On 19th May 2025, with the blessing of Bishop Mitrofan of Gatchina and Luga, a traveling international exhibition of children’s drawings and watercolours opened at the Spiritual and Educational Center of the Cathedral of the Intercession in Gatchina, near St. Petersburg.

The exhibition showcases drawings and watercolours of Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and the Holy Tsar’s Family, as part of a program, launched 5 years ago by the Union of Russian Communities of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region.

The event coincides with the day of remembrance of the Holy Righteous Job the Much-Suffering – the Heavenly patron of the Holy Emperor Nicholas II, and the 157th anniversary of the birth of the Holy Emperor Nicholas II on 19th (O.S. 6th) May, 1868.

Last year, on 12th August 2024, the day which marked the 120th anniversary of the birth of the last Heir to the Russian throne, only drawings by Italian children, were featured in the exhibition. They were presented to the parish by the Italian opera singer Elvis Fanton, who converted to Orthodoxy that same day, taking the name Alexei. The drawings and watercolours were exhibited in the Church of the Passion-Bearer Tsesarevich Alexei in Znamenka (Peterhof). Gradually, the exhibition has been supplemented with entries from St. Petersburg, Gatchina, Marienburg, Peterhof, Ryazan and Ekaterinburg.

© Paul Gilbert. 20 May 2025