The post-Soviet fate of ‘Soviet icons’

Abstract

The paper, based on the material s of scientific expeditions, describes the post-Soviet fate of handmade icons created by icon-makers of the Soviet era. The authors focus on the places in which ‘Soviet icons’ have existed since the collapse of the USSR, and on the roles they are assigned in the post-Soviet socio-cultural space. Whereas during the Soviet era hand-made icons functioned primarily in the private homes, the last decades have seen some new sites of their existence, as churches, chapels, natural shrines, utility rooms of churches and monasteries, antique stores, flea markets, online-services for the sale of collectible and second-hand goods; finally, the abandoned houses. In some places Soviet icons serve a praying and protective function; form the iconostasis and spaces of rural natural sanctuaries. In other cases they lose their role as sacred objects and gradually disappear from the social space – either by falling into disrepair or through ritualized disposal. The authors describe also a practice of turning Soviet icons into a symbolic and material resource, as it happens in the case of the St. Nicholas Convent in Arzamas town.