If you visit the Hermitage every day for eight hours and stop at each exhibit for at least one minute, it will take 15 years to see all the sights of the world famous museum. In addition, there is one exhibit in the Hermitage that deserves closer attention. This is the cancer of the great Russian commander Alexander Nevsky.
THE SUN OF THE RUSSIAN EARTH WAS SET
Grand Duke Alexander Yaroslavich died on the way from the Horde on November 14, 1263 in Gorodets and was buried in the Nativity Cathedral in Vladimir. As the chronicles say, Metropolitan Kirill turned to the people after his death with the words: "My dear child, understand that the sun of the Russian land is coming out," and everyone exclaimed with tears: "We are already perishing." The death of the prince was sincerely mourned by everyone - from boyars to common people. It is known about the miracle that happened during his burial: when, during the funeral service, Metropolitan Kirill approached the coffin to put a permit letter in Alexander's hand, the hand of the deceased itself stretched out, as if alive, and accepted the letter. And this was not the only miracle! On the night of September 8, 1380, on the eve of the Battle of Kulikovo, the sexton of the cathedral saw that the prince "rose from the grave and raised his hand."This was regarded as a sign of blessing to his grandson Dmitry for the battle with the Mongol-Tatars. In 1381, the priests found and examined the relics of the prince, which turned out to be incorrupt. In 1549, at the church cathedral, Alexander Nevsky was recognized as an all-Russian saint; the day of his church commemoration was November 23. The relics of the prince all this time were in Vladimir. After a devastating fire in 1491 in the Nativity Cathedral, the relics of Alexander Nevsky were transferred from the tomb to the open shrine. Even the shroud that covered the remains of the prince was not damaged by the fire. The relics remained unharmed even after the fires of 1681 and 1689.the day of his church commemoration was November 23. The relics of the prince all this time were in Vladimir. After a devastating fire in 1491 in the Nativity Cathedral, the relics of Alexander Nevsky were transferred from the tomb to the open shrine. Even the shroud that covered the remains of the prince was not damaged by the fire. The relics remained intact and after the fires of 1681 and 1689.the day of his church commemoration was November 23. The relics of the prince all this time were in Vladimir. After a devastating fire in 1491 in the Nativity Cathedral, the relics of Alexander Nevsky were transferred from the tomb to the open shrine. Even the shroud that covered the remains of the prince was not damaged by the fire. The relics remained unharmed even after the fires of 1681 and 1689.
FROM VLADIMIR TO PETERSBURG
In 1695, with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion of Suzdal, the relics were transferred to a new shrine, specially made by Moscow masters from the Armory and Vladimir silversmiths. The ark was a large wooden box, on the upper edge of which a silver plate was fixed with an engraved inscription, indicating that the "family of holy relics". The sides of the crayfish were decorated with gilded copper overhead plates covered with elegant floral designs. The side walls of the tomb were decorated with gilded copper medallions with chased inscriptions describing the exploits of the Grand Duke.
In the first half of the 18th century, it was decided to transfer the relics of Alexander Nevsky to the new capital of the empire - St. Petersburg. In 1724, a pedestrian procession with relics went from Vladimir to Novgorod along the road along which Alexander walked a lot during his lifetime. In Veliky Novgorod, the shrine was placed on a boat, which went downstream of the Volkhov to Ladoga. Peter I himself met the boat on the Neva. The relics were transferred to the galley. The autocrat sat on the steering wheel, his dignitaries and senators at the oars. Members of the Most Holy Synod, headed by Archbishop Theodosius of Novgorod, met the procession of the cross at the gate of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. On the memorable day of the conclusion of the Swedish peace - August 30 - the relics were brought to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
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THE MIRACLE OF THE NORTHERN CAPITAL
In November 1746, the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth, who loved luxury and pomp in everything, ordered to build a new - silver - shrine for the relics of Alexander Nevsky. The work was supervised by Ivan Andreevich Shlater, adviser to the coin office. The Empress was not stingy and, in addition to the payment for the work - four rubles per pound of silver, she gave Schlater an apartment, firewood, candles, and materials. The stahler could invite the best masters not only from Russia, but also from abroad, as needed. Zakhariya Deikhman, a St. Petersburg silversmith, was appointed to watch the work of foreigners. By order of the royal court, the entire process of making crayfish was controlled by Baron Ivan Antonovich Cherkasov.
The silver allotted to the ark was checked daily. Every detail, every screw, every curl of an intricate ornament was weighed several times. They kept a strict record of how much silver, copper, and iron the workers took. “When accepting and issuing silver for making crayfish, (a person) would be present, every day in the morning he would give out silver, and in the evening he accepted it, also on a week, on Saturday all the silver outweighed”. In 1748, the work ended. It turned out that many off-the-shelf parts were not suitable. In addition, other masters were invited. Old parts were cleared of patina along the way, reworked, replaced with new ones. In general, the work went on, but with a creak. Every year Ivan Shlater submitted extensive reports on the work to the Cabinet of Her Imperial Majesty: what was done, which part of the monumental structure was nearing completion. In 1750 the first silver from the Kolyvan factories in Siberia was awarded for the shrine “from that found treasure as a gift to the saint for the observance of his holy relics.
At one fine moment it was discovered that the poetic inscription, which belonged to Lomonosov, was not visible, "why, for her sake, the imperial majesty deigned to attach two angels with shields to a large, standing pyramid back and crayfish …" Jani. The angels alone weighed 19 pounds 36 pounds 44 spools.
By August 30, 1753, the huge memorial was completed. In total, Alexander Nevsky's cancer weighed 89 pounds 22 pounds and cost the treasury 80,244 rubles 62 kopecks, a pound of silver in work cost 906 rubles 56 kopecks.
Cancer boggled the imagination and quickly turned into one of the wonders of the young capital. Not a single book dedicated to Northern Palmyra has escaped her attention. Thus, a certain I. Georgi wrote: “We can say that this cancer is the only one of its kind. The coffin, coat of arms, canopy, pyramids, weapons, banners - all very well crafted from wrought and cast silver."
Brown decayed bones
A difficult fate was in store for the new magnificent cancer. In 1922, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee succeeded in pushing through the Petrosovet resolution on the autopsy of the cancer. Were appointed "responsible for the event" - comrades N. Komarov and I. Kondratyev. "According to the order of the district committee of May 9, 1922, Comrades Urbanovich and Naumov are sent to your disposal with tools to participate in the autopsy of the relics in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra," read the official document. The autopsy was carried out publicly, for which the public was additionally called in the person of the workers of the district party committee, representatives of military units and ordinary ordinary citizens. The famous photographer Karl Bulla had to shoot the whole procedure.
Despite the resistance of the clergy (Metropolitan Benjamin was shot), the sarcophagus was opened. This is how the reporter of Petrogradskaya Pravda described what he saw: “At the bottom of the coffin lies a lilac satin cover, at the head of the head is a brand new pillow made of orange satin, and in the middle there is a small box of light wood … then the matter, then the decayed remnants of the schema of the Grand Duke, and at the very bottom there are brown decayed bones … The cancer was seized from the church and was transported in parts to the Hermitage. The relics could not be defended either - the casket with them was sealed and placed for storage in the altar of the Trinity Cathedral of the Lavra. The Bolsheviks were itching to melt the cancer and sell silver abroad. But artists, including the then director of the Hermitage, stood up to defend her. We managed to defend it with a fight.
During the Great Patriotic War, the shrine was taken to Sverdlovsk, and in 1949 it was returned to the Hermitage. During this time, the relics migrated to the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism. Since 2000, the ministers of the church began to talk about the return of the crayfish to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, but the Hermitage is in no hurry to return, and its director Piotrovsky took a tough stance on this issue. The exhibit is currently undergoing restoration.
Lyubov DYAKOVA