The exhibition, which presents about 600 works,
is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the opening of the "Drevlekhranilishe"
(Archive of monuments of Russian icon-painting and ecclesiastical art) in
honour of Emperor Nicholas II. By the moment of presenting the Archive to the
public Russian Museum already possessed a large
collection of works of religious art and antiquities, which have been formed
since the creation of the museum. The largest part of this collection was the
big group of monuments from the Museum
of Christian Antiquities of the
Imperial Academy of Arts, which was given to the Russian Museum
in 1897 with its full complement. In the followong years significant private
collections of V.A. Prokhorov, V.V. Vereshchagin, A.A. Vasilchikova, P.V.
Sinitsyna and others were taken for the conservation in the museum. In 1909, when
P.I. Neradovsky took up the post of the chief curator of the Art Department,
numerous expeditions to the monasteries and churches were arranged, and in 1912
the collection of icons and objects of applied arts was presented to Nicholas
II by antiquarians and restorers from Moscow.
The exhibition is aimed to illustrate the main
stages of collecting monuments of ecclesiastical art in Russian Museum
in 1897-1914. The exhibition brings together masterpieces from different
collections, received and acquired in this period. The pieces are exhibited in
groups, according to the collections they came from, while the design imitates
the atmosphere of the first museum exhibitions of 1898 and 1914. For the first
time after the opening of the Archive a single exhibition brings together
monuments that were shown in 1898: an ancient wooden carved pulpit, carved Royal
doors, copper lampad of Korsun from Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, a chapel-icon
case from the Resurrection Cathedral in Romanov-Borisoglebsk (XVII cent.) and
sculptures of the "elders" from ancient monasteries in Novgorod.
Another room represents the view of the "Drevlekhranilishe" in 1914, with iconostasis,
polycandelon, lecterns and candlestocks, as well as archival photographs of the
Archive halls.
The exhibition is supported by Sistema
Charitable Foundation
