Andrei Rublev’s ‘Trinity’ icon temporarily removed from iconostasis at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. Its climate-control chamber is broken.
Andrei Rublev’s Trinity icon, which was transferred to the Russian Orthodox Church in 2023, has been removed from the iconostasis at Trinity Sergius Lavra, the Russian business news outlet RBC reported, citing two sources, one in the professional community and one at the lavra.
The icon was taken down so specialists could check the climate chamber that houses it, which RBC said “may need repairs.” One of the outlet’s sources said the icon is “at the lavra, but not in the iconostasis.” A source at the lavra, however, told RBC that rumors about the icon’s poor condition are inaccurate, adding that the condition of Trinity is not a cause for concern.
On September 12, Ekho Moskvy and religious scholar Ksenia Luchenko, citing sources, reported that the icon’s climate chamber is broken and that it is being kept in conditions of 80% humidity, though specialists say it should be stored at 50-55% humidity.
A source of Luchenko’s said the leadership of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius “was afraid for some time to inform the Tretyakov Gallery after realizing that the icon was in bad shape.”
The Moscow Patriarchate announced in a statement on September 13 that a “scheduled verification of the icon’s state of preservation” is currently underway.
The Trinity icon, painted between 1422 and 1427, spent almost 100 years at the Tretyakov Gallery before Vladimir Putin transferred it to the Russian Orthodox Church by decree in the spring of 2023, after which it was moved to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius. Art historians warned at the time that proper storage conditions would be difficult to maintain and that the icon could be damaged.
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