Memory of the World: Photo Exhibition "Mount Athos. Where the land ends and the sky begins", dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the visit of Russian monks on Mount Athos, in St. Petersburg

In St. Petersburg, October 13, 2016 is opened a photo exhibition "Athos. Where the land ends and the sky begins", dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the visit of Russian monks on Mount Athos.

The exhibition, which is housed in the Exhibition Hall of Court building of the State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSPHOTO, for the first time allows to compare works from the collection of the State Russian Museum, the Scientific Library of the Russian Academy of Arts, the National Library of Russia, the State Museum of the History of Religion and the State Museum and Exhibition Centre ROSPHOTO. The project makes it possible to see the Holy Mountain through the eyes of Russian professional documentary photographers.

A great artistic and historical importance is species pictures of two photographers of the St Panteleimon Monastery - Leonty and Gennady made in the late 1860s. These photos have become an ornament albums donated by members of the Romanov dynasty in memory of their visits to the Holy Mountain.

The exhibition presents an album of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich in memory of his visit to the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery in 1867 and doubles his album with a dedication to Empress Maria Alexandrovna, stored in the Library of the Russian Academy of Arts and the State Russian Museum. In addition, you will see the original prints, brought from scientific expeditions to Mount Athos, and images from a variety of museums and libraries of St. Petersburg collections.

The modern part of the project - photographs taken between 1996 and 2011 by St. Petersburg well-known authors - Alexander Kitaev and Mikhail Nikitin. Each of them in his own way saw Athos allowing to "touch" to the holy places and to feel preserved here lifestyles.