Rare 18th-century icon of Venerable Kirill of Belozersk has been fully restored at the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum. The image was concealed under a darkened, almost blackened layer of time-worn oil, as reported by the museum's press service.

"For a long time, this rare 18th-century icon was listed in the records as 'Unknown Saint,' and only after the restoration, the image of the founder of the largest Orthodox monastery not only in Russia but also in Europe, Venerable Cyril of Belozersk, was revealed!" quoted the words of Mikhail Sharomazov, the Director-General of Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve, as mentioned by the museum's press service.

Ivan Nikolaevich Fedyshyn, a first-category artist-restorer, who undertook the restoration of this icon, stated, "The restoration of the icon presented some challenges. Some areas showed flakes and losses of the paint layer down to the ground. The restoration council decided to apply restoration levkas to the loss areas and then tone them to match the original paintwork." It took Ivan Fedyshyn a year to complete the restoration of the icon.

Additionally, the museum has restored the silver oklad (decorative metal cover) of the icon. Moreover, the crown with three large stones from the icon has also been preserved. Currently, the crown and oklad are safely kept in the museum's collection of precious metals, while the icon with the revealed image of Venerable Cyril of Belozersk is put on public display.

According to the museum director, the collection of ancient Russian paintings comprises more than 87,000 items of church and folk applied art, written and archaeological sources. The foundation of the museum's holdings is the collection of icons, which accounts for 5% of the total number of exhibits. These icons date from the 15th to the early 20th century and originate from Kirillo-Belozersky, Ferapontov, Goritsky monasteries, Nilova Sora Desert, and parish churches in the towns of Kirillov, Belozersk, Kirillovsk, Belozersk, and Vashkinsky districts of the Vologda region. Among them, one can find both signed icons and those that were not attributed, among which, until recently, was the icon known as the 'Unknown Saint.'

Photo: Kirillo-Belozersky Museum