St Petersburg University contributes to the preservation of unique murals in the Church of the Annunciation, St Petersburg

At the suggestion of Hieromonk Grigory, the rector of the church, the staff of the University’s academic programme "Restoration" has been working at the Church of the Annunciation since 2020. In the course of two years, numerous studies were conducted. Pictorial ornaments, fragments and entire compositions were discovered and strengthened. We spoke to Dina Fomitova, head of students’ practical training in restoration. Dina Fomitova is a lecturer in the Department of Restoration at St Petersburg University. Our interview was devoted to: the hard luck of the church; its exceptional value for the culture of St Petersburg and Russia; and the process and challenges of its restoration.

How the archive of the October Revolution "saved" the faces of the saints

The church complex of the Old Athos Metochion of the Skete of Saint Andrew was built according to the design of the architect Nikolai Nikonov at the corner of Degtyarnaya and 5th Rozhdestvenskaya (now 5th Sovetskaya) Streets in 1889–1893. The two-floor church was built in the Russian style in accordance with the traditions of the 17th century Moscow and Yaroslavl architecture.

In 1942, during the Siege of Leningrad, a bombing caused significant damage to the church. The upper part of the building was destroyed, including richly decorated drums and domes.

Right in the first decades of its existence, the church had to face challenges. During World War I, church services were conducted night and day. In 1919, after the Revolution, the Metochion of the Skete of Saint Andrew was abolished and the church was placed under management of the city’s religious community. The revered Consolation in Grief and Sorrows icon of the Mother of God, which had been kept in the church since its foundation, was gone. In 1929, the community of the church was broken up. In the night of 18 February 1932, mass arrests of the clergy, a total of about 500 people, took place in St Petersburg. They were sentenced to exile and execution by firing squad. The church was finally closed in 1933. The building housed the repository of the Leningrad State Archive of the October Revolution and Socialist Construction. In the 1970s the Leningrad State Archive of Scientific and Technical Documentation was also transferred there.

Today, the former shelves of the archive located in the upper part of the church serve as scaffolding for the restorers. According to Dina Fomitova, the layers of oil paint, which completely covered the original decoration of the church, kept the murals preserved. ’Due to the fact that the archive had been the only user of the building until the status of a church was returned to it, it was possible to avoid refurbishment and preserve the original interior. To store documentation, it was necessary to maintain the temperature and humidity conditions. It had a positive effect on the safety of the murals. Layers of paint were hiding the rich and diverse monumental painting of the church from prying eyes for many years. It allowed the murals to survive the most difficult historical period and avoid barbaric treatment,’ said Dina Fomitova.

Unknown painters

Trial clearings and already uncovered fragments of painting make it possible to conclude that the entire interior of the church is richly decorated with paintings. According Liia Beriia, the church warden, different teams of icon painters worked on them. They could be from Athos, Murmansk and Vladimir. However, their names are still unknown.

In terms of style, the paintings are a skilful interweaving of Byzantine and Old Russian forms. For example, the composition is changing along the entire height of the altar pillars. The ornament flows into images of seraphim, angels and figures of saints. ’The unique preservation of the paintings provides extensive material for further research. It is incredibly interesting to find out which painters Nikolai Nikonov, the architect of the church, worked with,’ said Dina Fomitova.

The preservation of most of the uncovered fragments is of a very high quality. It gives us hope that new pictorial compositions will be discovered during further restoration. The paintings of the church are a pearl of St Petersburg, and it is very important to preserve them in the form in which they have come down to us.

Dina Fomitova, lecturer in the Department of Restoration at St Petersburg University

The images are painted in various techniques. The figures are mainly oil paintings, while the ornaments are tempera paintings with an abundance of gilded elements. Plaster served as the base for most of the paintings. Yet, in the drum and on the sails, which are still hidden under a layer of whitewash, some of the compositions have a zinc metal base. All these features require an individual approach in the development of restoration methods.

The subjects and compositions of the murals are extremely diverse. For example, last year, Alena Obozhanova and Aleksandra Gerasimova, students in the bachelor’s programme "Restoration" taught at St Petersburg University, uncovered and conserved a multi-figure composition titled "The Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Wonderworkers". That was part of their graduation projects. To the right of it is the image of Saint Pelagia, while opposite it one can see a composition featuring warriors. The entrance to the church is guarded by the "Angel Making a Record of Those Entering the Church".

The infrared spectrum, the Mogao Caves and a scalpel

At the Church of the Annunciation, students are trained in the restoration of paintings and in materials science. Theoretical courses in both disciplines are complemented by restoration practice under the supervision of a teacher. Students do a whole range of work. They draw up restoration documents, do step-by-step photography, and make damage cartograms. They defend their graduation projects as a result of this work.

The revelation of paintings is preceded by research that is to be carried out at all stages of restoration. For that, an expert in the study of painting is invited to the site. It is Nikolai Kurganov, Assistant Professor in the Department of Restoration at St Petersburg University. Infrared photography helps visualise a painting covered by later layers of paint. For the study of materials, microscopic samples are taken to study pigments, varnishes and binders. For that, the equipment of the St Petersburg University Research Park is used. The samples are studied using the following methods: microscopy; Raman spectroscopy; infrared Fourier spectroscopy; and X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence analyses. If there are biodamages, for example, fungus, samples are studied in order to select a biocide. Restoration students independently conduct research on a stationary microscope and using special lenses for smartphones. The process of removing later paint layers is carried out under the control of an UV luminescence device. It shows the presence and nature of the protective coating on the surface of the original paint layer and the painter’s edits made in a later period.

The work of the restorers in this church shows how most beautiful paintings of the 19th century are revealed layer by layer, millimetre by millimetre. This miraculous discovery became possible thanks to an amazing combination of circumstances, great achievements of the restorers, and significant contribution of the researchers. It is very important to provide an opportunity for the restorers to do their work as accurately and professionally as possible, in order to reveal and preserve the genuine painting that has come down to us through a difficult period.

Nikolai Kurganov, Assistant Professor in the Department of Restoration at St Petersburg University, Director of the Centre for the Study, Preservation, Restoration and Update of Cultural Heritage Objects at St Petersburg University

Combatting the structural destruction of paintings caused by salt formation is a particularly difficult task. Numerous leaks caused exposition and subsequent crystallisation of plaster minerals. This led to the destruction of the original paint layer. To combat the consequences of these processes, Czin Ujcen, a graduate of St Petersburg University from China, devoted her master’s thesis to the problem of salt formation. As a result of studying the papers of Chinese and American scientists involved in the conservation of the early Buddhist frescoes of the Mogao Caves, a special method was developed and tested to remove salts from the structure of the plaster layer.

In 2009, the Metochion was included in the List of Newly Identified Objects of Historical, Scientific, Artistic or Other Cultural Value by the Committee for the State Preservation of Historical and Cultural Monuments. The church building was returned to the Eparchy of St Petersburg only in 2016. This event gave impetus to the revival of the church and parish life.

The restorers note that the process of removing later paint layers from the surface of a painting is an extremely difficult and painstaking work. In the Church of the Annunciation, there are up to 17 layers of paint of various nature hiding the original murals. They are mainly dry-removed with the help of scalpels and with a repeated analysis of the surface. ’This is a very long process, and different time can be spent for the conservation of different areas, depending on the state of damage and on the number and nature of later layers of paint. In addition to gaining knowledge and skills in their profession, restoration students master discipline and a reverent attitude to old objects of art,’ noted Dina Fomitova.

’For us, every day of working here is a discovery and joy. Each day brings us more understanding of the value and significance of this historical building. Other churches in the city built according to the project of Nikolai Nikonov did not preserve so many original paintings that this church did. Secular organisations are still housed in some of them,’ said Dina Fomitova. She emphasised that restoration involved the interaction not only of scientists working in various fields, but also of representatives of the government, the clergy, the local community, science, and education. Through dialogue, joint work and awareness of the importance of preserving our cultural heritage, we can make it possible to turn the Church of the Annunciation into a new point of religious and cultural attraction both in St Petersburg and on a national scale.