Emming, November 6, 2019
Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev (1925-2012). Annunciation, 1992. Photo: psk-mp.ru A new exhibition, “Open Book: Religious Themes in Contemporary Russian Art,” organized by the Patriarchal Cultural Council and the Russian Ministry of Culture, opened in Munich, Germany on October 31.
The Cultural Council is headed by His Eminence Metropolitan Tikhon (Shevkunov) of Pskov and Porkhov. The exhibition is being presented in countries throughout Europe as part of the “Russian Season” international festival with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, reports the press service of the Cultural Council.
The “Open Book” series was first displayed at the Archaeological Museum in Aquileia, Italy and now at the Benedictine Monastery of St. Ottilien in Emming, Germany.
The Benedictine Monastery was captured and devastated by the Gestapo in the 1940s. After the war, the returning monks cared for former prisoners of concentration camps in the settlement created there. There is a Russian mass grave from World War II near the monastery.
The exhibition features works that reflect the political and social upheavals of the 20th century and demonstrate the gradual return of Russian society to Christian values. The exhibition features works by artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, such as Dmitry Plavinsky, Mikhail Shvartsman, Helium Korzhev, Vladislav Zubarev, Igor Obrosov, German Egoshin, Vladimir Grinberg, Yuri Matushevsky, Alexander Sitnikov, Olga Bulgakova and a number of graduates of art universities in Moscow. The exposition includes paintings, graphics, sculpture and mosaics.
Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, the Abbot of St. Ottilien, Wolfgang Exler, drew special attention to the great importance of Russian culture for European society.
Hieromonk Paul (Shcherbachev), the Deputy Chairman of the Patriarchal Cultural Council, spoke about the role of traditional Christian values in the development of modern European civilization and the importance of cooperation between Western and Eastern Christians in the field of culture.
