A featured subject from the icon painting collection

In the Russian Orthodox Church the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple is celebrated on December 4 (November 21 on the old calendar). It is one of the major Twelve Great Feasts — among the twelve most important after Pascha, connected with events in the earthly life of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.

"The museum's collection preserves a 17th-century icon from the festive tier of the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral. \"The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple\" is the icon that has best preserved its original painting, magnificently conveying the sense of solemnity of the depicted event. (Experts attributed the manner of painting to the school of masters of the Armory Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. In 1968 it was restored at the Scientific Restoration Workshop named after I. E. Grabar). The prestigious commission was executed by a team of craftsmen, which may have included both salaried Kremlin iconographers and kormovye (artists supported in kind) invited from various towns. The painting of the splendidly performed feast is also very close to the work of the icon painters of Klementyevskaya Sloboda, who served the Lavra," explains Irina Korotkova, keeper of the collections of the museum-reserve "Alexandrovskaya Sloboda."

In depicting this important event, artists developed a stable canon that remained virtually unchanged. The talented master who executed the tsar's commission was very learned, well versed in Byzantine traditions, and created an extraordinarily beautiful work of art.

The scene "The Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple" was presented as an unusually solemn procession accompanying three-year-old Mary on her way. (Her parents had vowed to dedicate the child to God's service if the Lord granted them an infant). Maidens proceed solemnly with Byzantine headbands in their hair and burning candles in their hands. Joachim and Anna, the parents, are still in motion, but Mary herself has already arrived at the temple and stands calmly, greeted by the priest Zechariah... Only her height testifies to her childhood, while her face, clothing, and pose are the familiar features of the Theotokos. In this same majestic guise she is also depicted receiving food from an angel.

The architecture is beautifully rendered, at times fantastical and of extraordinary forms, perceived not as a background but as the interior of the described event. The festive selection of bright, pure tones is astonishing: scarlet, green, cherry, ochre.
The Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple opens the sequence of winter feasts. In old times people also said that Winter herself rode out that day in a sleigh and blew on the windows — truly just like today! And by this sign one expected a bountiful harvest; people would prepare for a frosty winter and for a hot, dry summer. It was also customary in old times to arrange outdoor amusements: taking sleigh rides, playing snowball fights, and making snowmen.

Press Service of the museum-reserve
"Alexandrovskaya Sloboda".