According to experts, the icon of the Blessed Virgin, which was intended to be illegally exported from Ukraine, has historical and cultural value of the national level.
Kiev customs officers seized a valuable icon of the Mother of God, which was attempted to be sent from Ukraine to the United States under the guise of a kitchen board. This is reported by the press service of the Kiev customs.
"According to the declaration, in the international mail from the Dnipropetrovsk region to the American state of Florida was sent a second-hand kitchen board, - noted in the department. - However, <...> instead of kitchen tool, customs officials found a wooden icon with signs of antiquity, size 360h450h22-27mm, with the image of the Virgin Mary with the Child. The customs officers were not provided with a certificate of the right to export this object for customs clearance of the parcel".
Experts of the National Museum of History of Ukraine determined that it is "Smolensk Mother of God (Hodegetria)", painted by the icon painter of left-bank Ukraine (probably Chernigov cell) in the nineteenth century.
Despite the fact that the surface of the shrine was damaged by fire, the icon is of national historical and cultural value and is recommended for inclusion in the Museum Fund of Ukraine. Thus, the icon cannot be exported abroad, except for display (after restoration work).
The customs officers drew up a protocol on this fact.
Source: spzh.news (Russian)
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