The view toward the South of the Big Island of Hawaii shows what looks and smells like the arrival of the smoke plume from Archangelsk. This photo was taken about two hours ago at sunset.  I walked outside after sunset and the night is completely black.  People on the West coast of America can begin watching for it tomorrow.

Most of the news reports now claim that there are radiation spikes but that’s just sensationalism.  The first report that I quoted in my last post said that no radiation resulted.  This radiation scare is another example of something that is invisible and yet “scientists” know all about it.  Don’t be alarmed.

Here is a straightforward report that doesn’t claim anything else but what the eye can see from cell phone camera recordings at a safe distance.  You can also find images online but they won’t copy.

Archangelsk is where the most beautiful Russian wooden churches and Northern Icons are found, though many were been destroyed during the Soviet era.

There is an exhibition of these icons in Moscow right now.

Saved Sanctity, an exhibition of icons from the collection of Nikolai Kormashov will be on view at the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE in Riga (Doma laukums 6) from 20 July to 15 September 2019.

From website https://www.baltictimes.com/icons_from_the_collection_of_nikolai_kormashov/

“That which is not destined to perish, announces itself again and again, to attest to elusive spiritual beauty and the light of truth.” These words belong to Nikolai Kormashov (Николай Кормашов, 1929–2012), an Estonian artist and collector, who collected and restored a great collection of 15th – 20th century Russian icons during his lifetime.

More than 140 icons are available for viewing at the exhibition in the Art Museum RIGA BOURSE. Natalia Komashko (Наталья Комашко), the Head Researcher at the Central Andrey Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art (Центральный музей древнерусской культуры и искусства имени Андрея Рублёва) in Moscow, has described the collection as one of the most extensive and comprehensive private collections of its kind. A group of experts, led by her, has also carried out an attribution of the icons.

The icons were mainly collected in three regions: in the upper reaches of the Northern Dvinsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast, the Kokshenga District in the Vologda Oblast – here the icons were obtained mainly from 1965 to 1978, and in Tailova Village in Pskov Oblast, where the collector’s family spent their summers from 1967 right up to 2017. In addition to these three places, there are, of course, icons from Murom where Nikolai Kormashov was born. He said: “Northern Russia always seemed to me like a lost continent, like Atlantis. It seemed that everything that was good in Russia, had been preserved right there.”

Impressive churches which were decorated with high quality icons made at local icon painting centres were built on the banks of the Northern Dvinsk: at workshops in Solvychegodsk, Veliky Ustyug and surrounding cloisters. Prior to the time of Peter I, the river served as a trading route through Arkhangelsk and the White Sea, from the Grand Duchy of Moscow to Europe.

The Vologda Oblast, which is famous for the Kirillo-Belozersky Cloister and the Ferapont Cloister, the frescos of which were painted by famous Moscow icon painter Dionisy (around 1440–1502) together with his sons Theodosius and Vladimir, continue to possess, as yet, undiscovered Old Russian art heritage. As a result of pressure from the leading churches, the Old Believers had, in their time, sought sanctuary in this region, and respecting traditions, took care of ancient icons.

Historically, these northern regions of Russia have always been out of the way places, allowing to preserve many cultural treasures….”

Search results for “Archangelsk icons” reveal a beautiful collection of images for those of us who can’t get to Russia at the moment.