SACRED RUSSIA: EXHIBITION IN THE MUSEUM AND EXHIBITION COMPLEX OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS

Dates: March 17, 2020 – April 12,2020
Venue: Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Russian Academy of Arts
            19 Prechistenka street, Moscow

Initiated by the Moscow Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Old Believers (Old-Rite) Church, the exhibition “Sacred Russia” in the Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Russian Academy of Arts is timed to the 400th birth anniversary of the Great Martyr Protopope Avvakum. The exhibition presents almost 50 paintings dedicated to the history and present life of Old Believers in Russia.

All the participants of the exhibition are representatives of ancient Old Believers families or parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Old Believers Church. These are Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, People’s Artist of Russia Dmitry Belyukin; Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored  Artist of Russia Oleg Leonov; Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia Evgeny Romashko; Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia Dmitry Slepushkin, etc. The project coordinator is a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Honored Artist of Russia Oleg Molchanov.

The Protopope Avvakum is the most distinguished and eminent ideologist of the Old Believers and the leader of the “zealots of ancient piety” who were in the opposition to Patriarch Nikon’s church reform in the 17th century. His courageous defense of his views before the authorities has much influenced his contemporaries
and still inspires successors of the ascetic culture of Old Believers. Some participants of the exhibition belong to the circle of artists of the Rogozhskaya Zastava  in Moscow which since the 17th century has been the spiritual center and focus of the Moscow Old Believers’ life.





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