Is it true that cosmonaut Alexei Leonov painted the icon?

Alexey Leonov is not only the first person to walk into outer space, but also an amateur artist. Did the legendary astronaut really apply his artistic talents to religious painting? We checked whether there was an icon among Leonov’s works.

The fact that Alexey Leonov was fond of painting became known quite a long time ago, and in 2017 the Tretyakov Gallery even accepted two of his canvases into its collection. At the same time, many memorial publications, stories and documentaries released at the end of 2019 in connection with the death of the astronaut emphasized: the first man in outer space also tried his hand at religious fine arts. Not everyone believed that one of the most famous cosmonauts, heroes of the Soviet atheistic era, could paint an icon.

Back in the 2000s, the idea of ​​a special icon for cosmonauts came from Archpriest Gennady (Belovolov) - rector Leushinsky Metochion in St. Petersburg and the creator of the Memorial Museum of St. John of Kronstadt in Kronstadt. He remembers, that he once hosted a priest from Baikonur in his church, and during the conversation, Belolovov was struck by the idea of ​​​​creating an image for the cosmodrome. After some time, the priest came to the conclusion that Leonov, known for his passion for painting, should propose painting the icon. They discussed the idea in 2013, and the former astronaut agreed.

Belovolov describes in detail how he acted as a kind of consultant for Leonov, who had never before worked with icons. He, in turn, explained some of the features of the future image: he decided to paint the Virgin Mary against the background of space, and depict the docked Apollo and Soyuz ships in the form of a cross. In addition, Leonov refused to paint the faces, and this work was done for him by Valery Skoda, an artist and icon painter from the St. Petersburg courtyard, where he served as rector of Belovolov. It remains unknown who worked on the halos and special inscriptions that are implied on the Orthodox icon. The story told by Belovolov, confirmed Alexey Leonov himself in one of his interviews. The cosmonaut is shown in his workshop next to the icon and in plot Channel One.

While painting the image, Leonov also had the idea not to limit himself to one icon for Baikonur, and in 2014 the cosmonaut painted, as he himself said, “three or four copies.” The priest names the places where these copies can be seen: the Plesetsk cosmodrome, the Museum of John of Kronstadt in Kronstadt and a temple near the site of the death of Yuri Gagarin in the Vladimir region. A kind of memorial to the first cosmonaut was in many ways Leonov’s personal project - he not only donated his icon to the church, but also created temple frescoes. We were unable to find confirmation that Leonov’s images are still stored and used in Baikonur and Plesetsk.

However, some criticize the image created by Leonov, indicating that it is difficult to call it a canonical icon. Regardless of the validity of these remarks, both priest Belovolov and the cosmonaut himself planned to paint an icon. Despite the fact that other people created important elements of the final version, it was Leonov who did most of the work.

Mostly true

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