Stone icon of Our Lady of Smolensk "Hodegetria" from the 15th century from the collection of the Sergiev Posad Museum-Reserve: new data

Abstract

This article tells the reader the complicated story of a unique exhibit from the collection of the Sergiev Posad Museum-Reserve. It is about the icon of the Mother of God "Hodegetria" of Smolensk - perhaps the only stone icon of the XV century in the country. Recognised as miraculous in the XVIII century, it became the main sacred thing of the temple in its honour built on the territory of the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. This icon has received several valuable and exquisite decorations over time. These items and their contributors are detailed for the first time in this article. The history of the icon and the case in the Soviet period is also covered for the first time (in particular, the reconstruction of the losses on the icon (the head of the child), the transfer of the case to the Gokhran and its return). Now for the first time in the last 100 years, the icon and the restored case are displayed as a single complex in the museum's historical exposition.