Икона-"гнездо" - История комплексных святынь: от храмовых икон до советских "киоток"

Abstract

The article examines the peculiarities of the creation and existence of icons in the Middle Ages and Modern Times. The author shows that revered prayer images, both in the church and at home, most often functioned as part of integrated objects that consisted of metal vestments, fabrics, votive gifts, cases and other elements. Icons were built as symbiotic and later as hybrid objects, all parts of which were perceived as an "expanded body" of the shrine. The changes came at the beginning of the 20th century, when, as a result of scientific restoration, many ancient icons were disintegrated, cleared and presented at exhibitions. Soon after, the confiscation of church valuables, organized by the Bolsheviks, led to the destruction of almost all integrated icons in the country. The museumification of the cleared icons, and their replication in print media has reconfigured the optics of both specialists and the mass audience. Icons began to be understood, perceived and described as "pure images", works of pictorial art. This optics became common to Soviet citizens who visited the museum and saw publications on Russian iconography, as well as to foreigners who are familiar with the phenomenon primarily through albums and books. However, the author of the article shows that this "museum" logic had clear social boundaries. The perception of icons has not changed among residents of the Soviet province. The craftsmen who worked in the villages made Soviet icons as integrated objects. They called the prayer image a picture and considered it only one of the elements of the icon. Their creations turned out to be the direct heirs of integrated icons of the Middle Ages and Modern Times. Both the craftsmen and the owners of Soviet icons shared the same optics and the same logic of interaction with prayer images that have was typical for Christian culture for centuries.