History and Culture: Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve presents the exhibition project “Saints of the Russian Land”

The exhibition project Saints of the Russian Land is presented at the Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve (Moscow). Throughout 2023, 24 icon-painting monuments from the collections of the Kolomenskoe Museum-Reserve will be showcased in turn in the Duma Chamber of the Palace of Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich. The works will be changed every two weeks, and the order of display will be determined by the veneration of saints in the church calendar.

The icons depict images of saints especially revered by the Russian Church. These are warrior princes – defenders of the fatherland, great saints, church writers and preachers, founders of monasteries, fools for Christ’s sake. All of them actively participated in the formation and strengthening of the state: they reconciled princes, blessed soldiers for victory, built temples, carried the Orthodox doctrine to many peoples inhabiting the Russian lands.

The icons presented at the exhibition entered the Kolomenskoe collections in the 1920s-1930s, when churches and monasteries closed everywhere for worship, and monuments of church art were threatened with physical destruction. Thanks to the efforts of museum specialists, these works were saved, restored and included in the treasury of national and world culture.

The exhibition will run until January 14, 2024.