In connection with the exhibition “Christ in the Dungeon”, Manege, in association with the Masters Project, presents a lecture by art historian Gleb Yershov, “Image of a Suffering God”.

Sculptures are met with distrust in the Russian tradition of icon veneration, as a persistent tie to paganism is seen in them. In contrast to the Western, Catholic world, where large, three-dimensional, naturalistic, and expressive images of Christ have been present since the early middle ages, Orthodoxy has persisted in its distrust of them.

Why then, just as the world of old Russian art began to decline and Russia was on the eve of a new era, did such an interesting phenomenon arise? In the far peripheries of Russia, in the region of Perm, painted wooden sculptures of Christ in the dungeon appeared, made by unknown hands, for public viewing of a suffering God.

Does this phenomenon have a place in Russian iconographic tradition, or do we retreat from the expansion of the canon? What was the purpose of these sculptures? How did church elders react to them? Finally, are there traces of a connection with the west in particular, with the Baroque movement, or is this a distinct type of imagery developed within the religious cult of the Perm region? These questions and more will be addressed in the lecture.

Gleb Yershov is a candidate of art history and a professor of interdisciplinary studies in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at St. Petersburg State University.

Entry to the lecture is free with registration. We recommend viewing the exhibit, “Christ in the Dungeon,” before the lecture.