The new exhibition showcases 30+ rare icons depicting significant feast days on the Russian Orthodox calendar commemorating the annual cycle of holy days, the veneration of saints and the Church’s twelve major feast days. The show also underscores icons role as tangible markers or symbols of noteworthy events.

The goal of the exhibition is to increase visitors’ understanding of the Russian Orthodox lifestyle, by exploring how and why the church celebrates events in the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary, and how this reasoning is reflected in iconography. It hopes to show that these feasts are an integral and on-going part of Russian life, fully integrating the church into their daily life and routine. In this way, the exhibition will allow visitors to see icons not only as ancient objects and artifacts but part of the fabric of the living church and their function in the daily life of Russian Orthodox - and hopefully, in the future visitors will explore the museum by seeing icons in a different, “living” context.

By exploring icons as markers of significant events and feasts throughout the year, this exhibition will foster a greater understanding of Russian life by viewing it through the lens of the church. Additionally, this exhibition hopes to impart a new appreciation of icons by seeing them in the light of an ancient, on-going church cycle in place for centuries and still valid and true today.

http://museumofrussianicons.org/en/special-exhibits/upcoming/feasts/