Culture

Russian icons discovered in Egypt

Researchers attribute the unique climate of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula as a leading factor in the preservation of a treasure trove of Russian icons and liturgical objects recently found in St Catherine’s Monastery. The discovery of around 100 Russian icons and decorative objects dating from the 16th to 19th century at the Unesco World Heritage Site was reported in Russia last month. Almost all of the works were unknown to scholars, according to Natalia Komashko, a research project manager at Moscow’s Andrei Rublev Museum of Early Russian Art and Culture.

St Catherine’s Monastery is famous for its library, which houses one of the world’s largest collections of ancient manuscripts and codices, as well as for its sizable collection of sixth-century icons that survived the wave of Byzantine iconoclasm that destroyed most at that time.

Collection of icons of Sekulic opened for public

One of the museums within the Museums of the City of Belgrade, the Sekulic collection of icons, which is located in Uzun Mirkov 5, for the first time is opened for public. The collection of icons Sekulic can be seen every Tuesday and Saturday from 10 to 16, the ticket price is 100 dinars, and for special categories is only 50 dinars.

In the house of Pave and Milan Sekulic, which these passionate collectors, along with the collection of icons, paintings and works of applied art, gave as a gift to the city of Belgrade in 1970 in authentic interior there is the biggest collection of icons in Serbia.

150 years of Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad

Our oldest professional theatre, the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad, (then within Austria - and from 1867 Austro-Hungary) was founded on yesterday's date one and a half century ago and with the mission to awake national consciousness and to strengthen cultural identity. In the turbulent history many things happened and it survived hard days and glorious moments. Visit of the theatre group of Jovan Knezevic in 1860 encouraged Jovan Knezevic in 1860 to to write many texts in Novi Sad's "Serbian diary" on need to found the Serbian National Theatre.

Two Da Vinci's paintings depicting Virgin Mary to be reunited

Two museums in London and Paris informed that they organize an exhibition  that will showcase together side by side two versions of the Leonardo Da Vinci's work "Virgin Of The Rocks" which these two museums own. "The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and John the Baptist", which hangs at the London's National Gallery, dates from between 1483 and 1486, while  its counterpart at the Louvre, known as "The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" was created 25 years earlier.

Exhibition dedicated to Byzantium

With a reduced budget but no cuts in terms of the quality of its scientific and artistic program, the European Cultural Center of Delphi is preparing to open its doors once again to host its annual international symposium. This year, the symposium will focus on the before and after of the Byzantium period.

The core of the symposium’s parallel events is the exhibition “Worship and Shrines after the Fall of Constantinople from the Benaki Museum Collections,” which will be inaugurated by Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios on June 28.

Reform of liturgical language in Russia

The Russian Orthodox Church is preparing for a reform of its liturgical language, and a draft document on the role of Church Slavonic in modern church life has been circulated among dioceses and is available for discussion on the internet.

"Church Slavonic is a very important means to keep unity and traditions inside the Church. But on the other hand, understanding of liturgical texts written in Church Slavonic may be simplified," a senior Church official, Archimandrite Kirill, said on Monday.