Museum of Russian Icons

From OrthodoxWiki
Jump to: navigation, search

The Museum of Russian Icons is a non-profit museum that houses an extensive collection of Russian icons was created by collector Gordon Lankton. The museum is located in Clinton, Massachusetts, United States of America.

The Museum of Russian Icons opened in October 2006 by collector Gordon Lankton to house his extensive collection of Russian Icons. Lankton was president and is currently chairman of NYPRO, a billion dollar sales plastic molding company headquartered in Clinton with offices and manufacturing facilities across the globe. His Russian icon collection comprises over 340 icons from the thirteenth century to the present and covers almost the entire range of Russian icon images, symbols, and forms. It is one of the largest private collections outside of Russia and the largest in North America.

Building

The museum is located on Central Park, Clinton, Massachusetts in a historic 1830 brick building. The interior was re-designed by David Durrant to incorporate state-of-the-art technology, including solar collection systems and fiber optic lighting. Entirely climate controlled, the new museum provides the highest installation standards available. According to Durrant, "Gordon told us he wanted a facility that would stack up against the great museums of this country, and we believe that is what we have done."[1]

Inside the traditional restored brick building, the three floors of the museum are connected by custom-designed, sweeping metal and glass stairways that allow visual access to all floors from any place in the museum. The floors also are all connected by an elevator; the building is totally ADA[2] compliant.

Tretyakov gallery exhibition

From October 16, 2008 to May 1, 2009 the Museum of Russian Icons hosted a special exhibition featuring 16 icons from the world-renowned State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Named “Two Museums, One Culture”, this extraordinary exhibition was organized exclusively by the Museum of Russian Icons and was the only USA venue to exhibit these masterpieces. The exhibition was a ground-breaking cultural exchange between a Russian and an American museum. Concurrently, more than 150 icons from the collections of the Museum of Russian Icons are also on display.

Expansion

In 2008, the Museum of Russian Icons broke ground on a major expansion project. After expansion, the size of the museum was doubled. The Museum of Russian Icons has also purchased another building in Clinton, part of which will be used as a suite of rooms for a resident scholar.

References

  1. [1] Museum of Russian Icons: About Us.

External links