Travel icon depicting the Savior of Smolensk, 19th century

Bronze casting with polychrome enamels

Height × width: 10.5 × 9 cm Weight: 198.2 g.

which commemorates divine protection during the siege of the city in 1514. This specific iconography became famous when it was frescoed above the Spasskaya Gate of the Moscow Kremlin, acquiring a meaning of state and military protection for the whole of Russia. On either side of Christ, in the lower part, are depicted Saints Sergius and Barlaam, symbolizing the perpetual intercession of the Russian Church for the salvation of the people before God. In the upper part of the composition, two angels bearing the symbols of the Passion float in the sky.This object also belongs to the group of Russian Old Believer icons, produced in series from the 17th century onward. These artifacts 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.