Russian Icon - Our Lady of Vladimir

Our Lady of Vladimir is one of the most highly venerated Orthodox icons and a typical example of Byzantine iconography. The original 12th-century icon survived and is displayed in the Tretyakov Gallery museum in Moscow. Even more than most famous icons, the original has been copied repeatedly for centuries and many copies now have considerable artistic and religious significance of their own. The icon is a version of the Eleusa (Tenderness) type, with the Christ child snuggling up to his mother's cheek. The venerated image was used to celebrate the coronations of tsars, the elections of patriarchs, and other important ceremonies of the Russian state. Her feast day is June 3.