On April 3, 2015, on the eve of Lazarev Saturday, Vladimir Dmitrievich Sarabyanov, a versatile scientist, one of the most authoritative researchers of ancient Russian and Byzantine painting, a wonderful restorer, friend, colleague and teacher of many people who connected their lives with domestic and Byzantine antiquities, died untimely in Moscow.
The scale and variety of Vladimir Sarabyanov's activities have always impressed even those who have known him well for a long time. Even a dry list of institutions in which he served and with which he collaborated says a lot about his energy and activity. In 1978, Vladimir Dmitrievich came to the Interregional Scientific and Artistic Department under the Ministry of Culture, where he worked until the end of his life, in 1994 he became an artist-restorer of the highest qualification, and in 2013 he became the Deputy General Director of the Moscow National Regional Artistic University. In 1986, Vladimir Sarabyanov graduated from the History and Theory of Art Department of the History Faculty of Moscow University, since 1997 he held the position of a senior researcher in the Old Russian Art Sector of the State Institute of Art History, while teaching at the Faculty of Church Arts of the St. Tikhon Orthodox University for the Humanities. In 2004, he defended his Ph. D. thesis, and before and after this event, he published several monographs and many articles on the monuments of ancient Russian painting. A well-known art historian and experienced restorer, Vladimir Dmitrievich was on the academic councils of several large museums, was a permanent member of the Federal Scientific and Methodological Council for the Preservation of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture, a member of the Council for Culture under the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Presidium of the Council for Culture under To the President of the Russian Federation. The activity of Vladimir Sarabyanov was marked by several high awards, including the All-Russian award “Keepers of Heritage” (2010).
Behind these titles and dates lies a vast experience and many important matters of national and global significance - the restoration of early and late icons from various museum collections, the salvation of already uncovered frescoes and the clearing of unknown ensembles, a discussion of the pressing problems of national restoration and methods of preserving the medieval heritage, whose fate, difficult in Soviet times, has become even more difficult in recent decades. The name of Vladimir Sarabyanov is forever connected with the history of restoration and study of key monuments of the artistic culture of Russia - the pre-Mongol paintings of Novgorod, Staraya Ladoga and the Mirozhsky Monastery, the frescoes of the Snetogorsk Monastery Cathedral and the Assumption Cathedral in Zvenigorod, the late medieval painting of the Moscow Kremlin churches, as well as little-known frescoes of the XIII-XIII centuries in the churches of Egypt and Lebanon. Vladimir Dmitrievich had the good fortune to become the actual discoverer of one of the largest and most impressive painting complexes of the 12th century - the murals of the Cathedral of the Spaso-Euphrosyne Monastery in Polotsk, previously known only from individual fragments, and now almost completely cleared away. This is perhaps the most significant discovery of recent years, but far from the only important discovery of Vladimir Sarabyanov, whose findings greatly changed our understanding of Russian medieval culture, introducing scientists and the public to a whole range of new works.
Vladimir Dmitrievich was not only a restorer, but also a researcher of a very high class, deep analytical mind and various interests. This is a rare combination of qualities that gave many wonderful results and promised no less fruit in the future. Extensive knowledge in the field of the history of medieval art of the Eastern Christian world helped him develop the correct strategy and tactics for the restoration of monuments, made this process truly scientific and, superimposed on a noble research passion, pushed him to new discoveries. In turn, the experience of the restorer made Sarabyanov an unsurpassed specialist in medieval painting, a researcher capable of reconstructing the general concept and the smallest details of the design of many ensembles, an expert in the techniques and technologies used by medieval masters. This explains the amazing variety of topics that interested Vladimir Dmitrievich. Among his texts there are books and articles dedicated to the monuments of the XI, XII, XIV and XVI centuries, the art of the Byzantine time and the late Middle Ages, icons and frescoes, issues of iconography, style and techniques of painting, the history of monuments reconstructed from written sources adjacent to the history of architecture problems of the function of different spaces of medieval temples and the "archeology" of altar barriers and iconostases. He succeeded not only in texts devoted to particular issues, or monographic publications of monuments, but also problematic works and generalizing works. It is no coincidence that Vladimir Sarabyanov became one of the main authors of the ancient Russian volumes of the multivolume "History of Russian Art", having prepared for it sections that have actually become full-fledged monographs on the frescoes of St. Sophia of Kiev, the Spassky Cathedral in Polotsk, the Snetogorsk Monastery and other monuments. Written by him together with E. S. Smirnova's textbook "History of Old Russian Painting" (2007) is a very successful example of popularization of medieval art, demanded by students, and at the same time - an authoritative work, to which specialists constantly turn.
It is bitter to realize that the path of Vladimir Dmitrievich was interrupted so early, and we will no longer be able to see his new discoveries and texts, to communicate with him on the forests of the Mirozh cathedral or in the workshop on the Kadashevskaya embankment, to advise someone to “ask Sarabyanov”. It is just as bitter and difficult to imagine the very absence in our life of this bright, free, completely not "academic" person, sincere in his hobbies and affections. One can only be comforted by the fact that those who knew and loved Vladimir Dmitrievich will retain a grateful memory of him, and those who did not know will appreciate his works and days according to their merits.
Eternal memory to him.
