In the Lavra, the president met with the patriarch. Photo: Mikhail Tereshchenko/POOL/TASS
On the day the Great Patriotic War began, June 22, one of the most famous ancient Russian icons, Andrei Rublev’s “Trinity”, was transported from the Cathedral of Christ the Savior to the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The relic was later transferred to the monastery’s Trinity Cathedral.
Less than a week after the icon was moved, Vladimir Putin came to Sergiev Posad to venerate the shrine in a new place. The head of the country was received in the Lavra by Patriarch Kirill. The bishop accompanied the head of the country to the iconostasis, where the “Trinity” will now be permanently located.
Standing in front of the icon, Putin crossed himself and then kissed the glass of the protective sarcophagus. The icon is constantly stored in a sealed container, inside which an optimal climate is maintained.
Recall that in May last year the President made the decision to move the monument of ancient Russian icon painting, which for many years was kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, to the church.
Art critics distrusted this decision of the head of the country. On the one hand, there is precedent for the successful storage of ancient icons in churches. For example, the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. But it is located in the temple-museum of the Tretyakov Gallery itself, under the supervision of scientists.
And there are failed examples. The Bogolyubsk Icon of the Mother of God (12th century) was moved from the Vladimir museum to the church in 1993, but after a few years it began to become covered with fungus. As a result, the icon was returned to the museum for restoration for many years.
Rublev’s “Trinity” is the most famous work of the ancient Russian icon painter. Until 1929 it was kept in the Zagorsk Museum of History and Art. Since 1600 it has been “renewed” four or five times. That is, they repainted it over a darkened layer of protective drying oil. Already in Soviet times, restorers removed all subsequent layers, freeing Rublev’s painting.
