Don’t miss chance to see “heaven”!

An interesting exhibition is open in the Church of Archangel Gabriel of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve. It presents some fragments of the painted “heaven” of the late 18th century from the Church of St. Prophet Elijah (1696) in Belozersk.

The museum-reserve will keep 12 icons till 2020. Three of them have been restored and are displayed now: “Saint John the Baptist”, “Apostle Peter” and “Apostle Paul”.

The first one was restored by L.I. Yashkina, restorer of the highest category, in the Tempera Painting Department of the All-Union Research Institute for Restoration in the 1980s. The expert purified and strengthened the worn-out edges of the canvas where it had torn and glued in some pieces of new cloth with the help of a 5% solution of polyvinyl butyral. Later on the icons of the “heaven” were restored under the direction of Y.A. Ruzavin (the 1980s) and N.G. Bregman (the 1990s) in the State Research Institute for Restoration.

Saint John the Baptist is the last prophet, an ascetic and a hermit who foretold the coming of Jesus Christ and who baptized him in the Jordan River. His image is presented in the centre of the exhibition in the Church of Archangel Gabriel (1531-1534).

Peter was one of the Twelve Apostles who became the first bishop of Rome. His icon is displayed on the left hand side. As a rule, Peter is depicted with one or two keys; it is typical for both western and eastern iconographic tradition. The keys in the hands of Apostle Peter are the keys from the Kingdom of Heaven that were given to him by Jesus Christ. We can read about it in the Gospel According to Matthew, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”. The left border scene at the bottom of the icon presents that moment when Peter was given the keys. And in the right border scene, we can see the martyr’s death of Apostle Peter who was crucified upside down under Emperor Nero Augustus Caesar depicted on horseback.

The third restored icon transferred by the Belozersk Regional Local History Museum for keeping in the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve is “Apostle Paul”. Saint Paul is also a preeminent apostle along with Saint Peter. His main attribute in the iconography was the instrument of his martyrdom. Like Saint Peter, he was killed during the persecution of Emperor Nero. Peter the Apostle, Hebrew by birth, was crucified and Paul the Apostle was decapitated because a Roman citizen had the right for more humane punishment. These very episodes from the saint’s life – calling and execution – are presented in the borders scenes at the bottom of the icon.  

Residents and guests of Kirillov have got a chance to see the fragments of the “heaven” from the Church of St. Prophet Elijah recently. The exhibition was opened for visitors only in August. You will be able to go to the Church of Archangel Gabriel and to see the icons of the late 18th century from Belozersk till early October.

You will be able to see the “heaven” from the Church of St. Prophet Elijah in the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve till early October.