Vatican City, Nov 20, 2018 / 10:05 am
"Art, spirituality, beauty," are the three words Vatican Museums director Barbara Jatta used to describe a visiting exhibition of 54 Russian icons and masterpieces, which opened at the Vatican Tuesday.
The exhibit, which has no cost to visit, is called a "Pilgrimage of Russian Art: From Dionysius to Malevich" and will be on display in the Vatican's Braccio di Carlo Magno Museum, the entrance to which is in St. Peter's Square, until Feb. 16, 2019.
The paintings and icons, many of which have never before been exhibited outside their home gallery, were brought to the Vatican following a successful visit of Vatican Museum masterpieces – including works by Raffaello and Caravaggio – to Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery in 2016.
Jatta told journalists Nov. 19 that part of the idea of an exhibit "on Russian spirituality, the Russian soul," is that beauty can build bridges between cultures, places, and religions.