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St. Alexander Nevsky: The Holy Patron of St.
Petersburg On 28 August, 2003, the St. Petersburg Tercentenary Program presented in Novgorod an exhibition of 97 works of art dedicated to St. Alexander Nevsky from the State Hermitage Museum. One of the results of veneration accorded to Alexander Nevsky in Russia was the creation in 1724 of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky whose motto was "FOR WORKS AND FATHERLAND". The Order’s Star and Cross, showed in the exhibition, date from the middle and second half of the 19th century. The St. Alexander Nevsky dinner set designed by G.I. Kozlov and fabricated at Gardner’s porcelain works near Moscow, which was intended for official dinners of the Order’s Knights, is counted among the remarkable creations of the 18th century art. The ecclesiastical garments bearing the Order’s regalia, including phelonion, epitrachelion and epigonation of violet velvet with golden embroidery, date from the middle of the 19th century. Many of the icons created in St. Petersburg and other Russian cities in the 18th-19th centuries portrayed St. Alexander Nevsky against a monastery, attending or attended by other Saints. Especially remarkable are icons created for the Imperial Family, including St. Alexander Nevsky and Mary Magdalene attending the Theotokos of Bogolyubovo, created in 1882 in Moscow, which shows the excellent craftsmanship of Russian jewelers. The Easter egg with an image of St. Alexander Nevsky was made at the Imperial Porcelain Works in 1889. Another remarkable item is the popular print showing the Neva Battle of 1240, created by an anonymous artist in the middle of the 19th century. Engravings, lithographs, watercolors, etchings and aquatints with views
of St. Petersburg dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries sound
like a solemn praise of the great city, its founder and its holy patron. |
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Copyright © 2006 State
Hermitage Museum |
