The Dmytro Yavornytsky National History Museum in Dnipropetrovsk has opened an exhibition of Orthodox icons dedicated to the 1,000th anniversary of the death of saint princes Borys and Hlib. The “Faces of the Saints” exhibition features pieces of art from Kyivan Rus’ as well as holy artifacts of past centuries, from the 16th through the 19th, some of the items being unique. The exhibition tells of Borys and Hlib – sons of the great Prince Volodymyr, who became victims of internecine struggle for power. The young princes, like true Christians, refused to participate in a fratricidal war, and were canonized by the Orthodox Church after their death.
The bulk of the display in one of the museum halls is composed from the private collection of MP Borys Filatov. The benefactor has opened unique images of holy princes Borys and Hlib for residents and visitors of Dnipropetrovsk to see. At the opening ceremony, Borys Filatov has donated to the Historical Museum 17 ancient bronze icons that date back to different periods from the late 11th to the early 20th centuries. “Historically, the iconography of the holy martyrs Borys and Hlib does not occur very often to the researcher. I have spent many years and a lot of effort in order to find these beautiful works of art,” said Filatov. Three of those seventeen icons are images of the Virgin (the Burning Bush, Our Lady of Smolensk, and the Joy of All Who Sorrow). Four icons are dedicated to Orthodox holidays (Resurrection, Pentecost, the Ascension Day, and the Bright Week). The rest is images of saints and groups of saints – St. George and the Prophet Elijah (Fiery Ascension of Elijah the Prophet), Saint Pishoy, and others. For many centuries such icons had been personal relics of our ancestors. Additionally, the exhibition visitors will be able to see rare images of Old Russian frescoes from Polotsk. Also, the exhibition features a photograph of the stone icon with the Prince Hlib’s image from Tmutarakan. Other items that stand out are the slate panels of St. Michael’s Monastery in Kyiv and two cross-reliquaries. The more ancient of the two crosses depicts the Virgin and St. Borys, the later one – Borys and Hlib. There are also two bronze icons with the images of Borys and Hlib from the 14th-16th centuries, and an icon-medallion of Prince Borys from the 12th century. A set of icons of perforated casting and enamel date back to the 14th-15th and the 18th-19th centuries. The gem of the exhibition is a two-sided stone icon, which depicts the Lord Almighty on one side, and image of Borys and Hlib on the other.
Borys Filatov has thanked the staff of the Dnipropetrovsk Historical Museum for their great contribution to the popularization of the history of Ukraine. He has also invited Ireney, Metropolitan of Dnipropetrovsk and Pavlohrad to the opening ceremony, who blessed the cultural undertaking. “It’s nice to see such a unique icon collection of the saints assembled. Dnipropetrovsk is lucky to have a person who has set it up. Everyone has holy icons of their saints. Here you see many of them shedding light on the lives of these saints. Perhaps there’s more to it, but from what is shown here, it is already crystal clear that this is extremely important,” Metropolitan Ireney said.
According to Viktor Veklenko, curator of the exhibition and a famous collector from Dnipropetrovsk, Borys Filatov has recently donated to the museum fund of the only Museum of the Cross in Ukraine. The politician has transferred the 19th-century altar cross from Kerch and a bone icon of the 6th-8th centuries from Chersonesus, which has been found in the excavation dump. “It was a very worthy gift. This is a classic of Christianity and Orthodoxy, which was in constant everyday use of our ancestors,” said Veklenko, who is also the founder of the Museum of the Cross. He has also said that Borys Filatov, his longtime friend since the historical faculty of DNU, has recently had an idea to write a monograph about Borys and Hlib. “Borys has long been deeply fond of the history of Kyivan Rus’. In 2013 he financed my trip to Moscow, to the Andrei Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art. We agreed upon cooperation with that museum, but after the events of Maidan and the occupation of Crimea the Russians had lost their interest,” Veklenko continues. Meanwhile, he considers that such a book would be very interesting read for Ukrainian audience, as there are many versions on the origins and the life of Borys and Hlib, as well as on the circumstances of their deaths. Some images of the famous princes historians assume to have preserved on the frescoes at St. Sophia. The interest in them is also defined by the 1,000th anniversary of their tragic death. Therefore, the idea of such a book about Borys and Hlib remains topical and might be brought to life in the near future.
