Russian icon as the foundation of identity: the significance of icon painting was discussed at the RUSSIA EXPO

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The Art Day at the Rosneft pavilion continued with a panel discussion entitled "Russian Icon: the Foundation for the Shaping of National Identity in the Visual Arts". Experts noted that the Museum of Russian Icons, named after Mikhail Abramov, a famous icon collector, entrepreneur and patron of the arts, who was awarded the UNESCO Five Continents Medal for his contribution to the preservation of historical heritage, plays an important role in this context.

"Mikhail Abramov's idea to create a collection very quickly evolved into the idea of creating a museum of Russian icons, because after looking at the collections of famous collectors, he realized that all this is closed from the public, from scientists and, being a fundamental man with very broad views, he identified himself as the creator of a serious educational center where everyone could learn about the beauty and significance of the Russian icon, about the origin of the subjects depicted on it. Now we have a wonderful collection, a great team of professional art historians, and we consider our museum as a charitable educational project," said Nikolai Zadorozhny, Director of the Museum of Russian Icons. 

Sergei Bogatyrev, Deputy Director of the Museum of Russian Icons and Deputy Director of the Andrei Rublev Central Museum of Old Russian Art (CMIAR), spoke to the participants of the discussion about the events that museums hold to popularize icon painting. He also noted the growing interest in Russian icons and drew attention to the need to bring young people closer to this art: "Young people are often not interested in it, so we work in different directions to attract young people. For example, the Andrei Rublev Museum is currently finalizing a project to create a digital route around the exposition — this is content with videos, stories about some interesting historical facts, and so on. This content is integrated into our social network "VKontakte", in this way we want to attract the youth audience as much as possible. We also offer excursions, masterclasses and much more — for example, in our "Iconographer's Workshop" the youngest visitors are taught how icons are created. And, of course, the presence in social networks itself expands the audience". 

Ilya Kushnirsky — Director of the Russian Icon project, aimed at popularizing Russian icons abroad - spoke about the great interest in them in foreign countries.

"The interest is very great. I lived in Latin America for a long time and saw that people perceive the Russian icon with a special spiritual feeling, they accept the painted images with pleasure, they are interested, they see some kind of magic in it. And this interest should be cultivated through expositions and museum activities. We already have proposals to hold an exposition from Argentina, Italy, Mexico — that is, everyone is interested," said Ilya Kushnirsky. 

The theme of the worldwide popularity of the Russian icon was continued by collector, antique dealer, expert on the Russian icon Sergei Khodorkovsky. He, in particular, emphasized that interest in Russian icons is growing in the modern world and the collectors themselves.

"There were, are and will be masterpieces in every century, and all this is very much in demand. And if people have taken the path of collecting, they follow it to the end, because it fascinates and leaves no one indifferent," said Sergei Khodorkovsky.