Icons of Hope: over 100,000 visitors come to the exhibition in Sant'Agnese in Agone

The exhibition "Icons of Hope. The path of faith in the Vatican Museums" has just ended at the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone in Rome’s Piazza Navona. Dedicated to the Vatican Museums collection of eastern icons and promoted by the Dicastery for Evangelization for the 2025 Jubilee year it brought in 101,586 visitors. The icons were exhibited from December 16, 2024 to February 16, 2025 inside Borromini's sacristy in Sant'Agnese in Agone.

The exhibition exceeded all expectations in terms of public reaction showing the growing interest in art and culture, in all its forms but also the desire of the public to eexperince unique artistic experiences.

The exhibition was curated by Anna Pizzamano and Pietro Beresh of the Department of Byzantine-Medieval Art of the Vatican Museums, who selected 18 works - votive icons, travel triptychs and menologies - from all over Eastern Europe, Greece, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia, Macedonia, dating back to the period between the 15th and 20th centuries.

The exhibition was called "Icons of Hope" in keeping with the motto of the Jubilee - a sign of peace and brotherhood, as was the mix of styles … from tempera on wood to precious metal coverings enriched with enamels and precious stones.

Most of them were recently restored paintings the work of the masters of the Paintings and Wooden Materials Laboratory and the Metals and Ceramics Laboratory, supported by the Cabinet of Applied Scientific Research of the Vatican Museums.