The Holy Doors of the Russian people

 

It was a true event in history, that of the summer of 2010. Against all the expectations of art critics, historians and restorers sacred objects of great value came to light: the two icons of the entrance gates of the Kremlin in Moscow, which date back five centuries. Over the last seventy years they were all convinced that they had been destroyed on the orders of the Soviet authorities, and it couldn’t be otherwise: indeed, they were fixed above the main entrance of the Kremlin, the State residence of the Soviet leaders, who had proclaimed atheism to be the official ideology of the USSR. Whereas things had gone differently...
Over the centuries, icons had stood over the entrance doors of the two towers of the Kremlin:, the icon of the Savior of Smolensk on the Spasskaya Tower, that of St Nicholas the Healer on Nikolskaya. One was not allowed to pass on horseback through the main tower, the Spasskaya, and going through one had to doff one’s hat. The Kremlin had a sacred meaning to our ancestors, it was the spiritual center of our State, the heart of the Russian Empire. Among its builders were the Italian architects Aristotile Fioravanti and Pietro Antonio Solari, it was regarded by our forefathers as a great monastery, which is why the Spasskaya door was called in Rus’ the Holy Door.
My generation was brought up in years when there were white rectangles, instead of the icons, above the portals of the towers of the Kremlin. And the vast majority of my countrymen did not doubt that it had been so all along. The Kremlin had become exclusively the center of State power. Within it several monasteries and churches had been destroyed, while other religious buildings were turned into museums. Few people, mostly art historians and critics, knew of the icons that had once stood on the towers and could not even imagine that they could have survived during the years of anti-religious struggle by the Soviet power. So for almost twenty years after the fall of the USSR no serious attempts were made to restore the original appearance of the towers of the Kremlin.
Some years ago the “Saint Andrew the First Called” Foundation decided to check, if by chance they had not been destroyed, whether the icons were preserved under the plaster. Most of the specialists mocked us, UNESCO experts warned us that if we had tried to put up new icons to replace the lost ones, they might exclude the Kremlin from the list of world heritage sites. The risk was high. On our side we had only the oral tradition, preserved by the descendants of Russian immigrants living in Europe, the US and other countries. A dear friend of ours, Bishop Mikhail of Geneva and Western Europe of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, who was born and raised in Paris, descendant of a Don Cossack, told us that among Russians abroad there was reference to the images that before the Revolution stood above the doors of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers, venerated by the people as sacred and miraculous. This information stirred great perplexity and curiosity in us: what could be in those niches, behind the white plaster? The brick wall of the Kremlin or the remains of the icons?
So we tried to get permission to analyze the niches, to check for the presence or absence of the old icons. It was granted all of three years later, for the Kremlin is the residence of the President of the Russian Federation. In May 2007 I sent a letter to President Vladimir Putin, and also to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Alexy II, who passionately supported our initiative. The text made clear that the project would be funded by the “Saint Andrew the First Called” Foundation and not from public money. Our logic was simple: if under the plaster we found traces of historical icons, we would have restored them, otherwise we would recreate the lost images. But even with support at the highest level, it took a long time to convince art historians and architects of the need for such a survey, because there was not one single document endorsing the idea of the survival of the icons.
Within the Foundation we created a working group that presented a project for the restoration of the icons. It formed a support committee consisting of the heads of institutions responsible for the protection of cultural heritage, of the police (without whose permission it is not possible to conduct work in a sensitive site) and of other interested people. The working group comprised the main art critics and historians, restorers and architects.
We had created too much interest and had not intended to spark any uproar until we were convinced of the accuracy of our hypothesis. In early 2010 we decided to proceed with the first analysis of the niches.
The working group asked for tenders from five restoration firms, designated by the Russian body for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage and the Museums of the Kremlin, and chose one. A special inter-departmental committee watched over the restoration work.
In order not to expose them to unnecessary curiosity, we instructed the restorers to work on the niches of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya Towers in harness with the usual work of refurbishing the Kremlin for the festivities of 9 May, the day when we celebrate the Second World War victory. Clearly, we were all very worried.
What joy when they reported that the first analysis showed the presence of a layer of paint under the plaster! The research results were presented at a press conference and all the television news programs gave out the news as historic, even momentous...
Let us consider for a moment, however, the measurements of the icons: they are about the height of an average person and are over one meter wide. The initial surveys had been conducted on a small area of only ten square centimeters. And after the conclusion of the analysis the samples were carefully hidden, so that nobody might suspect that work had been done. What the experts had found did not guarantee the total survival of the frescoes. In addition, after the press conference, I received a letter from a priest who wanted to convince me that our conclusions were wrong and that the icons had not survived. I realized that I could be sure of the survival of the icons only after having seen the frescoes with my own eyes. So we were eager to proceed with the removal of the protective layer.

The first analyses showed that the preservation of the icons had been carried out by expert restorers, using the utmost caution. Together with the commander of the Kremlin, Sergei Khlebnikov, I was fortunate enough to climb the scaffolding and witness the commencement of work for the uncovering of the first niche. And only after a significant portion of the fresco had become visible to our eyes, did I go down to the street and inform the journalists that the icon of the Savior had survived. Within days the image of Nicholas the Healer on the Nicholas tower was also completely freed.
It took three months for the restoration of the icon on the portal of the Spasskaya Tower; a little longer for the restoration of the older icon of St Nicholas over the other gateway. Furthermore the icon of Nicholas the Healer had been damaged in the days of the 1917 Revolution: sailors and soldiers had fired at it with rifles and even artillery. All this has required great care in the restoration, but, fortunately, our specialists are excellent. One of them seemed to have come straight out of the 19th century: he didn’t know how to use a cell phone and kept away from today’s communication technologies. A deeply religious man, with a surprisingly acute gaze and full of goodness. He devoted himself to the restoration with great caution and awe.
At the end of August 2010, the inter-departmental committee announced the successful completion of the work on the image of the Savior of Smolensk. Soon after came the blessing of the icons by the Patriarch Kirill, in the presence of the President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, with wide coverage on the most important TV channels in Russia and Europe.
I’m sure that for all those who gathered in Red Square on 28 August, the day of the Dormition of the Mother of God, the blessing of the icon of the Savior was an unforgettable moment, one of the brightest and most moving. Despite the bad weather, one felt the wonderful unity of all those present, praying and giving thanks for the miraculous and memorable event.
On 4 November, the Day of the People’s Unity, the icon of St Nicholas the Healer over the gateway of the Nikolskaya Tower was blessed in front of thousands of people, who had grown up in the Soviet Union or were descendants of immigrants living in Europe. Millions of Russians watched on live television. The Christian tradition, backbone of the development of our multicultural and multi-denominational society, soul of our history, great and tragic, united us all, rekindling confidence in a brighter future also for the Russian State.