RU-2743535 Icon: Our Lady of Tikhvin, 1710

According to the information printed on this postcard, this painting is “Tempera on wood” and is the “Collection of the FEAM (Khabarovski)” and painted by “Ilya Ovsyannikov” of the “Moscow School, early XVIII”.

The title of this icon suggests that it was inspired by the original icon of Our Lady of Tikhvin.  The Theotokos (‘Mother of God’) of Tikhvin is one of the most celebrated wonderworking Orthodox Christian icons. It is said to be one of the icons painted by St. Luke the Evangelist. According to tradition, in the 5th century, the icon was transferred from Jerusalem to Constantinople, where a church was built specially for it. Since the 14th century, the icon was held in Tikhvin, where eventually Tikhvin Assumption Monastery was founded to host the icon. In 1941, during World War II, for a month Tikhvin was occupied by German troops, who looted the monastery and, in particular, took the icon to Pskov, and in 1944 transferred it to Riga. The icon eventually was taken out of Russia for safety by a Russian Orthodox bishop. In the period between 1949 and 2004 the icon was stored in Chicago, USA. It was returned to Tikhvin, Russia in 2004. The icon is currently kept at the Tikhvin Assumption Monastery. Most of the icon, except the two faces, is normally covered by a chased frame of precious metals and jewels (a ‘riza’).

This postcard came from Zamira (21 July 2014) Postcrossing.