Two precious fresco icons that date back to the 15th century have been rediscovered on the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers of the Moscow Kremlin, Russian Today reports.
The icons, which have always been important religious symbols for the Russian Orthodox believers and after which the two Kremlin towers were named, were plastered over after the fall of the monarchy in Russia and were considered lost forever. Ever since then, one could only see white-painted squares on the places where the icons used to be.
The Spasskaya Tower bore the icon featuring the Savior with two Saints at his feet. It is thought to have been created in 1521 to mark the end of the siege of Moscow by the armies of Crimean khan Mehmed-Giray.
The Nikolskaya Tower was crowned with the image of Nikola of Mozhaisk, better known in Russia as St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The fresco is believed to date back to either the end of the 15th century, or the beginning of the 16th.
According to the head of the Russian Culture Preservation Service Aleksandr Kibovsky, quoted by Interfax, Napoleon Bonaparte’s soldiers, leaving Moscow in 1812, blew up the Nikolskaya Tower. “Its top fell off, but the break of the tower stopped right before the icon, in what back then many saw as divine intervention and a sign that Napoleon’s army will be destroyed in Russia.” Interfax news agency notes that in October, 1917, “the Nikola of Mozhaisk image was riddled with bullets, but the face was not damaged, which also was taken as a miracle by the god-fearing Muscovites.”
According to Kibovsky, both frescos were considered lost forever. However, the Moscow Kremlin museums’ archives have revealed papers according to which money for the restoration of the icons had already been allocated in the 1920s, which proved that they could have been safe.
In April, 2010 restorers probed into the shrines of the Spasskaya and Nikolskaya towers and confirmed that the icons still exist.
According to Interfax, Citing the head of the board of guardians of the Andrey Pervozvanny Foundation, Vladimir Yakunin, the date of termination of the restoration works are still unknown. However, the curators of the project hope that both icons will be uncovered “before the rainy season.” Yakunin, who is also president of state transport company Russian Railways, also declared that soon other icons will be searched for on other Kremlin towers.
