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5 May 2016

Belarusian icons to go on display in Vatican

MINSK, 5 May (BelTA) - An exhibition “Icon Painting in Belarus in the 17th-21st centuries” will be running in a museum in the Vatican on 18 May-25 July, Director of Belarus’ National Art Museum Vladimir Prokoptsov said during an online press conference hosted by BelTA website

The exhibition will feature 33 icons – both Orthodox and Catholic. Primarily these will be the icons from the holdings of the National Art Museum. Three written by contemporary painters will be loaned by the Minsk Charity House. “We are very happy to showcase these unique works, which, in our view, are of interest not only to tourists but also to specialists. We have prepared promo materials in four languages: Belarusian, Russian, Italian, and English. We will give them free to visitors to our exhibitions,” Vladimir Prokoptsov said.

The icons in a museum in the Vatican will be placed in glass display cases. “Because of this, we had to reformat our exhibition twice as some icons were too large to fit into these glass cases. By the way, the museum has a Roman-Greek iconostasis and the Belarusian icons will fit very organically into the overall concept of the exhibition hall. After the exhibition in the Vatican we are planning to show the icons in the National Art Museum along with the icons which were not included in this exhibition,” Vladimir Prokoptsov noted

The opening of the exhibition in the Vatican will feature an Orthodox choir. Metropolitan of Minsk and Mogilev of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus, Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz is expected to attend.

“This is a unique landmark project which we have been preparing for several years,” Vladimir Prokoptsov said. Diplomats, the Culture Ministry, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have provided great assistance with the project. It popularizes not only the National Art Museum but also the country as a whole. It is not that easy to arrange an exhibition in the Vatican museums. It is a great honor for any country,” Vladimir Prokoptsov noted.

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