History and culture: Exhibition “Under the arches of the Russian temple. Church wooden sculpture of the XVII-XIX centuries” in Moscow

The exhibition "Under the arches of the Russian temple. Church wooden sculpture of the XVII-XIX centuries" opened on February 18, 2014 at the A. V. Shchusev State Museum of Architecture (Moscow).

The exhibition opens the program of the jubilee year of the A. V. Shchusev State Museum of Architecture.

The exposition features architectural and plastic decorations of Russian capital and provincial temples of the XVII-XIX centuries from the collection of the Museum of Architecture and the Museum of classical and contemporary art "Burganov-center".

A century ago, the space of Russian temples was full of not only icons but also sculptures. Temple sculpture, previously common everywhere in the 1920s, was almost removed from the cultural space. Most of it was lost along with the interiors of churches. And only a small amount was transferred to the museum storerooms. These monuments are rarely exhibited, they are poorly understood. The exhibition brings together works of Russian sacred sculptures, many of which are being exhibited for the first time, archival photographs, and drawings of iconostasis.

Unique works of wooden religious sculptures - Royal Doors, wooden figures of the Savior and the Mother of God, angels, soldiers and other inhabitants of the kingdom of heaven, as of the Museum's collection, as well as from private collections will be shown, not as self-contained objects, but as a very important dominant in architecture of interiors of Russian temples.