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Roerich’s paintings from Serbia to be handed over to two Russian museums

According to the senior culture official, all necessary procedures for exchanging the valuable exhibits could be completed by this coming summer

© Gavriil Grigorov/TASS

MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. Nicholas Roerich’s paintings, which Russia will receive from Serbia in exchange for Page 166 of the Miroslav Gospel, the oldest Serbian manuscript, as part of bilateral state agreements, will replenish the collection of the Roerich Family Museum Institute in St. Petersburg and the Roerich Estate Museum in Izvara, the Leningrad Region, Russian Deputy Minister of Culture Olga Yarilova told TASS.

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Serbian parliament greenlights swapping Roerich paintings for Miroslav Gospel page

"The paintings are in good condition, no restoration is required. They will be handed over to two museums: the Roerich Family Museum Institute in St. Petersburg and the Roerich Estate Museum in Izvara, the Leningrad Region," she said.

According to Yarilova, all necessary procedures for exchanging the valuable exhibits could be completed by this coming summer. "Serbia has already completed the internal procedure, required for this exchange. We are almost ready as well. The proposal on approving and ratifying the agreement is currently being considered by the Russian government. We expect all internal procedures to be completed during the spring session," she explained.

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Handover of Roerich’s paintings to Russia likely by yearend — Serbian authorities

Miroslav Gospel

The Miroslav Gospel written around 1180 is Serbia’s oldest Cyrillic manuscript kept at the National Museum in Belgrade. However, one of its pages was brought to Russia in the 19th century by Archimandrite Porphyrius (Uspensky) who found the manuscript in the Hilandar Monastery on Mount Athos. It has been kept in Russia’s National Library in St. Petersburg. Given the significance of this document for Serbia, Russia agreed to return the page from the manuscript in exchange for seven early paintings by Roerich, which ended up in Serbia during WWII.

Moscow-Belgrade agreements

Russia and Serbia reached an agreement on exchanging valuable cultural artefacts during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Belgrade in January 2019. An accord on transferring the page of the ancient Cyrillic manuscript to Belgrade was inked during then Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit to Serbia in October 2019. The document also envisages that Serbia will hand over seven of Roerich’s early works to Russia.

On January 24, 2020, the Serbian parliament passed a law on swapping Page 166 of the Miroslav Gospel for seven paintings by Roerich. Under the established procedure, Russia first drafts a law on ratifying the agreement, the government then submits it to parliament, after which it has to be approved by the State Duma (lower house of parliament).

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