The museum’s exhibition unveils for the first time a collection of artifacts that originated in the abolished monasteries of Kargopol — the Dormition Convent and the Transfiguration Monastery.
These are printed and handwritten books, church utensils (crosses and a tabernacle), icons, including the troevzor icon “Trinity” of an unusual design, items of priestly vestments donated by Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, and a fragment of a bell from the belfry of the Dormition Convent, which was saved from being melted by the Bolsheviks.
Of particular interest are the images of saints, glorified and revered in Kargopol. Among them are Alexander Oshevensky, Pachomius Kensky (of Kenozero), Kirill Chelmogorsky, and Macarius of the Yellow Water Lake. The icons used to be housed in the refectory of the Intercession Church in the Lyadinsky Pogost, and were restored for the exhibition.
Both aforementioned monasteries were destroyed. A
considerable part of the archives and artifacts have been lost. The exhibits
allow the visitor to imagine what life in those monasteries looked like and to
learn about their inhabitants and benefactors.
