Tretiakov Gallery tour worksheet
Questions for the readings:
1) Explain the meaning of the “Moscow the Third Rome” doctrine.
2) What geopolitical factors might have conditioned the duality of Russian life, with its
extreme political cruelty and refined spiritual culture?
3) From the point of view of an orthodox Christian, what is an icon? What purpose does it
strive to achieve?
4) Why was spiritual experience considered a necessary condition for creating an icon?
Questions for the tour:
1) Name your favorite icon from the Tretiakov Gallery. Describe it (its subject, time of creation,
school of painting, your impression of it).
2) There has been a lot of discussion about where icons should be located – in the museum, with
the appropriate preservation conditions, or in a church which they were originally designed for.
What is your opinion? Do you see them primarily as works of art or as religious objects?
3) When Russian painting became more secular, in what ways did it become closer to the
Western painting?
4) Which period of Russian painting did you like most and why? Describe your most and least
favorite paintings.