“Night of light and colour” was the slogan of the one of the most important cultural events of the year in Russia - “Night at the Museum” – that was held over the last weekend. More than 250 museums all over the country joined in it. The Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve has been participating in this action for several years preparing interesting programs for town dwellers and guests.
There is such an opinion that you can endlessly look at fire and water. Saturday evening in the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve earnestly proved that you could endlessly watch how almost fairy images - domes of the churches, castles, people, birds, trees, flowers and herbs – appeared from a handful of sand.
Animation artist Lilia Nikitina created her pictures to the accompaniment of famous musicians. Two of them had already performed on the museum stage: pianist Vladimir Rumyantsev and gusli player Pavel Lukoyanov. Domra-player Yevgeny Volchkov came to Kirillov for the first time. There was loud applause for every executed melody. After the performance, the musicians signed autographs for the spectators. By the way, many of them used an opportunity to try their hands at sand animation. Lilia Nikitina even delivered a small master-class for children and adults who were pleased to create flowers, butterflies and rain drops on the glass.
After the sand show, the guests visited an unusual display – the exhibition of one masterpiece where they could see the picture “Death of the Rival”. It was first presented to the public after restoration. This work is notable not only for its rather curious and even tragic subject. It is still impossible to say with confidence who painted it. The suggestion is that it was created by Kirillov’s artist Dmitry Malkov. The picture “Death of the Rival” has been kept in the museum since 1958.
The spectators were satisfied with what they had seen. “Night at the Museum” is a wonderful action. Today everything is great and harmonious: the weather, the spirits and the program. But the conference hall is too small for such events!” noted one of the visitors.
One more guest also shared her impressions: “I have taken part in the action “Night at the Museum” for the second time. My younger sister invited me to come. I like everything very much. I think it will become our family tradition to join in this event”.
Nights colours of the Assumption Cathedral certainly became one more spectacular event that evening. The church was open till midnight and almost four hundred people could visit it. Some of them had guided tours, the others got acquainted with the frescoes themselves.
The cathedral probably produced the greatest impression on those who had visited it before – they could see all the changes in its interior. For example, guest of Kirillov Natalya was delighted with that work that had been carried out in the Assumption Cathedral. “Last time I was in this church about 5 years ago, during the same action “Night at the Museum”. Everything was different there. There was no iconostasis, the frames were empty. Only two or three icons were displayed to us. Besides, the choir sang at that time. Thanks to excellent acoustics, people could hear the singing in every corner of the cathedral. It was indescribable”.
The action “Night at the Museum 2014” has shown that people still want to join in culture, to attend interesting programs and to visit exhibitions. The Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve invites local residents and guests of the town to take part in the events scheduled for summer. Information about them will be placed on the museum website.
