MOSCOW, November 15, (ITAR-TASS) - An Orthodox Russia multimedia exhibition that opened at the Manezh central exhibition hall in Moscow on November 4 will stay open until November 26 because of a huge influx of visitors. This year it is devoted to the 400th anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty. The exhibition is open from 10:00 until midnight daily. The entrance is free.
“The number of visitors has exceeded 100,000 people. The exhibition had to be extended twice at the visitors’ request,” the exposition’s organizers told Itar-Tass on Friday.
The interactive multimedia exposition covers an area of 700 square meters.
“I think that it takes at least four hours to see all the stands,” Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), the executive secretary of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, said.
The idea behind the exhibition is to show the entire history of the Romanov dynasty in its true colors but with an emphasis on the main achievements made under the rule of each monarch.
“Our contemporaries should know the truth about their country’s past because this truth was either distorted or hidden from them for so many years,” Patriarch Kirill said at the exhibition’s opening on November 4.
“Ideological stereotypes and cliche were used to describe the rule of the Romanov dynasty with an aim to alienate people from their history and form an absolutely wrong attitude to the country’s past as if it had never been or even if it had, everything in that past was bad except for separate uprisings designed to weaken the state power,” the patriarch said.
“By the grace of God today we live at a time when people have access to information and can draw their own conclusions about historical events,” Patriarch Kirill said.
A 13th century icon Our Lady of St. Theodore (Fyodorovskaya) is in the center of the exposition. The icon was brought to Moscow from the Epiphany monastery in Kostroma. It was the patron icon of the Romanov family. It was used to bless the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty - Mikhail Fyodorovich when he was ascending to the throne. In memory of that icon, all Russian czarinas from European royal dynasties received the second name of “Fyodorovna”.
It was the first time that the icon was brought from Kostroma to Moscow. After that, the icon will be taken to St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad.
More than a thousand people, including historians, film-makers and experts on computer graphics, had taken part in preparing the Orthodox Russia exposition. The historical period under review starts from the Times of Trouble (1612). It continues with the rule of every Russian monarch. The last hall tells about a century which Russia lived without a czarist dynasty. Each exhibition stand highlights the biggest achievements made in every historical period. A separate stand is devoted to 1913 considered to be the peak year in the development of pre-revolutionary Russia: Russia became the world leader in terms of production rate and second by level of industrial development. A considerable part of the exposition is devoted to opposition. Each historical period is characterized by remarks of poet Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Karamzin, an 18th-century Russian historian, journalist and literary worker; as well as scientists, philosophers, political figures and the monarchs themselves.
The exhibition is equally interesting to children and adults. There, one can learn some interesting facts. For example, the first roses appeared in Russia under the first tsar of the Romanov dynasty - Mikhail Fyodorovich. He liked them so much that he issued a decree on cultivation of roses in Russia. The first pine strawberry appeared in Russia under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich who ordered its cultivation in monasteries.
Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), the executive secretary of the Patriarchal Council for Culture, said that an attempt to unveil its own history to people had aroused colossal interest.
“Thirteen thousand people visit the exhibition every day,” he said.
Its organizers are the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Culture Ministry and the government of Moscow.