The Presidential Library’s new exhibition features church relics preserved down the ages

July 27, 2018, the Presidential Library hosts the exhibition "Keeping Orthodox Faith: The History of Church Museums. Marking the 1030th anniversary of Christianization of Rus’".

As it was stated, it is very symbolic that the event, timed to this remarkable date, takes place in the building on Senate Square, 3, where until 1918 the Holy Governmental Synod was housed. It was here that the most important decisions were accepted concerning the development and activities of the church and the strengthening of its relations with the state, it was here that the clergymen, who had been counted to the rank of saints, came to John Kronstadt, Sergei Vyritsky and others. In these rooms in 1859, the first in the Russian Empire photo exhibition was held, where the famous photographs taken by P. I. Sevastyanov on Mount Athos were presented. And here on May 14, 2018 at a meeting of the Holy Synod, a decision was accepted on a wide celebration of the 1030th anniversary of Christianization of Rus’. The Presidential Library honors the memory of this unique place, where for many decades a special spiritual atmosphere has been formed, and pays much attention to projects linking the poast and the present, aimed at enlightenment.

The new exposition in the Presidential Library is illustrating how for centuries the church relics have been collected and preserved - works of art, when and why it became necessary to create the first church museums, how their destiny developed in different periods of the history of our country, who stood at the origins of this great and an important undertaking.  

In a welcoming address to the participants of the event, Metropolitan Varsonofiy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga said: "Thanks to church museums, people can get familiar with the heritage of Orthodox culture, learn about the history of the Church and its shrines. Such expositions have not only academic, but spiritual-enlightening and missionary value, since they speak about the eternal, about the meaning of life. It is gratifying to emphasize that the exhibition was the fruit of cooperation between the St. Petersburg diocese, the Presidential Library and the museum community. Our collaborative work serves to strengthen traditional spiritual and moral values".   

"The event of Christianization of Rus’ is directly related to each of us, for we are bound by one faith. In this thousand-year selection of the holy prince there is our strength and glory, the common path, the sources of our national consciousness, enlightenment and culture. And we must clearly understand our participation in the destinies of our people, as well as the responsibility for its future", - Bishop of Tikhvin and Lodeinoye Pole Mstislav addressed to the participants of the event. The Bishop highly appreciated the exposition and expressed his hope that the Presidential Library will continue developing the themes of church-state relations.

The exhibition hall of the Presidential Library provides rarities from the Museum of the Ancient Storage of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra and the vestry of the Smolny Cathedral: objects of church life of the XVIII-XIX centuries, including icons made in different techniques and from different materials, details of the episcopal vestments, antimins sewn into it a piece of holy relics) of the second half of the XVIII century and many other rarities. The history of church museums-treasures is told by rare archive documents, books, scientific monographs, periodicals and catalogs of church collections of the XIX century. The exposition is accompanied by unique pictures from the Presidential Library. These are the works of the photographer of the Imperial Academy of Arts and the recognized master of Russian architectural photography, I. F. Barshchevsky, as well as the pioneer of Russian color photography S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky.

The partners of the exhibition are the Museum-Ancient Storage of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (Smolny Cathedral) in St. Petersburg, the library of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Gorky Science Library of St. Petersburg State University.

The exhibition "Keeping Orthodox Faith: The History of Church Museums. Marking the 1030th anniversary of Christianization of Rus’" will run until September 20, 2018. To visit the exposition, please, pre-register by phone (812) 334-25-14 or send an email to: excursion@prlib.ru.

Preservation of cultural and historical heritage is one of the key directions of the Presidential Library, located in the building of the Holy Synod in St. Petersburg. The digital collections of the library include a large number of materials about the Russian Orthodox Church, of which the thematic collections are formed. The portal provides the collection "History of the Russian Orthodox Church", which includes the fundamental works of significant church figures and church historians; in the collection "Orthodox Russia. Monasteries and icons" are presented materials of the XIX - early XX century, featuring the history of individual Orthodox monasteries and especially revered icons.