Icon-Painting
The icon collection was mainly formed in the 1960s- 1970s. The pre-war collection with the icons from the churches of the Novy Jerusalim Monastery was practically lost in 1941. Icons in precious mounting were exceptions. Among them is the remarkable church icon "Savior Enthroned with St. Metropolitan Philip and Patriarch Nikon" (Ill. nj10) painted by the tsar artists to the commission of Patriarch Nikon in 1657. Thanks to the precious mountings survived the small prayer icons "Saviour Enthroned" and "The Virgin Hodigitria" of the 16th century displayed at the permanent exhibition "Icons- painting, icon and ornamental embroidery, the 16th - 19th c. brass casting". The icons, badly damaged by the time, still bare all features of the high style of the flourishing period in Russian icon-painting.
The display presents the best monuments of the Museum collection. They demonstrate the development of icon-painting from the late 16th until the mid-18th century. The works of provincial painters were traditional through the 17th century. The archaic tendencies were especially preserved in the North. It was probably there that "The Resurrection" and "The Baptism" were painted. "The Virgin of Passion" and "Archdeacon Stephen" reflect complicated and controversy tendencies in the art development of the transition period between medieval and new time. "The King of Kings" and "The Holy Face" of the late 17th - early 18th century are extremely interesting monuments of that period. The icons acquired from Noginsk were painted in the mid-18th century. They combine features of oil painting with traditional flat treatment of space and bright local colors in vestments.
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St. Nicholas of Myra Licea.
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Icon and ornamental embroidery
The collection of the 16th - 17th century textiles, including vestments and church utensils was formed in the 1920s - 1930s when the Museum acquired works of art from the closed churches and convents - Mozhaisk, Luzhetsk, Savino Storozhevsky, Valdai Iberia Monasteries. The basic part of the collection comprises the items from the sacristy of the Novy Jerusalim Resurrection including personal belonging of Patriarch Nikon and Tsar donations. In 1941, this part of the collection including articles of precious metals was evacuated to Alma-Ata and is completely preserved. In 1970 - 1980 after serious restoration the monuments of icon and ornamental embroidery could be displayed as a full and equal section of the exhibitions of Old Russian art.
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Embroidered icon. The Virgin of Vladimir.
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The icon-cloth "Christ and Apostles" or "With Love are the Apostles Tied" of 1510 from the Resurrection Cathedral of Volokolamsk is the most remarkable specimen of the collection. The designer most probably was Feodosius, the son of the great icon-painter Dionysius. And it was Princess Anna, the wife of Volotsk Prince Feodor Borisovich, who embroidered the icon-cloth. The Novy Jerusalim Resurrection Monastery preserved the embroidered icon of the Virgin from Vladimir. It very skillfully made "the size" of the famous miraculous image of the 12th century. The icon -embroideries made in the Tsarina work-shops were acquired from the Savino-Storozhevsky Monastery. They demonstrate prevalence of golden and silver threads characteristic of the 17th century. The set of purificators, phelonion and sticharion shoulder-pieces from the Valdai Iberia Monastery is quite interesting. The specimens are very decorative and marked by detailed treatment of the subjects. They were produced by Byelorussian needle-women who came to Valdai in 1650s with the monks of the Orshinky Kutein Monastery. The phelonion and sticharion shoulder-pieces, epitrachelions, epigonations are fine samples of ornamental golden thread embroidery.
Church vestments of precious textiles of Oriental, West-European and Russian origin present a considerable part of the church textiles collection.
Brass casting
The Museum collection of brass casting gives a good idea of the development of this branch from Kievan Rus until the late 19th - early 20th century. The breast icons, crosses, carved icons of the 12th - 17th century are represented by original specimens and subsequent casts from the early moulds. Brass cast icons, folding icons, traveling iconostases with Crucifixion and Crucifixion with Interceding, often decorated with enamel, were most popular in the 19th - early 20th century. The castings from Northern Russia workshop and from Moscow Region old believers centers are more comprehensively represented in the collection. The specimens of ancient casting, presenting a part of the collection, are displayed.
Jewelry art
The collection was formed in the 1920s - 1930s. The basic part is the collection of the sacristy from the Resurrection Monastery (Ill. - Holy water basin, nj11), considerably supplemented with the items from the monastery sacristies and the churches of Moscow Region and items from Nikon Museum and the Valdai Iberia Monastery. Having no opportunity to display this collection, the Museum provides items of precious metals for the loan exhibitions to different museums in our country and abroad.
Manuscripts and old printed books
The library, comprising more than 4.5 items, was practically formed in the post-war time. The manuscripts of the Resurrection Monastery were sent to Moscow and now they constitute the Resurrection collection of the manuscript section of the State History Museum. The basic part of the Novy Jerusalim library was lost in 1941. In the 1950s, the Vladimir Region Museum passed to Istra Russian and West-European manuscripts and printed books of the 16th - 19th century originating in Florishcheva Hermitage, Suzdal Bishop House and Pereslavl Seminary. In 1977, all rare books formed a separate collection, they began collecting all sections of the Moscow Region Local History Museum.
The earliest manuscript in the Museum is the Gospel written in Novgorod in 1458. The book is embellished with four miniatures and illuminations in Balkan style. In 1658 it was decorated by the magnificent cover of the 17th century. Belonging to the Novy Jerusalim sacristy it was not passed to the Synod library in 1907.
Most manuscripts refer to the late 17th - early 20th century. The Obituaries of the Josiph-Volokolamsk (mid 18th century) and Nicholo-Pesnoshsky (early 20th century) Monasteries are of considerable scientific value. The magnificent book, dating back to 1707, is decorated with engraved illuminations. It is a copy of "The Service to Ipatius Gangrsky" composed by the famous poet of the late 17th century Karion Istomin. The library comprehensively presents teaching and polemic books. The selections of sermons of John Crusostom, Basil the Great, Efrem Sirin and lives of saints were common reading for Russian people. The manuscripts, scribed by old-believers in the 18th - 19th century, present a special group of manuscripts. Many literary and music manuscripts originated in Guslitsy (Orekhovo-Zuyevo and Egoryev districts), inhabited by old-believers in the last century. The late 17th century linear notations are the most valuable part of the collection.
In the 17th century, the Novy Jerusalim library contained editions of all Slavonic publishing houses of that time. The reconstruction of this part of the library is one of the main task of collecting old printed books.
The Museum collection comprehensively reflects the main periods of Russian book printing until the early 18th century and illustrates the development of book engraving in the course of the 17th century. Besides the books printed in the Moscow, the collection comprises the books of Verkhnaya printing house, Ukrainian, Byelorussian printing houses and the books from the Kutein and Valdai Iberia Monasteries. The notes in the books mention a lot of geographic names, historic facts and names. Some records help to determine the dates of the construction of the monastery buildings and their functions.
In 1700, the books were still printed in Cyrillic, but the Moscow printing house produced more scientific and instructive books. The Museum collection comprises well-known "Arithmetic" of Leontius Magnitsky (1703), "Three Language Lexicon" of Feodor Polikarpov (1704). Lectures, classes and excursions are organized in the library. The books are displayed in the history exhibition and make it more complete.
