Andrei Rublev’s ‘Trinity’ icon returned to Russia’s Trinity Lavra after repairs to climate-controlled display

Andrei Rublev’s icon “Svyataya Troitsa” (“Holy Trinity”) was returned to the iconostasis, or icon screen, in the Trinity Cathedral at the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius on October 5, RBC reported.

A source told RBC that work on the climate-controlled display case housing the icon was complete.

On September 12, the news outlet Ekho and religion scholar Ksenia Luchenko reported, citing sources, that the special climate-controlled chamber housing the icon had broken down. They said the humidity inside was 80%, although experts say the icon should be kept at 50–55%. According to Ekho, a specialist from Germany came to the monastery to repair the chamber, but the equipment failed again shortly after he left. The Moscow Patriarchate said the icon had been removed from the iconostasis and that specialists from the Tretyakov Gallery were conducting a “routine inspection.” A printed reproduction temporarily took its place. The Tretyakov Gallery said that “Trinity” was being restored and confirmed that museum staff would check its condition.

“Trinity,” painted between 1422 and 1427, had been housed at the Tretyakov Gallery since 1929. In the spring of 2023, Vladimir Putin issued a decree transferring it to the Russian Orthodox Church. The icon was then taken to the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.