The Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” Was in Earth Orbit on the ISS… an Unusual Procession around the Globe

An unusual procession with a copy of the Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” occurred in space in Earth orbit. On 30 September, Soyuz TMA-16 was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome and it delivered the image of the Virgin to the International Space Station (ISS), a source at the Galaktika (Galaxy) training-operational centre (the initiators of the idea) told Interfax-Religion on Wednesday. The icon’s stay in space ended on 11 October. The icon was aboard the ISS for 176 Earth orbits. It returned to Earth on the spacecraft Soyuz TMA-14.

This copy of the Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” will be on display 8-14 December at the Orthodox exhibition at VVTs. Anyone interested can see video and photographic coverage of the icon’s “procession” in Earth orbit. Patriarch Kirill blessed this project and the Centre of Russian National Glory, the St Andrew the First-Called Foundation, and the Energiya (Energy) Space Rocket Corporation sponsored it. Four years ago, an icon from the Our Saviour-Transfiguration Monastery of Valaam went into space. During its two-month stay aboard the station, it, along with cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, orbited the Earth about a thousand times.

25 November 2009

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33075

President Medvedev Discovered in Vologda why Men are Not Lace-makers

President Dmitri Medvedev visited the Vologda Kremlin, which houses a famous collection of lacework. During his examination of the exhibition, the president was astonished at fine craftsmanship of the master lace-makers. “I now understand why these crafts are not common amongst men. They have less patience [than women do]“, Mr Medvedev said after visiting the exhibition. However, Ludmila Korotaeva, the General Director of the Vologda Kremlin, who conducted the tour of the exhibition, said that recently a man competed in a lace-making competition, and he could fabricate lace as well as any woman.

The Vologda Kremlin has a collection of over 3,000 items crafted by Vologda master lace-makers. Amongst the collection is gold lace from the 17^th and 18^th centuries, which are the oldest items on exhibition. One of the halls of the museum showcases Vologda bobbin lacework. Such items are often more than 3 metres (@10 feet) in length. In the shops, such a masterpiece will cost about 30,000 roubles (851 USD. 660 euros. 592 UK pounds).

The Vologda Whitestone Kremlin, which has been named a federal architectural monument, includes buildings that represent the religious and civil architecture of the 16^th through the 19^th centuries. The oldest structure in the Vologda Kremlin is the Cathedral of St Sophia, built in the 16^th century on the orders of Tsar Ivan Grozny. It is modelled on the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Moscow Kremlin. A bell-tower next to the cathedral rises to a height of over 78 metres (256 feet). The Vologda Kremlin has an area of more than 10,000 square metres (2.5 acres), and it contains natural-science, historical, and art museums, as well as other exhibition halls, which contain more than 400,000 pieces of art, including ancient icons, manuscripts, early printed books, and articles crafted by Vologda silversmiths.

11 February 2009

RIA-Novosti

http://www.rian.ru/society/20090211/161804828.html (in Russian)

A Charity Auction in St Petersburg shall Sell Artwork by Vladimir Putin, Valentina Matvienko, and other Celebrities

A charity auction will sell paintings created by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, St Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko, and other famous people. It shall be held at the Christmas Fair will on 17 January in St Petersburg, according to the press-service of the city administration. The Christmas Fair in St Petersburg is one of the biggest events in the round of New Year’s holiday events in the city. A traditional part of this event is a charity auction called Azbuka (ABCs), in which famous Russians, aided by professional artists, paint pictures based on letters of the Russian alphabet (31 letters and one sign, for them not in the know: editor’s note).

This year, the charity auction was dedicated to 200^th anniversary of the birth of the famous author Nikolai Gogol. For every day of the event, on the main stage of the fair, famous people painted pictures of letters of the Russian alphabet letters based on motifs drawn from Gogol’s story Noch Pered Rozhdestvom (The Night Before Christmas). Not only was the theme of the paintings drawn from Gogol’s story, but, also, the material used for the canvases, which was overcoat cloth.

In late December, Prime Minister Putin visited the St Petersburg Christmas fair, where he drew a picture of the letter “U” in form of a pattern on a frosty window. For the third time, Governor Matvienko of the northern capital took part in the auction time, drawing a picture entitled Metel (Snow-storm). Also, paintings were created at the fair by opera singer Anna Netrebko, ballerina Ulyana Lopatkina, and musician Maksim Shostakovich.

All the proceeds from the sale of these celebrity artworks will be transferred to the accounts of charitable institutions in the city, which are badly in need of financial support. This year, it is planned that the funds collected will go for the opening of a specialised diagnostic oncology centre and the St Mary Magdalene Paediatric Hospital.

This marks the third anniversary of this celebrity art auction. In 2007, the total proceeds from the sale of celebrity paintings were 5 million roubles (154,000 USD. 116,000 euros. 104,000 UK pounds). In 2008, this total was increased four-fold to 20.5 million roubles (630,000 USD. 475,000 euros. 428,000 UK pounds).

Traditionally, canvases painted by Governor Valentina Matvienko are hits at the sale. At the first auction, her picture Yezhik Pod Yolkoi (Hedgehog Under the Christmas Tree) went for 2.2 million roubles (68,000 USD. 51,000 euros. 46,000 UK pounds), a year later, Mishka (Teddy Bear) painted by Matvienko went under the hammer for a record 11 million roubles (338,000 USD. 255,000 euros. 229,000 UK pounds).

17 January 2009

RIA-Novosti

http://www.rian.ru/society/20090117/159451935.html (in Russian)

Russians did not Limit the New Year’s Holidays to Parties and Christmas Trees

Over the New Year holidays, Russians not only saw traditional presentations and New Year’s trees, but, they also participated in tournaments of fairytale heroes in Yekaterinburg, exhibited collections of family keepsakes in Kaliningrad, played a little “Old Russian Village Football” in Novgorod, and kids saw The Nutcracker in Cheliabinsk, and 1,200 kids came to the Archbishop’s Yolka in Kostroma.

Yekaterinburg: An Orchestra of “Wizards” and “Beasts” Gave a Concert

To mark the New Year, the Sverdlovsk State Philharmonic Orchestra prepared for children a magical adventure-play Poezd na Chunga-Changu (The Train to Chung-Chang), which was staged from 4 to 6 January, a spokesman of the Philharmonic told RIA-Novosti. Children and their parents waited for “wizards” to play live music, and enjoyed a presentation of dances, games, and quizzes, and for the most fearless and curious, a tournament fairytale characters, the spokesman said. At the time of the show, the hall of the Philharmonic Society became a fairyland forest with a New Year’s Tree, and serious musicians dressed as merry “beasts”, and the sombre black grand pianos were draped to match the multicoloured costumes of the players. The Philharmonic prepared a surprise competition with the Wizard of the Snows, games with funny animals, traditional round-dances with beautiful forest-maidens, and a sea of “beautiful and very familiar music”.

Kaliningrad: A Nostalgic Exhibition

With the help of local residents, the Fridlanskie Gates Museum of Kaliningrad assembled a collection of family Christmas and New Year keepsakes, which will be on display until the middle of January, a spokesman of the city press-service told RIA-Novosti. The organisers of the exhibition Traditions of Celebrating New Year and Christmas assembled Christmas toys and decorations made before 1970, as well as postcards and family photos of those years from Kaliningraders. Amongst the items lent by local residents were handmade toys. According to the museum spokesman, the main task of the organisers of the exhibition was to create an atmosphere of holiday magic, wonder, and expectations of fairy tales and miracles.

When this exhibition was first held last year, it attracted an unusual interest amongst the inhabitants of the city, so, it was decided to make it a traditional event. The basis of this year’s exhibition was last year’s collection, when Kaliningraders exhibited approximately 300 toys, to name just one category. Some of the items were immediately donated to the museum, whilst other owners asked for a guarantee of safety and a return of the items after the end of the exhibition. Amongst the objects on display, some were real rarities, Königsberg dishes with Christmas themes, greeting cards from the early 20^th century, New Year’s toys made of pressed cotton from the 1930s to 50s, toys fashioned from ordinary light bulbs, “rain” devised from the copper wire, and much more.

Novgorod: “Old Russian Village Football”

The Folklore Festival Holy Days in Vitoslavlitsakh was held on 8 January at the Novgorod Museum of Wooden Folk Architecture, a representative of the Novgorod oblast administration told RIA-Novosti. The festival invited top-ten-best folk groups from the Novgorod region, as well as guests from other cities in Russia. According to tradition, Holy Days in Vitoslavlitsakh opens with the ringing of bells at noon, after which, those who are attended the festival take part in old amusements, games, and rituals revived by Russian folklore enthusiasts. In the streets of “Vitoslavlits”, people carol under the Christmas star, singing old traditional kolyadki. In addition, there shall be a match of Shchelyge (which scholars describe as “Old Russian Village Football”), skipping rope village-style, stilt races, and snow and ice games. All those who participate in the fun and games, both Novgorodians and tourists, shall receive poteshki, tokens that can be exchanged for prizes in a special “prize shop”.

For those who want to determine their future, the festival shall present a variety of divination methods in the old-style izbas and barns. The festival attendees, as in the old days, could choose to use straw, haystacks, fences, or laptyakh (bast sandals), or look under the dish, or use the hen or beans to guess their fate. Besides, old spinning wheels and looms shall be set up in the izbas, and all who will shall be able to try to use these for spinning and weaving. Visitors shall be able to take part in traditional single combats, and “warriors” from the local Novgorod military history re-enactment clubs shall give demonstrations.

Novgorodians and tourists alike will be able to ride the carousel and on horses. On the streets of the Museum of Wooden Folk Architecture, a Petrushka Booth shall be set up, and mummers and singers shall stroll amongst the guests. Master-craftsmen of traditional decorative arts shall present their handcrafted products. Under the supervision of craftsmen, people can try to make their own handcrafted gifts and fashion so-called “covers” from spill in the “doll shop”. The exhibits shall be open for several hours. At the end of the day, the festival shall conclude with “the funeral of Dudarya”, a straw effigy, which, in old Russia, represented the past year.

The Folklore Festival Holy Days in Vitoslavlitsakh has been held in Veliki Novgorod since 1993.

Kostroma and Cheliabinsk: Celebrating Orthodox Christmas

The Orthodox Church did not remain on the sidelines of holiday celebrations, as it presented concerts and brought the kids to the Christmas tree to give them lots of gifts. On 7 January, the Yolka for the pupils of the Orthodox parish Sunday Schools was held at the Glinka Opera and Ballet Theatre in Cheliabinsk, according to the press-service of the city government. 500 kids were invited to the affair, including students at the Cheliabinsk Orthodox gymnazii (a gymnazia is a traditional high school: editor’s note), the children of Orthodox parishioners, and members of youth groups. They saw a performance of the Christmas fairytale The Nutcracker. After the concert, the kids received gifts, including sweets, soft toys, Christmas cakes, and a specially-prepared colourful collection of Christmas Fairytales. This special book has 92 pages and it was published in a press-run of 5,000. It contains tales for children of Orthodox families, well-known writers from Cheliabinsk edited it, and children’s drawings were used as illustrations.

The Archpastoral Yolka was held on 8 January in Kostroma. In addition, the kids and their parents are waiting for a charity concert to be held three days hence, a spokesman of the Diocese of Kostroma told RIA-Novosti. He told us that more than 1,200 kids came to the Yolka, students of Sunday schools, members of the Orthodox Youth Centre Kovcheg (Ark), and children from the diocesan, oblast, and municipal orphanages and boarding schools. Archbishop Aleksandr of Kostroma and Galich gave his Christmas blessing to all of the children who attended. The traditional charity Christmas concert will feature the Archiepiscopal Choir of the Epiphany-St Anastasia Cathedral, the Blagovest Academic Chamber Choir and Chorus, the Kostroma State Orchestra of Folk Instruments, and other ensembles. The concert shall include a presentation of the Christmas Oratorio written by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev. All proceeds from the charity Christmas concert will go towards the restoration of holy places and construction of churches.

8 January 2009

RIA-Novosti

http://www.rian.ru/society/20090108/158766816.html (in Russian)

A Picture is worth a Thousand Words Department… 7 January 2009

The above photograph is of a life-sized Christmas crèche outside a public school in… Moscow! If the same was done in Minneapolis or Boston, boy-oh-boy, the PC crowd would go to the courts and get an order to send out the cops to knock it down! Which country is the God-fearing country? Which country is waging a war against God? No non-Christian should fear devout Christians, for our faith teaches us not to attack others. Are there Christian nuts? Sure! Always has been, and, sadly, always will be! Wanna put the Menorah next to the crèche? No problem! See how simple it is?

Puts a new spin on Vova Putin as ruler, doesn’t it? Make mine Putin, straight-up and pure! Let’s lift a glass to a true Christian leader!

7 January 2009

Vara Drezhlo

Albany NY

Russian History is on Exhibit in the Displays of the Andrei Rublyov Museum in Moscow

Inside the Andrei Rublyov Central Museum of Medieval Russian Culture and Arts at the Andronikov Monastery of Our Saviour in Moscow

The collection of the Andrei Rublyov Central Museum of Medieval Russian Culture and Arts reflects seven centuries of Russian history. The institution bears the name of the great 15^th century Russian iconographer, St Andrei Rublyov. In the run-up to New Year, the museum marked two significant anniversaries, 650 years since the birth of the legendary iconographer and 60 years since the founding of the museum.

The Saviour-Andronikov Monastery, which houses the museum’s collection, is itself a unique architectural monument. It is Moscow’s most ancient monastery, having been built in the 14^th century. St Andrei Rublyov supervised the work of painting its main cathedral, the Cathedral of Our Saviour; as for the belfry, it is the second-highest after the Belfry of Ivan the Great in the Moscow Kremlin. The monastery was the largest centre for the copying of valuable manuscripts; also, it safeguarded one of the most cherished Russian holy objects, the Icon of Our Saviour Not Made by Hands. A legend says that the image was brought from Constantinople by Metropolitan Aleksei, who founded the monastery to commemorate his miraculous rescue from a storm which caught his ship at sea. During the course of the centuries, the monastery was looted and destroyed many times by fire, and many of its treasures, icons, rare manuscripts, books, and masterpieces of church art, perished in those disasters.

Icon of St Seraphim of Sarov, an 18^th and early-19^th century Russian saint. This illustrated the Russian text of this article. Is this in the Andronikov collection? Could be… Russians are not pedantic Germans!

A new page in the history of the Saviour-Andronikov Monastery opened in the middle of the previous century when it was proclaimed a reserve. Its collection began to be restored; exhibits were bought by special groups or donated. The first items were examples of old book printing, a tiny prayer book, and, compared with it, an enormous 19^th century Book of the Psalms weighing some 10 kilogrammes!

At present, the museum’s collection has 10,000 items, ancient books and pieces of applied arts. Yet, the museum is world-famous, primarily, for its collection of icons of various schools, starting from the earliest period of Christianity in Russia to the late Middle Ages. The pride of the collection is works by masters such as St Andrei Rublyov and Dionisy and closest disciples, who painted icons at the order of Tsar Ivan Grozny. “At that time, the so-called illustration icon appeared, some examples of which are presented in the museum’s jubilee exposition. For example, one such is The Nativity of the Most-Holy Mother of God. The icon demonstrates a turning point in the development of the art of Moscow, a transition from the enlightened refinement of the epoch of Dionisy to a dramatic period in Russian history, the one associated with the rule of Tsar Ivan Grozny”, said Gennady Popov, the museum’s director.

Before the 17^th century, icons depicted only spiritual, noetic, life, but, later, landscapes and architectural elements began to appear. For instance, something looking like a tower on one of the icons reminds you of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Experts believe that the gem of the exposition is a five-storied iconostas, a work of the 17^th century Moscow iconographic school. The staff of the museum is convinced that the jubilee exposition is an important stage in the restoration of Russia’s holy sites.

30 December 2008

Yelena Andrusenko

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=rus&q=95976&cid=24&p=30.12.2008 (in Russian)

The Cathedral of the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin is now 500

Exterior of the Cathedral of the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin

The Cathedral of the Archangel of the Moscow Kremlin is now 500-years-old. Inside it, are Orthodox shrines, the relics of grand dukes and Russian tsars. The cathedral was built in the tradition of Russian church architecture with five domes in 1505-1509 by architect Aleviz Novy, one of the Italian craftsmen invited by the Grand Duke of Moscow to build a stone Kremlin. The best Russian craftsmen painted the cathedral and the walls of the cathedral still preserve ancient frescoes done in the days of Ivan the Terrible.

Iconostas of the Cathedral of the Archangel

The Cathedral of the Archangel was the burial vault of the Russian ruling dynasty through the end of the 17^th century, when the capital was moved to St Petersburg. The necropolis of the temple contains the remains of grand dukes and tsars, including Ivan Kalita, Ivan the Terrible, Mikhail Fyodrovich, Alexei Mikhailovich, and others, 54 graves in total. In 1917, the cathedral was damaged by artillery fire. In 1929, when the Convent of the Ascension was torn down, the remains of the tsarinas and grand duchesses were moved to the lower part of the cathedral. The cathedral preserves the relics of great Orthodox saints, Ss Prince Dmitri Donskoi, Mikhail of Chernigov, and Tsarevich Dmitri of Uglich.

24 November 2008

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/photolents/20081124/118479178.html (in English)

Sergei Rakhmaninov. Otche Nash (Our Father) from the Liturgy of St John Chrystom (1905)

This is, perhaps, just as significant a choral piece as his later Vigil, op 37 (1916), but, it is largely unknown in the West. The visual backdrop is starkly simple and austere, being a detail of St Andrei Rublyov’s famous icon of the Saviour. The resonance of this has to be heard to be believed. This is, of course, only a portion, being the “Our Father/Pater Noster”.

Rare Icons to Be Exhibited in the USA

Interior of the Museum of Russian Icons, Clinton MA

Moscow, 16 October 2008 (Interfax):

The Tretyakov Gallery is presenting an exhibition of 16 rare icons from its collection entitled “Two Museums, One Culture” at the Museum of Russian Icons in Clinton MA (USA). At the same time, some 150 items from the permanent collection shall be on display, as well. About 5,000 visitors, mostly from various European countries, came to the museum in 2007, Kent Russell, the Museum’s director, said in an interview published by the newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta (The Russian Newspaper) on Thursday. “Frankly speaking, many Americans thought that religion was banned in Russia, but, they are starting to change their minds, especially after visiting our museum”, he noted.

The museum holds various conferences and seminars; in addition, it shows films connected with Russia. What is most important, Mr Russell noted, “Americans gradually come to an understanding that the USA and Russia have much more in common than they differ. I’d like to mention our most frequent visitor. He is an American who adopted several children from Russia. He brings them here several times a year so that they can be reminded of their Motherland”, Mr Russell said. The Museum of Russian Icons in America is famous for the largest collection of Old Russian art outside of Russia. This last February, Archpriest Aleksandr Abramov, the secretary of the Representation of the MP in the USA, blessed the museum and its grounds.

The museum was founded in 2006 by the American businessman Gordon Lankton. He visited Russia for the first time in 1989, and he bought his first icon, depicting St Nicholas the Wonderworker, at the Izmailovsky Market in Moscow for 20 dollars (528 roubles. 15 euros. 11.64 UK pounds). After this, he began to collect Russian icons from all over the world. One of the most ancient of his purchases now at the museum is an icon of the Holy Prophet and Forerunner John the Baptist, which dates from around 1450. At present, the collection consists of 350 items, but not all are continuously on exhibition. Only after the completion of a new addition shall the entire collection be on public view. The icons were acquired at auctions in the USA and Europe, mostly coming from private collections. Several of the icons were gifts. The cost of one of the gift icons was conservatively estimated at 40,000 dollars (1.056 million roubles. 30,008 euros. 23,280 UK pounds).

Interfax-Religion

http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=26953 (in Russian)

Editor’s Note:

The admittance cost to this museum is very reasonable, being 5 dollars per adult. It is open from Tuesday to Friday, 11.00 to 15.00 and on Saturday, 09.00 to 15.00. It is closed on Sunday and Monday. The special exhibition “Two Museums, One Culture” shall run from 16 October 2008 to 1 May 2009. On Saturdays at 12.00, during the run of the special exhibition, Mr Lankton, the founder of the museum, shall give a guided tour of the collection. A special rate of 4 dollars per person applies to “civic groups”, no doubt, a parish group would qualify. To find directions, google “Museum of Russian Icons Clinton” and it is the first item shown, and a link to a map is available. Clinton MA is one hour due west of Boston MA and two hours due east of Albany NY.

By the way, the Interfax English translator earns yet another “Big Green Weenie Award” for cutting out about a third of the text from the Russian original. We’re just going to have to call out the bleacher creatures from Fenway to deal with them! This is lazy and beyond words.

Interfax! Fire that incompetent, they’re making you look stupid.

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Contact information:

Museum of Russian Icons

203 Union Street

Clinton MA 01510

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Telephone: (978). 598-5000

Fax: (978). 598-5009

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Website: http://www.museumofrussianicons.org/index.php

Secrets Of Valentin Yudashkin’s World Of Fashion

“I am happy to invite you to the world of fashion design secrets and share those secrets with you”. With these words, the prominent Russian fashion designer Valentin Yudashkin opened his one-man show in Moscow. It is located at the Historical Museum on Red Square and will run until 2 November. It is timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the Yudashkin House of Fashion.

This Russian brand had its première in the world of high fashion in 1991 when Yudashkin showed his collection in Paris for the first time. It was entitled “Fabergé” and was inspired by artistic ideas drawn from the prominent Russian jewellery atelier that won fame for its output of Easter eggs made of precious metals, stones, and enamels. The young Russian couturier designed dresses in the form of Fabergé’s renowned eggs. They produced a great impression on the sophisticated French public and impressed the recognised leaders of the fashion world, Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne. In short, Yudashkin’s first collection did not return to Russia, it remained in France, at the Louvre in Paris.

Since then, the Russian fashion designer has created a variety of new dresses, consolidating his international prestige. He does not make his work into a secret, for when he presents his dresses from collections of various years at the Moscow show, he gives full particulars of their details. Take for example, the airy evening dresses he named his “Clouds”. Yudashkin felt much gratitude to the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre, whose workshops provided him with an opportunity of getting an insight into the creation of such airy forms and studying various techniques of work with various fabrics. He said that he was learned old techniques there in which the fabric is not cut by scissors, but, it is torn by hand so that it could take elegant and so-called “live” forms. Take, for example, a tender pink organza dress, it looks so alive and natural although many metres of fabric were used. A theatrical approach to dress design is typical of Yudashkin. According to the couturier, this is yet another mystique to his style. Such an approach gives freedom to the designer, allows him to use exotic fabrics and a plethora of colours.

True, his show proved that Yudashkin can also work skilfully using only one colour. His collection entitled “Mister Dinner Jacket” is a virtuoso interpretation of the colour black. Visitors are amazed standing in front of a dinner jacket that can be described, without exaggeration, as a piece of art. On its back made of sheer black silk there is a portrait of the famous Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin embroidered in black beads. What is more, the poet’s notes on the margins of his books were reproduced skilfully. Yudashkin believes that black is a magic colour. He said, “My favourite dress is made using the ‘black on black’ technique, it is so tragic and romantic! Various materials are involved, atlas, laces, chiffon, organza, taffeta, and velvet, to produce the proper black shading effect”.

What are quite different are his dresses with exotic and rich in colour feathers of birds of paradise, pheasants, ostriches, and peacocks. In some dresses, the natural feathers are sewn to the fabric using old technology, on others; they are reproduced on fabrics using new technologies. Yet, this is no secret; Yudashkin’s secret is that for him the image of the Russian woman is associated with that of a flying bird.

13 October 2008

Tatiana Kaperkina

Voice of Russia World Service

http://www.ruvr.ru/main.php?lng=eng&q=33706&cid=59&p=13.10.2008 (in English)