Nicholas Roerich museum in Novosibirsk

A museum devoted to the Roerich appeared in Novosibirsk thanks to the efforts of Siberian Roerich Society. Its headquarters is in Novosibirsk, as it was through Siberia that the Roerich`s (Svyatoslav, Helene, Yuri) went to Tibet and India.

Today on Communist street is the Museum of Nicholas Roerich, which is devoted to his own creative work and that of his family. D. N. Spirina, the head of Siberian Roerich Society, offered to create the museum. The construction of the museum was started on voluntary donations in 1997.

Nicholas Roerich and his sons Svyatoslav and Yuri were not only painters but also public men as well as the founders of some religious teachings, which weren’t recognized by the Christian Church as they were based mainly on Hindu and Buddhist traditions.

The pictures of Nicholas and Svyatoslav Roerich are included in the expositions of most Russian museums. Many pictures of the Roerich are at the nearby Novosibirsk Art Museum but there you can see only reproductions. However, such approach to the creation of the exposition made it possible to display all the most remarkable and important works of Nicholas Roerich in one place.

From 1908 to 1914, with interruptions, Nicholas Roerich worked on the painting of the Church of the Holy Spirit in the Flenovo estate in the Smolensk region. After the church was finished in 1905 Roerich began to paint the inner walls of the temple and create a large panel of smalt mosaic «The Christ not Made by Hands» above the entrance to the church. His composition «The Holy Mother on the Bank of the River of Life» didn’t correspond to the Orthodox canons so the church wasn’t consecrated and no religious services were held there.

As is known, the first works of the Roerich, especially those of Nicholas Roerich, were devoted to Russian epos and religious subjects. However, the more they were carried away by eastern teachings the more works depicting the mountains of Tibet they created.