Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra relics go on display in London

Exhibition of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra relics in London. Photo: www.sandraebert.com

An exhibition of sacred treasures from the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra has opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Titled Sacred Treasures from Kyiv, the exhibition at V&A South Kensington brings seven unique artifacts from the Lavra to Britain for the first time, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture.

The exhibition opened on September 14 and will run through September 17, 2027. It features key objects used in Orthodox worship dating from the 17th and 18th centuries, including an icon, an altar Gospel in a silver cover, a Eucharistic diskos and a gilded silver chalice depicting the Crucifixion. A prominent place in the exhibition is given to the gilded silver panels of the Lavra’s Royal Doors.

The opening ceremony was attended by Ukrainian Culture Minister Tetiana Berezhna, V&A Director Tristram Hunt, British Council representative Sam Harvey, Ukrainian Ambassador Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Maksym Ostapenko, director of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra National Reserve.

“Presenting the sacred treasures of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra at the V&A demonstrates the important role Ukrainian state institutions, researchers and curators play in how our heritage is studied and presented to the world,” Berezhna said.

“We hope that this display and the conference in September will contribute to a deeper understanding of Ukraine’s unique heritage and foster greater cooperation in the cultural sector,” Hunt said.

Ostapenko described the exhibition as an opportunity to introduce the world to Kyiv’s unique 18th-century school of sacred goldsmithing. He stressed that the significance of these objects extends far beyond a single exhibition and pointed to the place of Ukrainian Baroque art within the broader European cultural context.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that the Culture Ministry had announced an exhibition of church artifacts confiscated from the Lavra during the Soviet era.

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