Travel triptych depicting the Virgin of Kazan, 19th century

Bronze casting and polychrome enamels

Height x width: 11 x 15 cm. Weight: 155.1 gr

accompanied in the side panels by the depiction of four Marian feasts. In the pediment, instead, is placed the Pantocrator, flanked in the side wings by the Archangel and the Virgin in prayer as she receives the news of the Annunciation. According to tradition, in 1579 in Kazan, a girl named Matrona received a vision of the Virgin, who indicated to her the place where a lost icon was buried. The icon was recovered and brought to the city, immediately 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 both by citizens and the military. The Virgin of Kazan became a symbol of protection, especially in times of war and natural disasters. Copy icons 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 revolution; other copies were destroyed during wars and revolutions, but the cult continued through replicas. In the 20th century, the Virgin of Kazan remained one of the most venerated religious symbols, both in the Russian Orthodox Church and among the Russian diaspora.This icon belongs to the group of Russian Old Believers’ icons, mass-produced from the 17th century onward and characterized by 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, after the schism known as the Raskol, underwent periods of persecution by the official Russian Orthodox Church.