Small travel icon depicting the Madonna of Kazan, 19th century

Bronze casting with polychrome enamels

Height × width: 6.5 × 5.5 cm Weight: 87.3 g.

According to tradition, in 1579 in Kazan, a young girl named Matrona received a vision of the Virgin, who revealed to her the location where a lost icon had been buried. The icon was recovered and brought into the city, quickly becoming an object of popular veneration due to miracles attributed to its protection.The original icon was kept in the Cathedral of Kazan and venerated by both citizens and soldiers. The Madonna of Kazan became a symbol of protection, especially during periods of war and natural disasters. Copies of the icon spread rapidly throughout Russia, including in private homes and among the Old Believers, as a means of domestic devotion.The original icon was stolen and destroyed several times: in 1904 it was taken during the upheavals preceding the revolution; other copies were destroyed during wars and revolutions, but the cult continued through replicas. In the 20th century, the Madonna of Kazan remained one of the most venerated religious symbols, both in the Russian Orthodox Church and among the Russian diaspora.This icon also belongs to the group of Old Believer Russian icons, produced in series from the 17th century onward and characterized by a strict adherence to the canons of the Byzantine tradition. These artifacts, often made of bronze and sometimes enriched with colored enamels, were generally small in size and intended for private devotion. Their portability made them easy to carry and, if necessary, to conceal, thus meeting the religious needs of a community that, following the schism known as the Raskol, experienced periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.