 The
history of the town of Tikhvin |
|
     
|
Tikhvin as a settlement was first mentioned
in connection with the miraculous apparition of the icon of
Our Lady with the Everlasting Infant in her Arm on the bank
of the Tikhvinka River. The construction of the Temple of Exhibit «Religious antiquity»
Assumption in the uninhabited corner of the Novgorodian State
gave birth to Tikhvinsky Prechistensky Pogost (Tikhvinsky
Virgin Church-yard), later Tikhvinsky Posad (Township).
Rapid development of Tikhvin was determined
by its favorable position at the crossways of trading routes
heading for Novgorod and Vologda and by its strategic importance
as a Russian frontier settlement.
In 1507-1515 the monumental Uspensky (Assumption)
Cathedral was erected by a Novgorodian Dmitry Syrkov. Construction
of the cathedral was sponsored by Moscow Grand Prince Vassily
III. In 1560, by appointment of tsar Ivan IV the Terrible,
the monastery-fortress was built by Fiodor, Dmitry Syrkov's
son, in one season.
The monastery was growing rich, the population
of Tikhvin was increasing and flourishing. In the beginning
of Livonian War (1558) Ivan the Terrible ordered to fortify
Tikhvin, a Russian outpost in the south-east of Ladoga lands.
The Big Tikhvin Monastery was expanded and enclosed with thick
walls that stood in good stead in the attacks of the Swedes
in the early 17th century.
In 1764, according to the edict by Catherine
II, Russian monastery lands were confiscated by the state
and handed out to the nobility.
In 1773 Tikhvinsky Posad was officially
recognized a town and got the coat of arms symbolizing its
old fame and imperial favour to the town.
By that moment the town was being built
according to the regular general plan under the guidance of
Vassily Polivanov. The decision was made by the Novgorodian
governor to overcome the results of terrible fire.
The opening of the Tikhvin water system
in 1811 pushed the development of the town. However, gradually
Tikhvin lost its economic significance.
The years of Great Patriotic War were devastating.
German attempts to close the second circle of the siege around
Leningrad failed in December 1941 but the town was almost
ruined.
Construction of the Centrolit plant (now
Zavod Transmash, one of the largest machine-building factories
in Leningrad region) in 1963 stimulated revival of the town.
|
The
exhibit "Tikhvin at the turn of the 19th to the 20th
century" |
   |
Various aspects of the life of a provincial
town at the turn of the centuries including routine activities,
trade, transportation and communication are presented at the
display.
Its central part "View of the market-place
in Tikhvin. The 1910-ies" is based on the photograph
by local photo artist A.Kuznetsov. The town was an important
trading center. Fairs arranged here at major Orthodox holidays
were known all over Russia.
Samples of typical local craft make up the
exhibit. They are boxes of bast, woven baskets, ceramic pots
and jars produced by craftsmen living by the Oyat' River.
Similar goods, as well as metal work (like local-produced
brass samovars or cast-iron irons) were sold at Tikhvin markets
and shops of the Merchant's Yard.
Theatres, libraries and museums brightened
provincial life up. First theatre performances were arranged
here in 1889. An actor's make-up room is recreated in the
museum hall. Playbills, a folding-screen and sofa made in
Tikhvin in the late 19th century are placed next to a toilet
table with all the accessories.
Section of the exhibit presenting interior
of a drawing-room (furniture of the late 19-early 20th centuries,
a gramophone, photos) gives an idea of private life of a well-to-do
Tikhvin resident.
|
The
exhibit "From the past of Tikhvin lands. The late 19th-
first third of the 20th century" |
    |
The display shows rural life of the area
and demonstrates samples of the prevailing trades and occupations
like farming, weaving, sewing, forging, turning etc.
A peasant's house interior as seen through
the window is recreated at the exhibit. A table is laid for
a holiday meal. A patterned table-cloth, hand-made mat and
traditional Oyat' ceramic jars and dishes create the charm
of the room.
One of the beer jugs on display was made
by craftsman F. Morozov from the village of Verkhovie of Tikhvinsky
district in 1849. It was very carefully designed and decorated
with stripes, rhombuses and triangles. Another corked jug
(from the village of Usadishche) also dates back to the 19th
century and is notable for combination of linear, spotty and
dotted ornamental patterns.
Distaffs rank as a special implement among
traditional craft objects. Besides performing its practical
spinning function, many of them were intricately decorated,
being true masterpieces of folk art. Some distaffs were made
out of one piece of wood or its root, others were produced
of separate pieces.
One of the distaffs presented belongs to
the so called "Zolochionka (Gilded)" type of Volkhov
or Novaya Ladoga school. It is painted with wide gilded stripes
and floriated in the centre. The name of the distaff's owner
makes up the pattern framing the flower. It was made in the
village of Spasovshchina of Tikhvinsky district - a renowned
center of distaffs manufacture - in the late 19th-early 20th
centuries.
Toys, objects used in baby-minding and teaching
crafts make up a "children's corner" of the exhibit.
|
The
exhibit "Church antiques" |
  |
The articles displayed here were either
donated or purchased from Tikhvin locals, some of them were
handed from the Pokrovskaya (Protection of the Virgin) Chapel
in the village of Pil'dezh Gora and from the Russian Museum
of Ethnography.
The first section of the exhibit shows ritual
objects used in liturgy - the main Christian divine service.
An altar cross, a Gospel, holy vessels and cerements, vestments
of Orthodox clergy remarkably decorated with gold and silver
threads, paillettes, filigree etc. are collected here.
Objects used by Orthodox believers in traditional
ceremonies and holidays are featured in the second section
of the display. They are traditional icons, small enameled
brass icons, folding icons for travelers, embroidered icons,
painted Easter eggs, towels and others.
|
The Tikhvin Bogorodichno-Uspensky (Assumption of Our Lady)
Monastery |
     |
The Tikhvin Monastery was founded in 1560.
It was erected on the spot of Our Lady of Tikhvin icon apparition.
The monastery complex consists of the Uspensky
(Assumption) Cathedral, Pokrovskaya (Protection of the Virgin)
Church with refectory, belfry, Public and Archimandrite Cells.
Despite alterations of the 17th-19th centuries,
the Uspensky Cathedral is considered an unparalleled architectural
monument of the 16th century. It is a six-pillar building
having three apses and is crowned with five domes. On three
sides the temple is added with roofed porches closed with
side-altars on the east and corner extensions on the west.
The decoration and frescoes inside the cathedral are of great
artistic value and remain rather safe.
The two-storied refectory with heated church
of 1581(on restoration now) was a grandiose and perfect construction
for those days. The facade design is simple but the top of
the one-domed hip-roofed church is adorned with three-level
system of kokoshniks (details shaped as vertical cross-sections
of an onion-like dome).
Construction of the belfry, now used both
by the monastery community and the museum, was sponsored by
Boris Godunov. The structure of the three-tier belfry erected
in 1600 goes back to that of the St.Sofia Cathedral belfry
in Novgorod but is more sophisticated.
The ground floor of the Public Cells was
built by Novgorodians Osipov and Kashinets in 1668. In 1678
a Tikhvin resident Agapitov built on the first floor. He also
headed construction of the Archimandrite Cells in 1682. The
facades of both buildings use decorative patterns typical
for living quarters of 17th century monasteries. The collections
of the Tikhvin Memorial Museum of History, Architecture and
Art are housed here.
|
The
icon of Our Lady of Tikhvin |
  |
The Tikhvin Icon of Our Lady (Odigitria)
is among the most honoured miraculous icons in Russia.
The year of its apparition (1383, according
to the tradition) appears to be determined by the fact that
several Odigitria icons were brought into Russia in the 1380-ies.
In those days Prince Dmitry Donskoy ruled over the country
and Pimen was the Metropolitan.
The Narration on the Candlemas Day of the
Miraculous Vladimir Icon (mid or second half of the 16th century)
includes the history of apparitions of Our Lady in Russian
lands. This document identifies the icon that appeared by
the Tikhvinka River with the Leeds (Roman) Odigitria. The
legend of Tikhvin Icon was enriched with later historical
events like reconstruction of the Uspenskaya (Assumption)
Church by the Tikhvinka River after three fires, visits of
Grand Prince Vassily III in 1526 and tsar Ivan the Terrible
in 1547, foundation of the monastery in 1560, Swedish siege
of the monastery in 1613 etc. They were painted in the "kleimy"
(notes) of later icons of Our Lady of Tikhvin with miracles
(see, for example, the icon from the Blagoveshchensky - Annunciation
- Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin which "kleimy"
portray Ivan the Terrible and Novgorodian Archbishop Makary
or similar icons of the 16th-17th centuries from the Tikhvin
Monastery).
The iconography of the Tikhvin Odigitria
is close to that of Iver Odigitria, though differs from it
in picturing the crossed legs of the infant with the sole
turned towards a viewer.
In the 19th century the icon was highly
honoured all over Russia. Most often people resorted to its
help to heal sick children. Annually, 24 religious processions
with the miraculous icon were performed in the Tikhvin Monastery.
It was framed in massive setting decorated with precious stones,
a gold icon-lamp was put in front of the icon. Innumerous
copies of the Tikhvin Icon were made, some of them being considered
miraculous too. The original miraculous icon of Our Lady of
Tikhvin from the Tikhvin Monastery is now kept in Chicago,
the USA. Its celebration is held on June 26 (July 5 new style).
|
Archeological
and historical collections of the museum |
      |
Register books from local churches of the
mid18th-early 20th centuries, collections of icons by local
masters, Easter eggs of the turn of the centuries, old photo
documents and objects of archeological digs add a special
flavour to the museum exhibit.
Church register books providing information
on births, weddings and deaths tell the life stories of residents
of Tikhvin and the district, including their ranks, titles,
causes of death and confessions they belonged to.
The register book of 1892 from the Spaso-Preobrazhensky
(Saviour's Transfiguration) Cathedral reports on the wedding
of Nadezhda Lokhvitskaya (1872-1952) - an authoress known
under the pen-name Taffy. The Nikolo-Borovinskaya Church register
book of 1892-1897 documents birth of Vladislav Ravdonikas
(1894-1976), a renowned archeologist, corresponding member
of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, member of the Norvegian
Academy of Sciences.
More than 300 photos of the turn of the
centuries, mostly views of Tikhvin and portraits of its residents,
are presented in the museum collection. Many of them were
printed in the photo studios of M.Malyarchikova and A.Kuznetsov.
Arseny Kuznetsov, a peasant of Novgorod province, settled
in Tikhvin in the late 19th century. His studio has been housed
in one of the buildings in Pavlovskaya street since 1904.
Many of his landscapes were sold out all over Russia after
being copied by a Moscow-based company owned by Albert Mei.
The museum collection of Easter eggs numbers
more than 100 items. Many of them are made of porcelain and
traditionally decorated, some are made of wood, metal or glass.
The collection of icons by local masters
includes works of the 17th-20th centuries and, supplemented
with archival sources, provides grounds for future research
of Tikhvin art and culture traditions. The local trade of
icon painting was at its peak in the mid 17th-early 18th centuries.
Icon screens for monasteries were widely ordered. Icons of
Our Lady of Tikhvin, often smaller ones, used as a treat or
handed out, were very popular.
The icon "Saviour the Allmighty"
of the mid 16th century is a good example of local school.
It was restored by I.Khalbaev and M.Murakaev in 1986 and 1988.
The exhibit "Archeological research
in Tikhvin lands" was arranged to celebrate the 100-th
anniversary of outstanding historian and archeologist Vladislav
Ravdonikas. The finds and materials documenting the digs conducted
by D. Evropeus, N.Repnikov, V.Ravdonikas, I.Krupeichenko,
Yu.Urban, A.Nikonova and others are presented here.
The most interesting items of the display
are the fibulas of the 10th century found in the tumulus at
the village of Shugozero in Tikhvin district by I.Krupeichenko.
Fibulas were richly decorated clasps for clothing used as
far back as in ancient Greece and Rome.
|
|
)
)
 Monastery '))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
 Monastery '))
)
 Monastery '))
 Monastery '))
 Monastery '))
)
)
 Cathedral '))
)
)
)
)
 of the 10th century'))