Summer Exhibition
TRAVEL
Medieval Icon Masterpieces in Scandinavia, 15th - 19th September 2026. Bergen, Oslo, Stockholm. £2,850. Places on this trip are limited. Please contact Greg Godar, the director of ETR Tours, for further details greg.godar@etrtours.com.
Monumental 15th century icons in the Kode Museum, Bergen. At the invitation of the director, I will give an introductory talk on icons to the museum staff as part of our group’s visit.
Their collection is small, and mostly not on view, but of astonishing quality.
The Oslo National Museum recently opened a gallery to show about twenty exceptionally fine Russian icons.
The train from Bergen to Oslo is one of the famous scenic routes of Europe.
The National Museum of Stockholm has a long-established Icon Gallery with some three hundred icons. Many of the highest quality like this monumental Novgorod/Byzantine Deesis painted in 1400. For the full itinerary please click here.
LECTURE
Dick Temple will be giving a lecture on 'Icons: Tradition and Symbolism' at the Afridi Gallery, 77 Royal Hospital Road, on Thursday 19th March, at 6.45pm. To reserve a place, please RSVP to Anthea Roberts: anthea@shahbazafridi.com
publications
I recently came across Mitchell B. Liester, M.D. through his article Hesychasm: A Christian Path of Transcendence in Quest Magazine.
It’s the best introduction to hesychasm that I have come across: not at all obscure or condescending, it brings understanding and respect to the subject. Hesychasm is the primary endeavour that enabled the higher states of consciousness and insights of the greatest theologians, monastics and artists. To read the article, click here.
Originally printed in the March-April 2000 issue of Quest magazine.
Citation: Mitchell B., Liester. "Hesychasm: A Christian Path of Transcendence." Quest 89.2 MARCH-APRIL 2000): 54-59, 65. By Mitchell B. Liester of University of Colorado School of Medicine
If England had an Iconographer Royal that would be Aidan Hart who painted the screens that protected King Charles III during the Anointing Ceremony at the Coronation. Aidan is a Research Associate of The Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge, he has gained a reputation as one of the leading iconographers in the West. He works not only as a painter of panel icons but also a carver, wall painter, and mosaicist. We recently reviewed his seminal Festal Icons, History and Meaning. To read his latest article 'Images and Awe', please click here.
Older people may remember the World of Islam Festival in London in 1976 and its precursor in 1972. Among the events was a presentation at the Friends House in Euston Road by the Mevlevi Order of Dervishes of the sacred dance known as the Sema, never previously seen in the West. The Temple Gallery, then in Knightsbridge, was the venue for the Zikr, the ceremony of ‘remembrance of God’, traditionally performed privately after the Sema. One of the young Turkish musicians was Kudsi Erguner. Today, he is UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Artistic Director at Codarts-Rotterdam, and is considered a master of traditional Mevlevi Sufi music and one of the best-known players of the Turkish ney flute. We publish here in English for the first time his article 'First Years of Dervishes in Europe and USA' (Originally published in Turkish, in Sabah Ulkesi N° 37, October 2013.) Please click here to read it.
Alain C.J. de Lotbinière's Russian Soul is a photographic essay born from several journeys to Russia’s medieval centres over two years, exploring the spiritual depth of the Russian people through the lens of Orthodox Christianity. Focusing on churches, monasteries, and the faithful who sustain its traditions, the book reflects a thousand-year inheritance from Byzantium expressed in architecture, art, and devotion. The volume includes a preface by Sir Richard Temple and is available in both a fine art edition and a limited clamshell version with three Piezography prints. To read more, click here.
To purchase, please email Ben Shearar, ben@templegallery.com
exhibitions
Our friend Martin Bould has been associated with the Temple Gallery for more than forty years. He is a leading fine art conservator and restorer specialising in icons.