Restoration Workshops created oil paintings of the most significant fragments, fixing the state before and during restoration, designing standards for restoring the lost covers.

The restoration designs made it possible to restore the author's intention, drawing and colour of paintings with maximum reliability. The art schemes are equal to the original size. The visitors have an opportunity to look at details of frescoes located in the cathedral at a significant height. It allows appreciating the scale and grandeur of the artistic decoration of the temple. Similar restoration schemes were made for mosaic works. The exhibition will also see art schemes with carefully painted pieces of smalt created to replace the lost fragments of mosaics.

The exhibition features more than 50 exhibits, including restoration schemes of the cathedral's painting at different stages of restoration, portraits of artists involved in the cathedral's reconstruction, and historical photographs of the 1950s – 1960s.

Most of the exhibits originate from the collections of the State Memorial Museum "St. Isaac's Cathedral".

The exhibition at the Scientific and Cultural Centre of the Pushkin Museum-Reserve will run until December 22, 2021.