Ancient gate icons that were bricked-up in the Soviet era and considered lost, have been discovered on two of the towers of the Moscow Kremlin, the initiator of a campaign to unveil the icons said on Tuesday.
Historical documents and structural markings, which can be seen from the outside of the Spasskaya, Nikolskaya, Kutafia and Konstantino-Yeleninskaya towers, and from the inside of the Spaskaya, Troitskaya and Borovitskaya towers, prove the icons were once placed above the gates of the towers.
The campaign to unveil the icons, which was initiated by the St. Andrew the Apostle Fund and supported by then Russian president Vladimir Putin and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, began in 2007.
Head of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin, who heads the fund's board of trustees, said on Tuesday the icons had been discovered on the walls of the Spasskaya and the Nikolskaya towers.
"The main objective of our work is to ensure that the historic image of the Kremlin is restored and the pieces of the spiritual heritage of our people return to the Kremlin towers and to our lives," Yakunin said.
He said the work to unveil the icons had been carried out on the Spasskaya and the Nikolskaya towers first because experts believed it most likely the icons there would be preserved under a layer of plaster. He said there were no documents to suggest that the icons have been destroyed.
Yakunin said work to unveil the icons would begin later in May and expressed hope that it would be concluded by late August.
Historical documents say that a fresco that is expected to be uncovered on the wall of the Nikolskaya tower dates back to the late 15th to early 16th century.
Director of the Kremlin museums Yelena Gagarina said the icons could have been bricked-up in 1937, during celebrations dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Soviet state.
The Soviet authorities waged a fierce war against the practice of religion, destroying churches across the country and harshly repressing believers.
MOSCOW, May 11 (RIA Novosti)
