Society and church: The opening of the Museum of the Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Saint-Petersburg

December 4, 2013 in Saint-Petersburg opens the Museum of Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra. With the blessing of the governor of the Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra of Bishop of Kronstadt Nazariy, the Museum opens with the exhibition “Non licet vos esse. You should not be”, which is devoted to the campaign to seize church property in the 20s of the XX century. 

The Museum of Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra opens in the historic building of the “new” sacristy, where before the revolution settled a monastic library, archive and Old storage - a place where they kept the old religious items, precious gifts from members of the imperial family, relics connected with the House of Romanov. In Soviet times, Old storage, library and archives were completely ruined.

The exhibition, which opens the Museum of Lavra, is dedicated to dramatic pages in the history of the church - the confiscation of church property.

One of the most important sections of the exhibition is dedicated to the events that took place in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The exhibition highlights the tragic history of seizures of monuments of religious art and the history and activities of the brotherhood to protect shrines of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

The exhibition presents rare documents, newspapers and photographs of the 1920s, personal items belonging to Martyrs and Confessors of Russia; objects from the museum' of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery and Library of St. Petersburg Theological Academy. Newsreel footage of the 1920s, documentaries on the confiscation of church property and Laura history in the XX century will be demonstrated.