Exhibition "Preserved Russia" Automatic translate

“The appeal to the old is not a rejection of the new, it is a new understanding of the old. This is not a developmental delay, just like a simple adherence to the old, but a leap forward… Human culture as a whole not only has a memory, but it is an active memory of mankind, actively introduced into the present. ”

Academician D. S. Likhachev

Until June 28, 2020 inclusive, the exhibition can be visited free of charge, but subject to all sanitary standards and social distance, as well as the presence of masks and gloves on museum visitors.

At the Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Russian Academy of Arts, Zurab Tsereteli’s Art Gallery, on the initiative of the Moscow Metropolitanate of the Russian Orthodox Old Believers Church (ROCC), the exhibition “Russia Preserved”, dedicated to the 400th birthday of the holy martyr Protopope Habakkuk, opens. The celebration of this event is officially recognized at the state level by the direction of the President of the Russian Federation, published in 2016. The exhibition presents about 50 paintings dedicated to the history and modernity of the Old Believers in Russia.

All the artists participating in the exhibition are representatives of ancient Old Believer clans or parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church. These are authors such as Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, People’s Artist of Russia D. A. Belyukin, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia O. A. Leonov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia E. V. Romashko, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia D A. Slepushkin, artists D. Gusev, L. Milovanov, F. Moskvitin. The project was coordinated by the corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia O. I. Molchanov.

Protopop Avvakum is the brightest and most influential ideologist of the Old Believers and the leader of “zealots of ancient piety” who did not accept the patriarch Nikon’s church reforms in the 17th century. His dedication, loyalty to his convictions, courageous defense of his views in front of people in power, had a wide influence on his contemporaries and still inspire followers, heirs to the strict and ascetic culture of the Old Believers.

A number of exhibitors (O. Molchanov, D. Slepushkin, D. Gusev, L. Milovanov, F. Moskvitin) belong to the circle of artists of the Rogozh outpost, with XVII being the spiritual center and focus of life of the entire Moscow Old Believers. Currently, there is the metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Church (Russian Orthodox Old Believers Church). Inspired by the special way of life and the system of life, rituals and conditions that have been tremblingly preserved in the community for centuries in their original form, the painters tried to recreate the image of the Rogozh outpost as a “guardian of the old testaments”.

Artists continue the traditions of Russian realistic landscape painting and create a lyrical image of Russia, subtly conveying the poetry of their native nature. The canvases presented at the exhibition can rightfully include the words of the writer V. Rasputin - “pure, kind, calm, quiet, conducive to reflection, to prayer, to understanding deep truths”.

The exhibition “Preserved Russia” allows the viewer to penetrate into the closed world of the Old Believer community, with its rich cultural tradition and spiritual history. The picturesque interiors of the temples, the captured scenes of worship, the festive dresses of the inhabitants of the Old Believer community, fragments of household life and landscapes of holy places - all these plots, collected in a single exhibition space, make it possible to present the modern life of the Old Believers.