Russian culture abroad: Exhibition “Splendor and Glory. Art of Russian Orthodox Church” opens in Amsterdam

The exhibition called “Splendor and Glory. Art of Russian Orthodox Church” opened on March 19, 2011 at the “Hermitage on Amstel” – a branch of the State Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam.

More than 300 religious artifacts – icons, paintings, robes, icon lamps, historical books, photographs, fresco fragments, iconostasis – have entered this rich exposition. Many of them have been put on show for the first time.

Themes in the exhibition from the State Hermitage Museum include the Russian Christian Church’s Byzantine origins, show the history of Russian Orthodox Church since the time of Baptism of Kievan Rus in 988, tell about main Orthodox shrines and important feast days, first and foremost, Easter, and the history of Orthodox clergy. A 9-minute documentary shown in one of the museum’s halls casts the light on the history of Russian Orthodox Church since 1900 up to the present day.

It has been the fourth exhibition launched since opening of a branch of the world-famous St. Petersburg museum in the capital of the Netherlands in June 2009. An impressive number of visits to the museum since its opening – 1.5 million people – prove a keen interest invariably aroused by current expositions.