Frescoes on the first floor of the Museum of the History of Faith
A quarter of a century: the Museum of the History of Faith, one of the structural branches of the Cherdyn Local History Museum named after A.S. Pushkin, is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The museum was opened on August 28, 2000 as part of a large-scale state program timed to the turn of the third millennium and the celebration of the two-thousandth anniversary of Christianity, with the support of the head of local government of the Cherdyn district, S.F. Miller, and the scholarly community. The authorial team was led by Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, and Head of the Department of Ancient and Modern History of Russia at Perm Classical University (PGNIU), G. N. Chagin. The artistic design of the exhibition was by V. P. Smirnov — a Perm artist-designer and member of the Union of Artists of Russia.
The choice of the opening date was not accidental: on August 28 the Orthodox Church celebrates the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos, and the exhibitions were placed in the building of the former Dormition Church. Construction of this church began in 1754 for the Dormition Convent; by the completion of construction in 1785 the convent had been abolished and the church became a parish church. Locally it was called "Alinskaya," because the Alin merchants took special care of its upkeep. After the Revolution the building was transferred to the dormitory of the teachers' college, and in 1947 to the local history museum. For a long time it housed the local history library, the archives of city institutions and Cherdyn merchants, as well as icons collected from various churches in the town and district and donated to the museum as exhibits. In 1975 an exhibition space was organized on the first floor.
For almost 25 years the Museum of the History of Faith's exhibition remained unchanged, but ahead of its anniversary the museum gained a new lease on life. In April 2024 the exhibition "The Wandering Church" opened, telling the story of the first St. John the Theologian Monastery in the Urals. The opening of the exhibition was the first event of the museum's 125th anniversary celebrations and was timed to coincide with the 80th birthday of Georgy Nikolaevich Chagin — an ethnographer, researcher of the northern Prikamye, and one of the directors of the Cherdyn Museum.
Exhibition "The Wandering Church", 1st floor of the Museum of the History of Faith
"The Wandering Church" offers a new perspective on events from the baptism of Cherdyn by Bishop Jonah of Veliky Perm in 1462 up to the Civil War following the 1917 Revolution. A special place in the exhibition is given to the story of the Church's ministry and to two strong-willed women — Abbess Rufina and Schema-Abbess Ariadna. When persecution of the Church began, they left their native lands with parts of the White Army, but wherever they went they established shelters where the girls in their care were told about distant Cherdyn and the St. John the Theologian Monastery.
In December 2024 the first part of the exhibition "Church Art of Northern Prikamye. Family Traditions of Icon Painting" opened on the second floor. The thematic center of the exhibition is the history of family traditions in the Orthodox environment, which in the Cherdyn area manifested itself in family icon-painting workshops, in significant family contributions to churches and monasteries, and in the creation of "family" icons. The exhibits on display tell about family icons, icons made using rare materials and rare iconography, as well as icons dedicated to important events in the history of the Russian state. In the "Year of the Family" the museum considered it important to tell the story of family traditions in icon painting. This is especially evident in commissioned church and household icons of saints bearing the names of family members, and in the veneration of the royal family, as reflected in commissioned icons painted in the workshop of V. I. Fedoseev in the village of Pokcha.
Fragment of the exhibition "Church Art of Northern Prikamye", 2nd floor of the Museum of the History of Faith.
For the first time to the general public was presented the icon "Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia," temporarily loaned to the museum from the private collection of Mikhail Korinenko. The icon is unique because it is a copy of a miraculous, manifested icon painted in the Fedoseev workshop in the village of Pokcha in 1882 from the original. Along the lower margin of the icon there is an inscription: "True depiction, likeness and measure from the miraculous image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, located in the church in the village of Nyrob. Painted on April 15, 1882." The original manifested icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker has been lost, which is why this 19th-century copy is so valuable.
Icon of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia
On March 22, 2025 the second part of the exhibition on church art will open; visitors will see donated liturgical books, gold-embroidered items, church utensils, and pieces of bronze sculpture that have not previously been presented to the general public. A comprehensive approach to forming the exhibition will create a holistic impression of all types of church art of Perm and Great Cherdyn and of those who made donations to churches and cared for the proper condition of their parish — which reflected the high spirituality of the local population.
Alongside the re-exposition came technical upgrades. In 2023 the Cherdyn Museum received federal support under the national "Culture" project for the implementation of a ticketing and access system. Now visitors to the Museum of the History of Faith can purchase tickets at a self-service terminal — very convenient if you plan to visit only this building of the museum complex. Along with the exhibition renewal, the museum received a new security alarm system and a storage facility for icons. This was made possible thanks to regional subsidies to strengthen the material and technical base. With the support of the founder and personally the Governor of Perm Krai — Dmitry Nikolaevich Makhonin — the Museum of Faith celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in an updated form.
In its anniversary year the Museum of the History of Faith is preparing a separate events program. Follow the news of the Cherdyn Museum on the official website: https://cherdynmuseum.ru/
Self-service terminal in the Museum of the History of Faith
