| The State Tretyakov Gallery is one of the world's greatest museums. Its popularity is almost a legend. To see its treasures, hundreds of thousands of people come every year to quiet Lavrushinky Pereulok in one of Moscow's oldest districts, Zamoskvorechye. And if there is sometimes a queue, it is perhaps the only queue that does not irritate the people standing in it: because they are queuing up to see some of the world's artistic masterpieces. |
| "Old Testament Trinity" (1420), the most beautiful and perfect Russian icon, painted to honor the memory of the great enlightener and mediaeval Russia, the Venerable Sergius of Radenezh (14th Century). The "Old Testament Trinity" shows the three-in-one Godhead in the form of three angels sitting round a table with a sacrificial cup. |
| The Gallery's collection consists entirely of Russian art and artists who have made a contribution to the history of Russian art or been closely connected with it. This is how it was conceived by its founder, the Moscow merchant and industrialist Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov (1832-1898) and how it has remained to this day. |
| Artists and historians have long noted that "if Pavel Tretyakov had not appeared when he did to devote himself entirely to his great idea of collecting Russian Art, its fate would have been different": For example the icon above would probably not be here today without Tretyakov spending his own money. |