Restoration

Traditions of restoration were founded by the Commission on Protection of History and Art Monuments of the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. Together with the registration and investigation of the collections there started restoration of the architectural monuments and Old Russian painting. In subsequent years the restoration of the Museum items was carried out by the Museum workers and by the representatives of the specialized organizations (All-Union Grabar Artistic and Scientific Restoration Center and All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Restoration. . 

Restoration of textiles began in 1919, when the workshop supervised by T.N. Alexandrova-Dolnik, was organized. Being a branch of the Grabar Restoration Center, the workshop is still on the Museum territory. M.P. Ryabova, A.N. Belyakova and (still working) T.A. Goroshko’s remarkable talents permitted to restore and display unique monuments: palls with the images of St. Sergius and Alexander Nevsky, shroud of Staritsky, various icon-cloths. They reconstructed and really revived the articles from the Godunov family vault and numerous works of folk art. 

In the mid-1970s, the Sergiev Posad State History and Art Museum-Reserve established a special department for restoration of the museum items. At present it includes restorers of tempera painting – O.B. Kutsel (2d category) and O.S. Voskresenskaya (3d category); restorers of oil painting – L.A. Grechina (1st category), P.B. Ostrovsky (2d category); restorers of textiles – N.N. Shelonnikova (higher category), N.V. Grekova (2d category); metal restorer – E.S. Romashkina.

The department activity is organized in two directions: routine restoration of the museum collections and restoration of the museum items for displays and temporary exhibitions. The second direction became more important, when the significant part of the museum funds was moved from the territory of the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and new exhibition premises were arranged.

Between 2005 and 2007 the department specialists restored 102 items, including 72 exhibits for the new exhibition “The World of a Russian Village” in the Central building of the historical and cultural complex “Konny Dvor”, for the displays “The Sacristy of the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra of the 14th – 19th cc”, “The 14th – 17th Century Icons and Manuscripts”, for temporary exhibitions inside and outside the Museum and 30 items from the Museum funds.

All museum restorers graduated from higher and secondary special educational establishments. They were certificated by the Commission of the Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation. They are constantly training and advancing their skill in the Grabar Restoration Center and in the All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Restoration.