Russian Museum At Odds With Orthodox Church Over Loan of 14th Century Icon

Today's Moscow Times reports that officials at St. Petersburg's Russian Museum are distressed at the decision made by the Russian Republic's Culture Ministry last week to lend a fragile 14th century icon of the Virgin Mary in the Museum's collection to a newly-constructed church in an upscale gated community. The Alexander Nevsky Church has no relationship with the icon, but the Russian Orthodox Church generally believes that icons should serve their original purposes of being available to worshippers. This dispute over the icon, originally from a church in the town of Toropets, is part of a larger dispute between preservation experts and the Russian Orthodox Church over the use of culturally and religiously valuable objects. Visualrian has photos of the delivery of the icon to the church.