"From Avvakum to Agafya. The legacy of the Old Believers"

Mansions of junior and middle princesses of the Palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich

Museum-Reserve "Kolomenskoye" opens a large-scale exhibition "From Avvakum to Agafya. Legacy of the Old Believers. The exposition will be presented at the Palace of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich from March 1 to May 15. The project is dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the birth of Archpriest Avvakum, one of the brightest figures of the 17th century. More than 400 items from the 16th - early 20th centuries. will tell about the history of the Old Believers in Russia, many of which the audience will see for the first time. The exhibition will be accompanied by unique VR content specially filmed in the interiors of the Intercession Cathedral of the Old Believer Church located at the Rogozhsky cemetery.

Exhibition “From Avvakum to Agafya. Heritage of the Old Believers” was prepared on the initiative of the Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church and with the support of Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, who, on the eve of the opening, noted: “I am convinced that the exhibition will become an important spiritual and cultural event, will allow Muscovites and guests of the capital to get to know the past and present of the Old Believers, learn more about the fate of people who have made a huge contribution to the development of Moscow and Russia. <…> The exhibition helps to realize the unity of our common history, the importance of the continuity of generations and the preservation of cultural heritage.”

Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia Cornelius: “Recently there has been an increase in interest (scientific, cultural and religious) in the original, pre-schism, Russian Orthodoxy - the Old Believers. I am glad that the museum community did not stand aside and prepared an exhibition where a part of the ancient Orthodox culture is visually presented, which everyone can visually get in touch with.”

The exhibition project is designed not only to acquaint visitors with the main milestones of the history of the Old Believers, but also - most importantly - with people for whom the preservation of ancient Orthodoxy has become a leading life principle. The idea of a personified display of the history of the Old Believers is defined as the name of the exhibition: “From Avvakum to Agafya”, from the first teacher Archpriest Avvakum to the Siberian hermit Agafya Lykova, who has now gained all-Russian fame, and the specifics of the exposition series. The exposition will show not only icons, handwritten and printed books, church items, documents, but also portraits of the 18th-20th centuries, which will enable the public to see the faces of people from different eras who faithfully preserved the old faith and made a significant contribution to the national history and culture. Two centuries of progressive development - the 18th and 19th - made it possible to manifest many valuable and socially significant features inherent in the traditional way of life. The names of the Morozovs, Soldatenkov, Ryabushinskys, Kuznetsovs, Rakhmanovs are now widely known for their activities in the field of industry and banking, generous charity and patronage, and the scope of collecting.

Among the exhibits, one can single out the earliest known image of Archpriest Avvakum, an icon painted in the late 17th - early 18th centuries. on Kerzhenets, unique autographs of Archpriest Avvakum and Boyar Morozova, Vasily Surikov’s sketches for the famous painting “Boyar Morozova” (1887), authentic documents from the time of the Solovetsky uprising. A significant section of the exhibition will be made up of artifacts from two Old Believer prayer houses, which were located in the vicinity of Kolomenskoye, and are now in the funds of the museum-reserve. The exhibition will feature portraits of Old Believer merchants: Ilya Kovylin, Fyodor Guchkov, Vikula Morozov, Kozma Soldatenkov, Sidor Kuznetsov and others. A whole complex of items related to Agafya Lykova, the only surviving representative of the Old Believer family, will also be presented. found by geologists in 1978 in the Western Sayan Mountains. The harsh life in the remote taiga did not break these people. The Old Believer mentality, covering not only the religious, but also the ethical side of life, allowed them to preserve worship, books, icons, and the old way of life.

Project curator Elena Yukhimenko: “Faith in God, fortitude and purity of soul helped all Old Believers survive in difficult and sometimes very dramatic external conditions. The material presented at the exhibition demonstrates the inexhaustible creative forces of these people, who directed their talents not only to successful agricultural work and entrepreneurship, but also to temple building, charity, book writing, icon painting, and casting of copper icons.”

Project participants: Kolomenskoye Museum-Reserve, Metropolis of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, State Historical Museum, Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts, Russian State Library, State Tretyakov Gallery, State Russian Museum, Moscow Kremlin Museums, Andrey Central Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art Rublev, House of Russian Diaspora. A. I. Solzhenitsyn, the State Museum of the History of Religion, the Samara Regional Art Museum, the Yegorievsk Museum of History and Art, the Serpukhov Museum of History and Art and private collections.