The fresco presents the traditional type of the image of Jesus Christ with the open Gospel in his left hand, flying angels with the tools of passion and saints in prayer, which took shape in ancient Russian art in the middle of the 16th century. and eventually got the name ‘Savior of Smolensk.’ It is believed that this composition goes back to the image that was above the Frolovsky (Spassky) gate of the Moscow Kremlin and appeared there on the capture of Grand Duke Vasily III of Smolensk in 1514. The names of the monks at the Savior’s feet are unknown revered Russian Venerable Sergius of Radonezh and Varlaam Khutynsky, by analogy with the famous icon from the Annunciation Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin in the middle of the 16thcentury, which is the earliest work of such an iconography.

Full name: Savior of Smolensk with selected saints
Creation Time: 1641
Technique: Fresco, Tempera
Location: South Face of the Northwest Pillar