Scientific and educational creative forum - "Byzantium.ru:
On the 1000th anniversary of the memory of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir". Automatic translate

In the year of Remembrance of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, the Russian Academy of Arts, the Moscow Museum of Modern Art and the National Preserve of Tauric Chersonesos on the territory of ancient Chersonesos hold the first international scientific and educational forum “Byzantium.ru: On the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of the memory of Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir ".

The main goal of the forum is to create a new space open for dialogue between different cultures.

In the context of secularization and fragmentation of the modern world, inter-confessional conflicts, the project acquires special relevance, because called to serve the idea of ​​unification, enlightenment, inter-Christian dialogue.

Project participants from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Greece, Serbia (about 100 participants in total) are professional artists, musicians, cinematographers, scientists who create new religious art based on traditions.

It is important that in the framework of the forum-festival, along with well-known masters, young people take an active part, which emphasizes the continuity of generations, the involvement of young people in the process of rethinking the images of historical memory, and the search for new forms of artistic visualization in line with spiritual tradition.

The exhibition project "Byzantium.ru" will be located in three spaces:

- in the exhibition tent, which is located next to the ruins of ancient Chersonesos. It will feature video and light installations that will present the viewer with new media features of Christian art. And also - mosaics, murals and sculptures;

- in one of the halls of the museum-reserve, next to the artifacts of Byzantine culture, the best examples of modern Russian icons will be presented;

- icons, murals, mosaics, enamels, sculptures can be seen in the space of St. Vladimir Cathedral, located next to the Tauric Chersonesos Museum-Reserve.

As part of the festival’s interactive program, master classes by artists of the Russian Academy of Arts on creating murals and mosaics, creative meetings with project participants, and an international scientific and practical conference will be held. Among the invited foreign guests of the forum are leading researchers of Byzantine culture from Serbia - Marco and Danica Popovici, Director of the Museum of Byzantine Art of Corfu (Greece), Mrs. Daimante Rigakou and many others.

Given the interest from the international art community, the Byzantium.ru project can subsequently become a traveling festival of contemporary Christian art, not only in our country, but also abroad. This will expand the geography of the project, complement it with the works of foreign artists, writers, musicians, research programs of scientists, draw the attention of the general public around the world to general Christian and cultural values ​​using modern art.

Project curators:

Nikolay Mukhin - academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation, People’s Artist of Russia

Alexey Lidov - Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Director of the Scientific Center for East Christian Culture

Tatyana Yashaeva - Honored Worker of Culture, Head of the Department of Medieval Art of the Tauric Chersonesos National Reserve

The project was supported by:

Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of Sevastopol, the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, Sevastopol Deanery, EMERCOM of Russia.

Historical and cultural justification of the project:

The history of the city of Chersonesos, which was part of the Byzantine Empire, and later conquered by Prince Vladimir, creates a unique historical and cultural space for the forum.

The collection of the museum (part of the premises of which is located in the former buildings of the monastery of St. Vladimir) contains artifacts and monuments not only of the Byzantine Empire, but also of antiquity, which became the basis for Byzantine civilization.

The creation of an exposition of modern religious art in this context takes on a special meaning.

Russia adopted Christianity from the hands of the great Christian empire - Byzantium. Over the centuries, our national identity and culture has been built on the Byzantine foundation.

The ideas of the Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir, Rev. Sergius of Radonezh formed a new Great Russian nation. In parallel with great theologians, thinkers, and political figures, architects, musicians, and artists worked, cladding ideological postulates in visible images. For the whole world, the “Holy Trinity” by Andrei Rublev is not just an icon, but a symbol of Russia, its mentality, and identity.

If in former times icon painters from Byzantium were invited to Russia, now Russian artists are invited to Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Italy and many other countries of the world to work in Orthodox churches. This fact underlines the continuity of the Byzantine heritage, the preservation by Russian culture of its living traditions, and their further development.

Carrying out such a project as “BYZANTIA.RU” is a tribute to the memory of Grand Duke Vladimir, who determined the fate of not only Russia, but, to a certain extent, the whole world.