The 8 September 2023 saw the handing over of the silver and inner wooden casket-shrines of the memorial complex of Alexander Nevsky’s tomb from the State Hermitage to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.
Under the terms of the agreement signed in May 2023, the State Hermitage is handing over the memorial complex of Alexander Nevsky’s tomb to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery of the Holy Trinity for use for a period of 49 years without compensation. The transfer of the monument has been confirmed and approved by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Feedration and the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
Taking consideration of the request made by Metropolitan Varsonofy of Saint Petersburg and Ladoga and a letter from the Ministry of Culture dated 8 September 2023, the State Hermitage arranged the handing over to temporary keeping in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery of the Holy Trinity of museum items belonging to the memorial complex of the tomb of Alexander Nevsky – the silver sarcophagus with a lid and the small inner shrine – in advance of the Day of the Translation of the Relics of the Sainted Pious Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky, which is celebrated on 12 September. It is planned that the silver and inner wooden shrines will be installed in the upper storey of the the Church of the Annunciation.
The handing over is being carried out proceeding from the particular significance that the image of the Sainted Pious Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky has acquired today as the patron saint of Russia’s army and the nation’s diplomacy.
"Several serious issues are raised here. What is more important – the ritual role of an object or its artistic role? Is it possible to keep things in museums that were not made for museums? Discussions on these topics are going on all over the world right now. What we are doing is a model of civilized interaction between a museum and the Church, secular culture and religious culture. It is evident that the memory of the Sainted Pious Prince Alexander Nevsky is in demand today. We believe that reunification with the historical shrine will strengthen the effect of the relics. And since people need that, we have taken the decision to hand over the tomb complex to the Church. It is important to us that the monument is in good condition, that it is accessible to people and fulfils its functions. It is, however, a very fragile thing. The agreement that we signed lays down a whole set of rules that have to be observed. For the most part, they are all already being met. There is daily monitoring of the condition of the monument. That will continue in the future too. Each day the information will be put on my desk. We are simply expanding our display space,” Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, commented.
On the day before, & September, the exhibits were packed up in the Winter Palace. In the presence of the custodians and restorers, the state of preservation of the museum exhibits was checked and a certificate of transfer was signed.
For several months now, the State Hermitage and representatives of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery of the Holy Trinity have been in constant touch over creating optimal conditions for the display of the memorial complex in the Annunciation Church. Going forward, Hermitage staff will continue, as now, to observe on a real-time basis the temperature and humidity levels and other indicators that the museum objects are being kept safely in the church.
