Monastic and temple sacristies during the prerevolutionary period

Abstract

Throughout many centuries, the Russian Orthodox Church has been creating and preserving inestimable historical and cultural heritage, including the works of the ancient Russian art, ceremonial ware, and other artifacts. The second half of the XIX century marks the surge in preservation of monuments, and the Church takes active part in such activity. For the purpose of preservation of ecclesiastical antiquity were established the church museums. In the pre-revolutionary period, the museums functioned on the premises of theological academies and seminaries, dioceses, temples and monasteries, and other structural divisions of the Russian Orthodox Church. The group of church museums of that time is poorly studied. The subject of this research is the sacristy collections of temples and monasteries. On the example of sacristies under the major temples and monasteries of Novgorod, Pskov, Yaroslavl and Rostov, the article provides a retrospective overview of the activity of the large museums of antiquities. Based on the survived description of sacristies, the author analyzes the content of their collections. The content of such compilations was affected by the cultural and commercial ties of the cities. For example, the Novgorod sacristies preserve the items associated to the spread of Orthodoxy in Rus’, while the Yaroslavl museums of antiquities feature the monuments of later period. Based on the activity of the aforementioned collections, the conclusion is made that they carried out the functions of discovery, preservation, study, and translation of cultural heritage. Therefore, the prerevolutionary monastic and temple museums of antiquities performed the role of church museums. Further development of the group of church museums on the premises of temples and monasteries was hindered by the historical transformations of the XX century.