This icon is originally early Byzantine and probably came into being for liturgical reasons. The Mother of God sits on a throne with Christ on her lap, one hand on his shoulder and the other at his feet. Christ is depicted with his right hand in blessing and in his left hand he holds a scroll. Above are two angels in a medallion.
Size: 27 x 46 cm. ●
A triptych of the Deesis Group of Procopius Chirin and Nicephorus Savin. The left panel depicts from right to left the Virgin Mary, Saint Michael the Archangel and the Apostle Peter. The middle panel depicts the Lord Sabaoth with the child Emannuel, also known as the Lord of Hosts. The right panel depicts from left to right John the Baptist, the Angel Gabriel and Saint Paul.
Size of each panel: 26 x 28 cm (10.2 x 11.0 inches) ●
This icon is supposed to have been painted by Saint Luke. It was probably created in the early 11th century. The Emperor Alexius I Commenus presented it as a gift in 1082 to the Kykkos monastery on Cyprus. The Christ Child sits on his mother’s right arm, his legs dangling. She holds her Son’s left arm with her left hand. The Christ Child holds an opened scroll in his left hand.
Size: 32 x 22 cm (12.6 x 8.6 inches) ●
Christ is in the centre in half-figure, his right hand extending a blessing and his left hand holding an open bible with the text: John 8:12, John 11:25-26 and John 12:36. “I am the light of the world”, “he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die”, “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.”
Size 20 x 25 cm (7.9 x 9.8 inches) ●
This icon, painted in Constantinople for the ruler Isyaslav of Kiev, arrived in Kiev in 1132. From there it was taken away by his son Bogolyubski to his residence in Vladimir, from which the icon Vladimirskaya takes its name. In 1315 the Eleousa icon finally arrived in Moscow, where it consoled and heartened soldiers during several wars, and became known as the The Mother of Russian Soil.
Size 28 x 35 cm (11.0 x 13.8 inches) ●
Saint Catherine is depicted in royal robes, with books and measuring instruments. The wheel is a symbol of the torment before her beheading. The cross and palm branch are references to her martyrdom. Saint Catherine’s monastery in the Sinai is named after her and according to the tradition her corpse was brought to this monastery from Alexandria.
Size 35 x 27 cm (13.8 x 10.6 inches) ●
Christ hangs on the Cross, surrounded by six angels. In the foreground are four weeping women, with the Virgin amongst them. To the right are John and the Roman centurion Longinus. In the cave one can see the skull of Adam. The kneeling figures in the foreground are probably the donors and/or the patrons of the icon.
Size: 42 x 30 cm (16.5 x 11.8 inches) ●
This icon belongs to one of the very earliest pictures of the Virgin Mary. It is taken from the Book of Isaiah 7:7-14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Saint Nicholas and Mary Egyptica are depicted either side of the icon. After the Reformation in Russia in 989, this icon became the most important one in Novgorod.
Size: 28 x 23 cm (11.0 x 9.0 inches)