HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL EXPERTISE AND THE SOURCES OF THE RUSSIAN WOODEN SCULPTURE "NIKOLA MTSENSKY" ORIGINATION
The purpose of the article is to present the history and the analysis of the Russian wooden sculpture “Nikola Мtsenskiy” results of the examination from Peter and Paul Cathedral in Mtsensk. For the first time, the author conducted a historical and cultural examination of this object for religious purposes. The article defines the historical and cultural context of this object existence, its veneration as a relic, the problem of comparing the “The Legend of the appearance of the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas Wonderworker in the city of Mtsensk” and the preserved sculpture. The author also examines the historical and artistic sources of origin of similar items in the culture of the medieval Moscow state. The author dates the preserved fragment of the sculpture from Mtsensk Peter and Paul Cathedral to the late 1600s.