An open appeal from art workers and scientists to the Patriarch regarding the transfer of museum valuables

On March 3, an open letter from art and science workers to Patriarch Kirill was published in connection with the upcoming bill “On the transfer of state or municipal property to religious organizations for religious purposes.”

According to the bill, it is planned to transfer historical and cultural monuments to the Church, the number of which “is small and, compared to the general background, amounts to a fraction of a percent, but their importance cannot be overestimated.” In most cases, “these monuments are fragile organisms, and they require constant care, which can only be carried out in museum storage mode."

Scientists remind that the practice of keeping icons outside the walls of the temple, as well as creating lists of revered images, including miraculous ones, does not contradict church tradition.

Contrary to popular belief, these monuments ended up in museums not only as a result of the destruction of churches in Soviet times: “Most of the icons currently in museums have long since crossed the “threshold of dilapidation” at which it was customary to remove them from liturgical use and replace them Old icons were either destroyed or stored in special “junk” storerooms at churches and monasteries. It was from such old icons that private collections of icon paintings and collections of church art were formed in diocesan ancient repositories and state museums. became the basis of modern museum collections."

“Depriving ancient monuments of their museum status will mean a refusal to recognize church and, more broadly, religious art as an integral part of the great culture of Russia and will ultimately lead to the division of the people solely on confessional principles. This will give rise in the souls of people, instead of love, harmony and peace, to anxiety and irritation and mutual hostility," the letter says.

Its authors hope that Patriarch Kirill “with his authority will be able to stop the hasty and ill-considered actions of the authorities, which could lead to the irretrievable loss of our national heritage - now under the plausible pretext of “restoring justice.”

Scientists ask the Patriarch to appeal to D. Medvedev with a request to “suspend the already launched process of preparing a law on the transfer of property for religious purposes. Its current version, developed mainly by the Ministry of Economic Development, contains provisions that directly contradict a number of norms of the current legislation and threaten the preservation of the foundations of national culture ".

The authors of the letter are confident that “scientists, restorers and museum workers must certainly take part in the development of the law, along with representatives of the Church, and this law must be drawn up in such a way as not to threaten either the safety of monuments of church art and architecture, or the integrity of existing museum collections.”

Among those who signed the letter are the General Director of the State Memorial and Natural Reserve "Museum-Estate of L.N. Tolstoy "Yasnaya Polyana" V.I. Tolstoy, the General Director of the State Tretyakov Gallery I.V. Lebedeva, the General Director of the Moscow Kremlin Museums E.Yu. Gagarina, Head of the Department of Archeology, Faculty of History, Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.L. Yanin, Head of the History Section of the Department of Historical and Philological Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences V.A. Tishkov Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Head of the Department of Archeology of the Faculty of History of St. Petersburg State University, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences E.N. Nosov, Head of the Center for Theoretical and Comparative Source Studies of the Institute of General History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences S.M. Kashtanov, Rector of the Russian State Humanitarian University, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences E.I. Pivovar, Chief Researcher of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences B.N. Florya, Deputy General Director of the Moscow Kremlin Museums, Professor, Doctor of Art History A.L. Batalov, Head of the Department of Ancient Russian Art of the State Scientific -Research Institute of Art History, Doctor of Art History L.I. Lifshits, Leading Researcher of the Department of Ancient Russian and Modern Church Art of the Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Arts of the Russian Academy of Arts, Doctor of Art History I.L. Buseva-Davydova, etc.

We would like to remind you that earlier museum employees already issued an open letter regarding the upcoming transfer of museum valuables to the Church.

Sources

• Open letter from workers of art and science to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia // NG-Religions. 2010. March 3.