The Temple Gallery

in association with ETR, Lausanne, Switzerland

30th September – 13th October 2016

Holy Russia

Churches and Icons

Pokrov Church on the Nerl, 12th c. Bogolubov, near Vladimir

Itinerary for the Temple Gallery’s visit to Russia incorporating

Moscow, Vladimir, Sergiev Posad, Suzdal, St Petersburg, Pskov and

Novgorod. 30th September - 13th October 2016.

Day 1 Friday, 30 October

We leave from London Airport (Heathrow) on British Airways (BA233) at 08:45 and arrive

at Moscow DME at 14:35. After customs and immigration we meet our guide and transfer

by bus to our hotel. Note. Accommodation will be in level hotels or higher. Except for

the night sleeper from Moscow to St Petersburg transportation throughout the trip is by

private luxury bus with our own driver and English speaking guide. In Moscow, where traffic

circulation is notoriously bad, we will in certain instances find it quicker to make short trips

by Metro. This in itself is an adventure: dating from the 1930s the stations were designed to

bring palatial grandeur, hitherto the preserve of the aristocracy, to the people.

MOSCOW

Novodevichy Monastery Ouspensky Cathedral

Vladimirskaya Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed and the Kremlin

Monumental Rublyov icons Andronikov Monastery (Rublyov Museum) Detail of Rublyov’s Trinity

Day 2 Saturday, 1 October

We begin at the Kremlin, the city’s fortified citadel developed by Prince Yuri Dolgoruki in

1156, destroyed by the Mongols and rebuilt by Ivan III (Ivan the Great) in the 15th century

with Italian architectural influence. It has always been the seat of Russia’s might and power.

In Cathedral Square we visit the Assumption Cathedral where Metropolitans of Moscow

and all the Russias, Tsars and Emperors were crowned. Adjacent is the Annunciation

Cathedral, completed in 1489, its iconostasis by the 15th century Constantinopolitan master

Theophanes the Greek. On the other side of the square the Cathedral of Archangel

Michael with its icon by Andrei Rublyov. Nearby is the Armoury, now a museum containing

the crown of Vladimir Monomakh, other Imperial regalia and a 12th century Byzantine

steatite icon of St Demetrius.

Afternoon: we first visit St. Basil’s Cathedral, its maze-like interior consists of numerous

chapels, some with magnificent 16th century iconostases.

From here we make our way to the Tretyakov Gallery where we concentrate on the icon

collection that includes many of the greatest examples from the 12th to the 16th century such

as the Zvenigorod Deesis of Rublyov and his monumental Deesis tier icons from Vladimir.

Dr Engelina Smirnova, Russia's leading authority on early icons, together with her colleague Dr

Alexandr Preobrazhensky, have kindly agreed to meet us here. We also see the Virgin of

Vladimir housed in a separate chapel consecrated within the gallery. End of Day 2

Day 3 Sunday, 2nd October

Morning visit to see beautiful icons in the Rublyov Museum, a place of great charm, it was

formerly the Andronikov Monastery where Rublyov was a monk. It features prominently in

Tarkovsky’s 1966 film Andrei Rublyov, considered by many critics to be the best art-house film

ever. The frescoes in the Cathedral, built in 1425 and itself an architectural masterpiece, are

attributed to him.

In the afternoon we visit the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The original was built by

Alexander I as a thanksgiving after the defeat of Napoleon in 1812. Stalin destroyed it in

1931, replacing it with a swimming pool. The foundation stone for its rebuilding was laid on

7 January 1995 and now, once again, it dominates the Moscow skyline. A number of icons in

the Treasury, located in the crypt, were acquired from the Temple Gallery.

Nearby is the Pushkin Museum, housing masterpieces of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist

art, Fayum portraits and the famous Byzantine icon of the Twelve Apostles. End of Day 3

Novodevichy Convent Kolomonskoye

Day 4 Monday, 3rd October

Morning visit to the New Maiden’s Monastery, ‘Novodevichy,’ now a UNESCO World

Heritage site, it was founded in 1524 by Prince Vasili III as a religious institution and also as a

defence fortification.

After lunch we visit Kolomenskoye, a former royal residence in south east Moscow

overlooking the Moskva River. There are several architectural marvels including Church of

the Ascension, built in 1532 which combines traditional Russian forms with a major

innovation: the Russian ‘tent’ dome. The immense Wooden Palace is a successful recent

reconstruction. The museum houses a large number of icons, many of them of later periods.

End of Day 4

SERGEIEV POSAD

Trinity Cathedral, Sergiev Posad. The 14th century church contains Sergei’s relics and an iconostasis by Rublyov

View of the monastery , Sergeiev Posad shrine of St Sergei; icons of Rublyov

Day 5 Tuesday, 4th October

We leave Moscow for Sergeiev Posad (about an hour’s drive), whose fame derives from the

Trinity Lavra of St. Sergei of Radonezh. Sergiev is the holiest of Russia’s sacred sites, its

most important pilgrimage centre and the home of an important seminary. An exquisite 14th

century church houses the relics of Saint Sergius and we remember that Rublyov’s famous

Trinity icon, dedicated to Sergei, was originally here. One can join the pilgrims in venerating

the saint’s relics and singing the simple phrases of the ceaseless requiem and thus find oneself

resonating with the heart of Holy Russia.

Sergei was a monk in the 14th century whose intense spirituality lies at the heart of the

religious mysticism that Russia inherited from Constantinople and Mount Athos. He is

generally regarded as Russia’s greatest saint. The intensity of his inner life, corresponding to

the hesychast traditions of the desert and Mount Athos attracted numerous followers to his

hermitage in the forest. He was canonized in 1422, when work began on the construction of

the Trinity Cathedral. Since then, and today, this loca sancta has always been a centre of

spirituality and devotion. The iconostasis in this chapel is by Andrei Rublyov and his

companion Daniil Chorny.

In the late afternoon we board our coach and drive for about three hours to Suzdal for dinner

and our hotel. End of Day 5

SUZDAL

Suzdal general view Suzdal icons

Day 6 Wednesday, 5th October

Lack of industrialisation and the richness of its medieval religious tradition have preserved

Suzdal as a place of exceptional beauty and appeal. The city includes two UNESCO world

heritage sites: the Saviour Monastery of St Euthymius and the Kremlin with the Nativity

of the Virgin Cathedral. Its famous 11th century Bronze Doors are an extremely rare and

important example of Russian 13th mercury gilding. The museum, formerly the Archbishop’s

Chambers, has a collection of very good and interesting icons. Suzdal icons are notable for

their subtle colours and delicacy of line, qualities later absorbed by the Moscow School.

There is the Museum of Wooden Architecture, a collection of log-built churches and other

wooden structures that have been brought from various villages in the Vladimir Region.

Beautiful views are provided by the meadows and the river that flows through the city.

From Suzdal to Vladimir is about an hour’s drive. On the way we visit the Church of the

Intercession on the Nerl. It is famous for its ideal proportions and its situation in a beautiful

landscape through which the waters of the Klyazma River quietly flow. This church, together

with the cathedrals in Vladimir, represents the flowering of Russian medieval art in the

golden age of high culture and great military power before its submission to the Mongol Batu

Khan in 1238. These buildings are equal, if not superior to, anything produced in

Romanesque France or the Byzantine world.

We arrive in Vladimir in time for dinner. End of Day 6

VLADIMIR

Dormition Cathedral, 12th c., contains frescoes by Andrei Rublyov Pokrov Church, 12th c.

Day 7 Thursday, 6th October

Once a Grand Principality, Vladimir today is a small town with three UNESCO World

Heritage Sites.

The Dmitri Cathedral is built of white limestone, and notable for its carved exterior. Nearby

we find the five-domed Cathedral of the Assumption, built in 1158. The 15th century

frescoes are by Andrei Rublyov and Daniil Chorny.

After lunch we visit the local museum to see Rublyov’s copy of the Vladimir Icon of the

Mother of God.

We return to Moscow in time for dinner before taking the night sleeper (four-berth

couchettes) to St. Petersburg leaving shortly before midnight. End of Day 7

SAINT PETERSBURG

Neva palaces and St Isaak’s Cathedral Novgorod icons in the Russian Museum

Fontanka canal Church of the Spilt Blood

Day 8 Friday, 7th October

Arriving in St. Petersburg we go directly to our hotel for breakfast and, if needed, a rest. We

then visit the Russian Museum (once the Mikhailovsky Palace) which houses some of

Russia’s most important icons. There is also a vast collection of 18th and 19th century

Russian paintings, the masterpieces of which we will view selectively: Bryullov, Repin,

Levitan, Makovsky, Serov, et al. We might also visit the Ethnographic Museum next door.

After lunch our bus will take us to some of the main sights: St Isaac’s Cathedral and Church

of the Spilled Blood. We can walk along the Fontanka Canal and – for readers of

Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment – The Griboyedov Canal.

Dinner at a local restaurant. End of Day 8

The Jordan staircase State rooms Scythian art

Matisse Leonardo da Vinci, Leonardo da Vinci Rembrandt

Day 9 Saturday, 8th October

Today the main event is the Hermitage and, for those who wish, we will arrange a morning

visit to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery for the Liturgy (or part of it).

We can begin in the Hermitage with the great staterooms, have lunch (in the museum’s

restaurant) then see Italian Renaisance art – Leonardo da Vinci, Giorgione, Rafael, Titian,

Michelangelo – they are all there; Flemish and Dutch painting (there are twelve

Rembrandts). There is also an important department of Byzantine Art where the director,

Dr Yuri Pyatnitsky, is a friend of mine. Perhaps he will talk to us about some of the icons.

There are famous paintings by Matisse and Picasso and if we still have energy there are

important examples of Greek, Roman and Egyptian art.

Dinner at a local restaurant. End of Day 9

Stroganov Palace (Rastrelli), 1754 Razumovsky Palace, 1762

Day 10 Sunday, 9th October

Those who have seen the recent BBC War and Peace, will have intimations of the

magnificence of Russian aristocratic life. On the Nevsky Prospect, St Petersburg’s equivalent

of the Champs Elysées, there are a number of important sites such as the Yusupov Palace

(the site of Rasputin’s murder) and Rastrelli’s Stroganov Palace. Also notable are the

Vorontsov Palace (Rastrelli) and the Razumovsky Palace (Rastrelli and others).

After lunch we can see the Kazan Cathedral. The building, by Voronkinin, begun in 1801,

is modelled on St. Peter's in Rome. It once housed Russia’s most revered icon, the Virgin of

Kazan (present whereabouts unknown). After the Revolution of 1917, the cathedral was

closed and later reopened as a Museum of Atheism. Today, and indeed as we see in all the

churches we visit, instead of the cold, empty and dank spaces of the Soviet era, the Liturgy,

Vespers and all the church offices are celebrated; there are priests, incense, chanting and

candles; the icons are venerated and the space is filled with the light and warmth. End of Day

10

NOVGOROD

Sofia Cathedral, 12th c. Novgorod icons

Novgorod churches Icon of Boris and Gle

Day 11 Monday, 10th October

Early departure for Novgorod, (approximately three and a half hour’s drive).

Novgorod the Great is the grandest of Russia’s medieval cities, a World Heritage site and

marvellously rich in architecture and icons. For Byzantinists the frescoes of Theophanes the

Greek (Fiofan Grek) are the only surviving wall paintings of this great master who reputedly

decorated forty churches in Constantinople.

We begin at the Detinets, or the Kremlin, and the St Sofia Cathedral, the oldest church in

Russia, consecrated in 1050. It contains the miraculous icon of the Mother of God of the

Sign which saved the city from Suzdalian attack in 1169 (the event is illustrated in a famous

15th century icon).

The icons in the Museum of History and Art are extremely important. Also, they are

beautifully exhibited.

We then return to our hotel and dinner at a local restaurant. End of Day 11

Day 12 Tuesday, 11th October

Visit to Yuriev Monastery, one of Russia’s oldest monastic foundation. The largest in

Novgorod, it played an important role in the ecclesiastic, political and cultural life of the city.

We then go to the nearby Museum of Wooden Architecture, an open air museum with

churches from as early as 1531.

After lunch we drive to Pskov, a four-hour drive, arriving in time for dinner. End of Day 12

Day 13 Wednesday, 12th October

Pskov was a great principality with affiliations to Novgorod in the 13th and 14th

centuries. Much of Pskovian architecture is preserved: the citadel (or kremlin) and

Trinity Cathedral date from 1138. The Mirozhsky Monastery is famous for its 12th-

century frescoes. There are many charming small 15th and the 16th century churches and

17th-century mansions such as the Pogankin Palace, now a museum with important icons

of the Pskov School. Icons of the Pskov School can be distinguished by of large colour

masses and the prevalence fiery orange-red and a deep “Pskovian” olive green giving

the art a sombre and intense emotional quality. We begin with the medieval kremlin, by

the Velikaya River. Within the walls we find the Trinity Cathedral, a church destroyed

and rebuilt numerous times over the centuries; the present structure dating from 1699.

The Mirozhsky Monastery is a 12th century Russian Orthodox complex unique in Russia.

Inside the Transfiguration Cathedral are 12th century frescoes made by both Byzantine and

local artists and the starting point for all that later developed in Pskovian art.

Then by bus to St Petersburg, a four hour journey arriving in time for dinner. End of Day 13

Day 14 Thursday, 13th October

Breakfast and 12:30 transfer to St. Petersburg International Airport (LED) for our British

Airways (BA879) flight leaving at 15:50 and arriving in London (LHR) at 17:25.