Virgin Odigitria - Dionissius. Moscow School

Colour Supplement

Articles by Christians around the world

Sunday 18 November 2007

 

A Pilgrimage to Holy Russia (part II)

by Jean Hole of St. Andrew's Church

 

 

Last month I mentioned that churches were closed or destroyed following the 1917 revolution.  Some churches were preserved as good architecture.  Many of the icons from redundant churches were saved and are displayed in a museum in the Nevinsky Convent in Moscow.  

 

The development of Russian art was expertly explained to us in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow by our guide, Tamara.  Icons were the only art in Russia until the 17^th century. 

 

Holy Trinity, Andrei Rublev, 1411

 

In the 18^th century Catherine the Great encouraged artists trained in Europe.  At first the artists painted formal portraits of ruling families and classical subjects.   In 1870 a group of artists, known as The Wanderers, felt too restricted and sought a new Russian art.  They painted landscapes, portraits, religious subjects and vivid portrayals of the horrors of war and social conflict.  In turn the Wanderers were overtaken by abstract artists like Kadinsky who was forced out of Russia after 1917 because the new regime had its own ideas about what was acceptable art. We were told that former President Krushev particularly disliked modern art.  In Russian cemeteries each grave is topped by a large monument that represents the deceased person.  The monument over President Krushev’s grave is one of modern art – for what reason we can only guess.

 

One might have expected that the accumulated treasure of the Tsars would have been destroyed after the revolution.  That they were not is to the advantage of travellers today.  The Kremlin Treasury is full of the bejewelled clothes, carriages, books, thrones and much more.  There is a large collection of Faberge eggs that the royal family gave each other every year at Easter.  Even their bibles were decorated with jewels.

 

We were taken to several palaces that have been preserved.  The beautiful Hermitage Museum, former Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, with its grand rooms contains art treasures by the world’s masters.  The Peterhof on the Gulf of Finland is the Summer Palace of the Tsars.  It contains room after room of silk covered walls and much gold and glass. 

 

In discussion we concluded that it was not surprising that there had been a revolution.  We learnt a little about life under the Soviets.  Both of our guides had been members of Komsomol, the youth organisation of the communist party.  The Soviet priorities had been to improve the housing, employment, education and health of the people.  There was equality and no unemployment but wages were low.  ‘We were all equally poor’ was a common saying.  Many people still hanker after the certainties that they had then.  I am sure, though, that they do not hanker after the atrocities that were carried out during Stalin’s years of Terror.

 

When I reflected on what I had seen during the pilgrimage, the destruction and re-emergence of the churches, the opulence of the Tsars compared to the serfdom of the Russian people, great art, music and literature and the way that modern Russian has opened itself to the West, I gave thanks for the skill of those who created the art and architecture and for those who had the courage to initiate change.  I marvel at the human spirit that, under God’s guidance, has brought the Russian people through some very dark times into a stronger light.

 

Read Part I of Jean's pilgrimage to Holy Russia

BACK TO HOME PAGE