The MThA Museum of Christian Art became the first church museum in Russia accessible online

The Museum of Christian Art «Church-Archaeological Cabinet» at the Moscow Theological Academy opens a public access to its unique collection and presents a free educational course on Christian art. 

The largest art collection belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church is now accessible online. In 2022, the employees of the Museum of Christian Art did a great job of researching their funds and launched an educational project "The Heart of Russian Culture", which is now presented on the new website christianmuseum.ru.

There over 1000 best works out of the richest collection of 20,000 items such as sandals of St. Sergius of Radonezh, Mother of God the Milkgiver, tablet icons, paintings by Viktor Vasnetsov, Mikhail Nesterov, Vasily Surikov and others. Many items have not only artistic, but also sacred value, such as the miraculous statue of the Savior, mentioned in the life of blessed Matrona of Moscow. Most of the items are published for the first time. High quality museum photos, exhibit descriptions and interactive tags makes the navigation easy for users.

The new site hosts an educational course on Christian art, which is organized according to the principle "from simple to complex" and divided into three parts: "The Birth of Christian Art", "Culture of Ancient Russia and the Late Middle Ages" and "Religious Art of Modern Times".

The first part of the course is accessible online. It covers four areas on icon painting, church architecture, religious painting, arts and crafts.

We do not divide these areas into separate topics, but provide information in a comprehensive manner in order to create a complete picture of the Christian art of the time. The course is accompanied by video lectures, articles with infographics, podcasts and interactive quizzes that help to consolidate the material. Our main aim is to train art critic and teach a person how to navigate in the world of Christian and Russian religious art.

said Ekaterina Kibalchich, Head of the exhibition and educational department of the museum. 

The educational project "The Heart of Russian Culture" is a non-commercial project supported by the Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives and designed by art historians of the Russian leading museums.

We have assembled a unique team of professionals who, with love for God and the Church, share their knowledge and experience. Elizaveta Likhacheva, Director of the Museum named after A.V. Shchusev, gave a lecture on church architecture. Yulia Buzykina from the Moscow Kremlin Museums and Zhanna Belik from the Andrey Rublev’s Museum spoke about different aspects of icon painting. Archimandrite Luka (Golovkov), Dean of the Icon-painting faculty of the Moscow Theological Academy, helped to understand milestones of Church art from a theological point of view. I highly recommend listening their lectures and podcasts,

said Anton Novikov, Director of the TsAK Museum of Christian Art. 

The Museum of Christian Art «Church-Archaeological Cabinet» is in the former royal palace of the XVII century at the Holy Trinity- St. Sergius Lavra. The collection of more than 20,000 items belongs to the Moscow Theological Academy. Nowadays, it is the largest museum of the Russian Orthodox Church, which is rightly called the «Church Hermitage».

Previously, the collection was known mostly by students of the Academy and specialists. However, since 2018 the museum has popularized its unique collection. In 2022, the «Church and Archaeological Cabinet» became known as the Museum of Christian Art "CAC".

The museum has launched an educational program for the youth and is working on extending its expositional place.

MThA Press Office