Show all images on one page	#007814 Title: Icon:Our Lady of Kazan Artist: Rizhskaya Valeriya Size: 9x12x2.5 Size (inches): 3.75x4.5x1 Price : $295 SOLD!

Talented artist Rizhskaya Valeriya has painted this beautiful icon,called Our Lady of Kazan.
Our Lady of Kazan, also called Theotokos of Kazan , was a holy icon of the highest stature within the Russian Orthodox Church, representing the Virgin Mary as the protector and patroness of the city of Kazan. It was considered a palladium of Russia for centuries, until its theft and likely destruction in 1904. Two major Kazan Cathedrals, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, are consecrated to Our Lady of Kazan, as are numerous churches throughout the land. Her feast days are July 21 and November 4 (which is also the Day of National Unity).
According to tradition, the icon was discovered on July 8, 1579, underground in the city of Kazan by a little girl, Matrona, to whom the location of the image was revealed by the Theotokos, the Blessed Virgin Mary, in a Marian apparition. The original icon was kept in the Theotokos Monastery of Kazan, built to commemorate the spot where it had been discovered.
Kazan Monastery of the Theotokos where the icon was conserved until 1904. Other churches were built in honour of the revelation of the Virgin of Kazan and copies of the image displayed at the Kazan Cathedral of Moscow, at Yaroslavl, and at Saint Petersburg.
Invocation of the Virgin Mary through the icon was credited by the Russian commanders, Dmitry Pozharsky and Mikhail Kutuzov, with helping the country to repel the Polish invasion of 1612, the Swedish invasion of 1709, and Napoleon's invasion of 1812.
On the night of June 29, 1904 the icon was stolen from the church in Kazan where it had been kept for centuries (the cathedral was later blown up by the communist authorities). The Orthodox Church interpreted the disappearance of the icon as a sign of tragedies that would plague Russia after the image of the Holy Protectress of Russia had been lost. Indeed, the Russian peasantry was wont to credit all the evils of Revolution of 1905, as well as Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, to the desecration of the image.
Ancient and venerated copies have been displayed at the Kazan Cathedral of Moscow, at Yaroslavl, and at St. Petersburg. Copies of the image are also venerated in the Catholic Church.
This icon has been painted in the village of Kholui on the wooden base.
According to the tradition of Russian icon painting, the work is painted in egg tempera paints and detailed with brilliant gold paint. The leaves of gold is also used to create a frame around the depicted icon.
Very often Palekh, Mstera and Kholui artists paint icons, and this decision isn't influenced by a fashion or a public demand. It is a century-old tradition. The schools of Palekh, Kholui, and Mstera appeared under the influence of icon painting.