The exhibition of Russian
sacred wooden sculpture
The Midnight Saviour

The exhibition represents the uniqe examples of russian sacred sculpture.
The curator of the exhibition is Maria Bourganova, Doctor of the History of Art, who is engaged in research on carved wooden sculpture. The Orthodox Church forbade to decorate the interrior of cathedrals and chapels with sculptural images. These seemed to be very life-like and that’s why were considered as very reminiscent of pagan idols. In spite of the Church prohibitions wooden sculpture developed and was very popular in the Russian provinces.
“Christ of the Midnight” is a special iconography depicting Christ in the most tragic moment of his earthly life: in the night before Betrayal. The exhibition in “Bourganov’s House” displays a few examples of this peculiar iconography.
The pieces of sacred sculpture are little presented in museum collections. So the exhibition prepared by “Bourganov’s House” can throw new light on the development of the art of sculpture in Russia.