No statues please, we are Orthodox

[topum]

Statues are not traditional in Orthodox Church (roadside crucifixes are a notable exception) and are never found in churches and very rarely found in monasteries' gardens. We were told that they started to appear more often recently, usually when the abbot is into "making the garden look beautiful" and could get statues made and donated to the monastery. They are still frowned upon by most people here though.

This statue looked like it was placed in this monastery's garden fairly recently. The blue paint they used on the cloak is the same they used to paint the windows and pillars of the living quarters behind.

Comments

[real-marsel.livejournal.com]

Very pleasant place.

[topum.livejournal.com]

It is one of the largest monasteries here by the number of monks.

[diejacobsleiter.livejournal.com]

Not typical, true. But there was some tradition of church sculpture, especially around XVII century. Not as good as icon painting, but it existed.

[topum.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Did they have statues of the Virgin so typical in Catholic churches then too?

[diejacobsleiter.livejournal.com]

I didn't see them. Maybe they exist but I doubt. It's rather local initiatives than a general tradition.


Here you can find many interesting photos from Perm' local museum.

http://drugoi.livejournal.com/2724448.html

[topum.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. Thank you.
I have never seen anything like this here, except the crucifixes.

[beautesauvage13.livejournal.com]

Beautiful garden.  I didn't know Orthodox didn't have statues.  They always seemed so full of art, religious art, colourful stained glass, paintings, and gold lots of gold.  They actually have more art and gold then Catholics.  Although Catholics do have statues a lot of statues. 

Athena

[topum.livejournal.com]

Yes, they don't have statues in the churches at all. And Orthodox churches indeed look much "heavier" on art (and gold) than catholic ones. This is because almost all of them are covered in frescoes inside (every little corner of the walls and ceiling) and because all of them have iconostases (ornate gold leafed screens with multiple levels of icons separating the sanctuary from the nave), which Catholic churches do not have.