World history and culture: The exhibition “Perm Gods. Image. Place. Time” in Saint-Petersburg

The State Museum of the History of Religion from July 12 to September 4, 2016 presents the exhibition "Perm Gods. Inage. Place. Time", acquainting with the world-famous collection of wooden sculptures (the so-called "Perm Gods") of the Perm Art Gallery. 

The history of the formation of a unique, unparalleled Perm Art Gallery’s collection goes back to the collecting and research of Nikolai Nikolaevich Serebrennikov (1900-1966) - Russian art, devoted his life to the study of a wooden sculpture of the temple. Thanks to the enthusiasm by N. N. Serebrennikov and anthropologist and ethnographer Alexander Konstantinovich Syropyatov who led In 1920s by the Perm Art Museum, in September 1923 the first expedition was organized in Verkhnekamye. The exhibition at the Museum of the history of religion shows images of monuments discovered as a result of this expedition - the famous huge sculpture of Christ with "Tartar face", a monumental figure of Savaof from Lysva, almost weightless Christ from Solikamsk with a very distinct and realistic features typical of the peoples inhabiting the Verkhnekamie area.  

In the future, the expedition headed by N. N. Serebrennikov, visited Verkhnekamye, Komi-Perm and the Perm districts. Thus, the museum has received more than 400 wooden sculptures. Presented at the exhibition archival photographs illustrate the initial stages of formation of the museum's collection.

Almost 100 years later Permian photographers and scientists repeated the expedition routes of the first collectors and researchers of wooden sculptures. Lenses photographers documented the current state of the once rich and prosperous of villages temples. Together with the ethnographer, the largest expert in the history of the Perm Territory George Chagin they passed the old route Serebrennikov expeditions have visited the places that have become sources of inspiration for ancient carvers Kama region.