16 restored icons were displayed today in the Church Hall of Menshikov Palace in Oranienbaum. The iconostasis that seemed to have been damaged beyond repair was restored by a team of specialists. It was particularly difficult to work with the pre-war and even pre-revolution photos. There were no other records of what the iconostasis looked like.
Salima Zarif has already seen the product of their delicate workmanship.
Even the restoration artists didn't believe it was possible. But here it is — the restored iconostasis of the Oranienbaum Court Church. 80 years later, it brightens the Western Hall of the Menshikov Palace once again.
Sergey Pavlov, lead architect: "In 1939, the original iconostasis was dismantled and brought to Peterhof. During the German occupation, it was stored in the basement of Monplaisir and used as kindling wood. It was burned".
The Church of St. Panteleimon the Healer was built by the first owner of Oranienbaum Prince Menshikov. Its first architect was Rastrelli succeeded by Rinaldi. After the Revolution, it was proclaimed a monument of history. But when the palace was turned into the hydrographic office of the Baltic Fleet, the glorious interior was destroyed.
Oranienbaum is the only magnificent suburb of St. Petersburg that wasn't destroyed during the WWII and managed to preserve its historical authenticity. The Palace and its park became desolate later The first serious renovation started here in the late 90s. The work is still in progress. Only a few photos have survived. They helped the architects and artists figure out the design of the Church.
Yuri Bobrov, Russian Academy of Arts: "The black & white photos let us figure out some designs and their general content: the statuette is standing rather than sitting the statuette is on the left rather than right. The hand gestures were almost unrecognizable in the photos. And I'm not even speaking about the color. There's no painting without color".
For two years. seven artists had been repainting 39 Biblical wall paintings and 20 icons of the iconostasis from scratch. Even if they didn't fully recreate the initial image they managed to preserve the atmosphere of the XVII century Court Church and prove that the Russian renovation school is not dead.
Salima Zarif, Alexey Sasyrin Dmitry Lukashevich, Galina Orlova and Oksana Serzhantova Vesti, Oranienbaum.
