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# Union of Museums of Russia discusses church claims to museum property, including UNESCO sites
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/na-obshchem-sobranii-soiuza-muzeev-rossii-obsudili-ostryi-vopros-peredachi-muzeinogo-imushchestva-tserkvi/
- Published: 2018-11-14T11:43:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:09:26.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Faith, Museums, Heritage, Society

[​​](https://telegra.ph/file/fe76767a0dbfc0b9fa73e.jpg?ref=theparnassian.com)The General Assembly of the Union of Museums of Russia has discussed the thorny question of transferring museum property to the Church. At present, in particular, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Old Believer Church lay claim to the Dormition and Demetrius cathedrals of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve and to 10 other sites in Vladimir and Suzdal inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, to the ensemble of the Ferapontov Monastery, which figures on the same list, to the Bishop's House in Rostov the Great, and to the Fraternal Cells and walls of the Ivanovo Monastery in Kirillov. Moreover, the Church may lay claim to thousands of items of movable property: icons, objects of ecclesiastical art and other museum exhibits.

In some museums, such as the one in Kostroma, the joint use of such sites is practised, which, however, does not always satisfy the museum staff. At the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve, for instance, the museum may conduct tours of the cathedral from one o'clock until five, and for the rest of the time the premises are at the diocese's disposal. As you will appreciate, museum property passing to the Church provides a considerable part of the museums' income, and directors are sounding the alarm: the problems attendant on such transfers threaten the very existence of a number of museums.

For the time being the process is governed by the federal law of 2010, and a decision has already been taken to set up conciliation commissions for these museum-reserves. We are following developments and worrying about the fate of our museums.