From 1929 to now, the icon has been in the State Tretyakov Gallery. Photo: Artyom Geodakyan/TASS
How it all started
On May 15 of this year, it was decided to transfer the icon of Andrei Rublev “Trinity” to the Russian Orthodox Church. From 1929 until now, it has been in the State Tretyakov Gallery. But now, on the feast of Trinity, they decided to put it on display in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and then transfer it to the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra for storage, where it was before the revolution.
This decision sparked a heated debate. Recently, experts have said that the “Trinity” should not be exhibited anywhere except in a museum: it is so ancient and fragile that, like many ancient masterpieces, it can suffer simply from human breath in a crowded temple.
On June 23, it was reported that the experts of the Tretyakov Gallery, after the meeting, came to the conclusion that the Trinity could not leave the museum premises. However, now it has become known that everything is going according to plan: on June 4, the icon will be brought to the temple, where it will stay for two weeks. And after that it was returned for restoration to the State Tretyakov Gallery.
How “Trinity” will be stored
Archpriest Leonid Kalinin, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s expert council on art, architecture and church restoration, recently told Interfax: “The conditions for storage must be provided anywhere, even in the Tretyakov Gallery, even in the Cathedral. from the Trinity of the Lavra, and it is not the place that matters here, and the quality of the capsule in which the icon will be placed. ” Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that “a plan has been agreed” according to which the icon will be transported to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior fulfilling all the security conditions.
But it is clear that the manufacture of a special capsule that will allow the icon to be stored in churches will take a long time. And the restoration itself, which will begin after the transfer of the icon to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and back, will apparently be extremely long.
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