17.11.2023
The exhibition “Soviet Icons: Southern Traditions” opened at RSUH. For the first time in Russia, it presents icons painted during the Soviet period in the Voronezh and Lipetsk regions
The exhibition was opened by Dr. Nika Lavrentyeva, Deputy Director of RSUH Museum. She noted the high value of this exhibition project for the University and the Museum. The event was hosted by Dr. Dmitry Antonov, the organizer of the exhibition, Director of the Center for Visual Studies of the Middle Ages and Modern Times, co-owner of the collection. In the welcoming speech, he noted that the exhibition had become a logical continuation of the Center’s academic activities.
The presentation was continued by Dr. Dmitry Doronin, co-author of the exhibition and co-owner of the collection, research fellow at the Center for Visual Studies of the Middle Ages and Modern Times at RSUH. He spoke about the cultural differences between different regions and local traditions of making and decorating icons in the USSR.
Priest Dmitry Danilov, member of the Commission for Coordination of Exhibition Activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, addressed the guests of the event.
Dr. Kirill Vakh, General Director of the Indrik Publishing House, spoke about what Soviet times had been like for the Church. According to him, “the Church went to the people”.
At the end of the evening, Dr. Antonov gave a presentation of his new book “Halo and Cross. How to read Russian icons", and Dmitry Doronin presented a new book by Antonov and Doronin “Soviet icons: history and ethnography of the Nizhny Novgorod tradition”.
