Grace of Vetka icons at the National Art Museum of Belarus.

From May 24 to June 23, an exhibition of Vetkovsky icons of the 18th – 19th centuries will be held at the National Art Museum of Belarus. Embroidered with beads, the salaries of icons amaze with the high technical performance. They do not distract attention from divine images, but fulfill a complementary role. The manufacture of each icon could take several hundred hours of painstaking work. But the result astonished believers with its splendor. Such an ornament served as a way to add heavenly radiance to the saints painted on the icons, so that everyone who looks at them will feel divine grace.

The exposition of the exhibition was a collection of closed funds of the Vetkov Museum named after F.G. Shklyarova, as well as works by private collectors. More than 50 bead icons and pavilions (prayer beads of the Old Believers) from the most influential cultural and religious center of Russia (late XVII - mid XVIII century) help to understand what spiritual depth the ancient traditions of the Old Believers kept! Since they were reflected in the traditional technique of Orthodox icon painting until the end of the 19th century. Until today, the Vetka icons continue to inspire the incredible skill of the monastery and suburban masters and rural self-taught. And they are the pride of the Belarusian cultural heritage.

Eve Istr