On the fresco there is the sixth scene from the Protoevangelium (VI). In this scene, righteous Anne put the six months old Mary on the ground to see if the child can stand. Mary made seven steps and returned to her mother. Taking her in arms, Anne said: ‘As the Lord my God lives, you shall not walk on this earth until I bring you into the temple of the Lord’.

General Information:
Protoevangelium of James is early Christian apocrypha about the life of the Virgin Mary and the Nativity of Jesus Christ. Apocrypha became the basis for a comprehensive narrative cycle, traditionally included in the decoration system of the Virgin’s temples. In ancient Russian monumental painting of the 16th-17th centuries the Protoevangelium cycle is often adjacent to the cycle of the Akathist to the Virgin Mary.

The full name: The Virgin’s First Seven Steps
Time of creation: 1641.
Technique: fresco, tempera.
Location: The Northern slope of the Western arches.