His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia took part in the opening ceremony of the Novodevichy Monastery exhibition on August 13, 2024. Milestones of History" at the State Historical Museum in Moscow. The exhibition, dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the Novodevichy Stavropol Convent, was organized with the support of the Transsoyuz Charitable Foundation and JSC United Metallurgical Company (OMK).
After the inspection of the exhibition, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill left an entry in the book of honored guests: "Heartfelt thanks to everyone who created, preserves and enriches this wonderful collection. The inextricable link of generations, which is ensured primarily by spiritual and cultural continuity, contains the very source of genuine sovereignty and well-being of the people. May God's help be with all the workers of the museum." 
D.N. Chernyshenko also left a note: "On behalf of the Government of the Russian Federation, please accept the words of deep gratitude for the incredible exhibition project dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the celebration of the founding of the Novodevichy Monastery! Excellent examples of the outstanding work of our masters from different eras perfectly reflect the importance of today's events for the spiritual and moral education of our youth!"
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill addressed the participants of the opening ceremony with a welcoming speech:
"Before visitors can enter the halls and begin their inspection, I would like to say a few words.
This exhibition will be opened to each visitor from its side. This is always the case when we look at something, including works of art. After all, we perceive it not only visually, but this visual image is also displayed in our consciousness. And therefore, our beliefs, our upbringing, and the level of our culture largely participate in the process that shapes a person's perception of a particular work of art. This thesis is easily proved by the fact that an unprepared person who does not live an intellectual life, has nothing to do with the aesthetic dimension, does not understand art. We know that many people, especially in the post-revolutionary period, when they opened art to the people, laughed, pointed at naked bodies, did not understand what was depicted, especially if subjects from the Old or New Testament were depicted. Therefore, the viewer is always an accomplice. He is always a critic, he evaluates what he sees, and he is a participant in the process, the source and inspiration of which is the artist.
And before visitors can enter the hall and begin to inspect the exhibition, I would like to say once again that this exhibition will open to every visitor from the side that the visitor himself writes and forms. The historian, of course, will discover significant artifacts of the past related to the lives of Russian rulers, as well as prominent state and church figures of different eras. But the most important thing is that the exhibition, equipped with advanced interactive technologies, will help visitors feel the continuity of the spiritual and cultural tradition of our people and feel their real involvement in it. 
"Memory resists the destructive power of time… This is its greatest moral significance." These are very accurate words of my highly respected Dmitry Sergeyevich Likhachev, with whom I had the opportunity to know and interact quite closely. These are the words that we should all remember well. The greatness of moral significance, including the human personality and epoch, lies in the ability to resist the destructive force of time. The attitude of people towards national history is one of the indicators of the spiritual maturity of society, its moral and creative power.
Today, a person immersed in a globalizing reality, in a world without borders and values, often finds himself lost and, as it were, falls out of the historical succession of generations, loses his spiritual identity. This is a big problem. I am convinced that a society in which such people are the majority has no future, and the people are doomed to the danger of extinction.
That is why modern political struggle is often aimed at depriving people of the past, depriving people and countries of their values — cultural, spiritual, religious. Such actions have a very dangerous purpose — to undermine the power to resist the enemy, and we are talking not only about an armed enemy, but about everything that can destroy the spiritual and cultural authenticity of the people.
That is why it is a very important and responsible job to work on preserving and strengthening that "common thread" that helps people realize their place in the world and feel a living connection with their people. Of course, it is quite painstaking and difficult. But its fruit is the strengthening of one of the main foundations on which the national culture is based.
We know that in many families it is customary to carefully preserve and transfer objects that belonged to their ancestors: icons, in front of which grandparents prayed, books, household items. But if this custom has an impact on strengthening long-term family ties, then how important is it in relation to folk relics, those spiritual values that are important for the life of the whole people.
I thank the organizers of the exhibition for the very interesting, albeit difficult work they have done, and I hope that touching the history of one of the oldest women's monasteries in Moscow, and through this — the Russian national history, will become an inspiring discovery for many of our compatriots. May God's blessing be upon you all. Thank you for your attention." 

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The exhibition "Novodevichy Monastery. Milestones of history" presents authentic monuments of the XVI-XVII centuries. having a memorial character and associated with historical personalities, these are contributions to the monastery of Tsars Ivan IV and Boris Godunov, and cell icons of tsarevens and queens, and tombstone iconostases of tsarevens Miloslavsky — daughters of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.
The exhibition is well—deserved by outstanding monuments of face sewing of the XVI century. and works of Russian church art of 1680-1690. - multi-tiered Baroque iconostases shining with gilded carved volume.
The possibilities of multimedia technologies make it possible to present the frescoes of the Smolensk Cathedral in the most accessible way. An important place is given to audio installations, which create the effect of the visitor's personal involvement in the events that took place. A separate exhibition hall is dedicated to the shrines of the Sacristy of the Novodevichy Monastery.
Thematic sections of the exhibition: The history of the Novodevichy Monastery in the XVI-XVII centuries; The architectural ensemble of the Novodevichy Monastery of the XVI-XVII centuries; The history of the Novodevichy Monastery in the XVIII — early XX centuries; 1917 — the beginning of the XXI century. The dissolution of the monastery. Creation of a museum. The revival of the monastery; Restoration. The 1880s — the beginning of the XXI century.
The total area of the exposition is 600 sq. m
. The number of exhibits is 340 museum items from the collections of the State Historical Museum and the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts. The exhibition will run from August 14 to November 4, 2024.