Savva Yamshchikov: eternal memory. Savva Yamshchikov (Russia): If Russia is Zhvanetsky, then this is not my Russia

Born on October 8, 1938 in Moscow. Graduated from the art history department of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University. After unsuccessful attempt to get a job in the Kremlin museums, received an offer from Viktor Vasilyevich Filatov to start his labor activity in the All-Russian restoration center in the Department of Icon Painting Restoration. So, at the age of twenty, Savva Vasilyevich began working at the All-Russian Restoration Center in the icon painting restoration department. (The center was located in the Martha and Mary monastery, founded by St. Elizabeth ( Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fedorovna), built by A.V. Shchusev and painted by M.V. Nesterov).

S. V. Yamshchikov spent most of his life in the Russian province, first doing preventive restoration work on works of icon painting, and then examining museum storerooms, compiling a restoration “Inventory of works of ancient Russian painting stored in museums of the RSFSR” and selecting icons for restoration in Moscow .

Over forty s extra years Savva Yamshchikov managed to revive hundreds of works of icon painting, unique collections of Russian portraits of the 18th-19th centuries. from various museums in Russia, return many forgotten names wonderful artists. The exhibitions organized by Yamshchikov, which showed new discoveries of restorers, became an integral part of national culture. They brought up young artists, art historians, writers and all those who cherish artistic heritage Russia.

In addition to restoration exhibitions, Yamshchikov managed to Soviet time introduce contemporaries to the treasures of private collections in Moscow and Leningrad - from icons to the best examples of avant-garde art. The owners of personal collections elected him chairman of the Collectors Club of the Soviet Cultural Fund. Having published dozens of books, albums, catalogs, published hundreds of articles and interviews in periodicals, Savva Yamshchikov for many years wrote regular columns on Central Television, filmed rare stories in various cities of Russia and abroad.

Art critic, historian, writer, publicist, S. V. Yamshchikov - author of numerous scientific works, books, albums, catalogs about Russian art. Savva Yamshchikov is an organizer of exhibitions, one of those people whose name has been associated in society for several decades with the struggle to preserve cultural heritage Russia.

He died on July 19, 2009 in Pskov. Savva Yamshchikov was buried on July 22, 2009 in the Pushkin Mountains at the Voronich settlement, in the cemetery near the Church of St. George the Victorious, next to the grave of the curator of the Pushkin Museum-Reserve Semyon Stepanovich Geichenko and near the Osipov-Wulf family necropolis

Family

He was married for the second time to the Kirov Ballet star Valentina Ganibalova. Daughter - Marfa Yamshchikova.

Memory

• Savva Yamshchikov was not only a regular author, but also a chivalrous defender of Radio Radonezh. Thanks to his help, attempts to take away the radio station's broadcast hours were repulsed. Savva Yamshchikov worked closely with People's Radio (Moscow).
• In the 90s, Savva Yamshchikov suffered from clinically severe depression, and therefore did not leave the house for about 10 years and communicated with practically no one.

Restorer, art historian, passionate publicist and defender of national culture. Honored Artist Russian Federation, member of the Writers' Union of Russia, vice-president of the Russian International Cultural Foundation, member of the Commission for considering issues of the return of cultural property, Academician Russian Academy Natural Sciences, Chairman of the Association of Restorers of Russia, laureate of the first All-Russian Prize “Keepers of the Heritage”.

For many years he was a member of the Presidium of the Central Council of VOOPIiK. The name of Yamshchikov is associated with many initiatives and actions of the Society aimed at preserving and popularizing the cultural heritage of the Fatherland. He was a professional in his field, a man of honor and high spiritual culture. At the ceremony of presenting the first All-Russian Prize “Keepers of the Heritage”, of which he became a laureate, Savva Yamshchikov said that “the crisis that has befallen us is not an economic crisis - it is a crisis of souls.” His soul always ached for everything that constituted National treasure countries. This was a man of truly Russian soul - broad, irreconcilable and vulnerable.

He grew up in a barracks on Paveletskaya Embankment, next door to Andrei Tarkovsky. Later, Yamshchikov would become his consultant on the set of Andrei Rublev. And in his famous workshop the most famous people- from Dmitry Shostakovich to Vasily Shukshin.

Graduated from the art history department of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University.

At the age of twenty he began working at the All-Russian Restoration Center in the icon painting department. (The center was located in the Martha and Mary Convent, founded by St. Elizabeth - Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna). He worked at the Martha and Mary Convent for twenty years. One of the results of many years of work was the grandiose exhibition “Restoration and Research of Museum Values,” which became an event for the whole country in the late 1980s. It was at this exhibition that the amazing provincial Russian masters of the past, Efim Chestnyakov, Nikolai Mylnikov, Fyodor Tulov, Grigory Ostrovsky and others, were revealed to the world.

S. V. Yamshchikov spent most of his life in the Russian province, restoring works of icon painting, and then examining museum storerooms, compiling a restoration “Inventory of works of ancient Russian painting stored in museums of the RSFSR” and selecting icons for further restoration in Moscow.

For more than forty years, Savva Yamshchikov managed to revive hundreds of works of icon painting, unique collections of Russian portraits of the 18th-19th centuries. from various museums in Russia, to bring back many forgotten names of wonderful artists. The exhibitions organized by Yamshchikov, which showed the new discoveries of restorers, became an integral part of Russian culture. They educated young artists, art historians, writers and all those who value the artistic heritage of Russia. Vologda, Suzdal, Pskov, Kostroma, Kizhi, Plyos - there is no such ancient city where Yamshchikov did not restore frescoes. And, according to him, there was no such icon in Russia that he did not hold in his hands. “I made the restoration popular, like a ballet,” he joked.

In addition to restoration exhibitions, Yamshchikov managed in Soviet times to acquaint his contemporaries with the treasures of private collections in Moscow and Leningrad - from icons to the best examples of avant-garde art. The owners of personal collections elected him chairman of the Collectors Club of the Soviet Cultural Fund. In the 60s he organized the first exhibition of icons. Right under the nose of the KGB - on the Kuznetsky Bridge. With scope and pomp. The line stretched almost from the Kremlin. Yamshchikov was always “inconvenient” - he “applied” for Voentorg, Child's world, Abramtsevo, the Moscow Hotel, anyone who destroyed the history of ancient cities.

One of the first in the USSR, Savva Yamshchikov, began to deal with issues of restitution of cultural property, which during the Second World War were taken from states that fought against Soviet Union. Largely thanks to his efforts, the Orthodox shrine, the icon of the Mother of God of Pskov-Pokrovskaya, was returned to Pskov from Germany.

Having published dozens of books, albums, catalogs, published hundreds of articles and interviews in periodicals, Savva Yamshchikov for many years wrote regular columns on Central Television, filmed rare stories in various cities of Russia and abroad.

Art critic, historian, writer, S. V. Yamshchikov is the author of numerous scientific works, books, albums, catalogs about Russian art. Savva Yamshchikov is an organizer of rare exhibitions, one of those people whose name was associated in society with the struggle for the preservation of the cultural heritage of Russia.

IN last years Savva Yamshchikov’s life led an active struggle to preserve the “disappearing Moscow” and its historical appearance ancient city Pskov, Pushkin Mountains Nature Reserve. About Pskov, where Yamshchikov spent half his life, he said: “The Germans in 1944 left him in better condition than he is now.” I dreamed of turning this city into a second Florence. The Pskov land seemed to accept him in gratitude - there he died at the age of 71 and was buried of his own free will in the graveyard of the ancient Pskov settlement of Voronich, which is just halfway from Mikhailovskoye to Trigorskoye, next to the grave of the legendary director of the Pushkin Nature Reserve S. Geichenko .

On the morning of the 19th, Yamshchikov died. And although everyone already knew that he had rushed to the hospital in Pskov, no one expected this, which is why it was impossible to comprehend the event. I wrote about him in the room and, having already submitted the text, I thought that I should call Valentin Rasputin, his most tender friend.

Valentin Grigorievich’s phone number was not at hand, and I decided to call Savva and ask. And I was amazed at myself - that it was me, Savva died. Never call him again. He'll never call again. Until this day, we called each other several times every day, and now it’s all over. There will no longer be his evening: “Okay, honey, rest”... Who in the morning will be scattered with gratitude for the note in defense of Pskov?..

“You’re the only one who always thanks,” I told him recently.

He laughed pleased:

I had a good barracks upbringing.

Late in the evening I went to the canal. I wanted to go to the water, to the coolness, and for the last ray of sunlight to slide across the emerald head of the drake before he hid it in his warm fluffy sides. I stood and remembered the first time I saw Savva. In a completely different life. In a completely different country. Exhibition "Masterpieces of Restoration. Efim Chestnyakov". A healthy guy with a crew cut. Green self-knit sweater, faded corduroy trousers. The voice is strong, the gaze is tenacious. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to Yamshchikov,” says Alexander Romanov, my boss and editor of the culture department of the Science and Religion magazine. “An intelligent art critic and restorer from God. But he’s like that...” - “Which one?” - "Sharp."

Recently, Savva and I recalled some episodes. He suddenly said:

And why do you need Egypt? It’s better to go to Trigorskoye to see Vasilevich. - Then he sighed. - I envy you. I dream of seeing the pyramids. But this is a pipe dream.

Why, I say, is it unrealizable?

With my legs?! Well, you understand... Otherwise, we went to Kizhi in August, I always spend August there with friends. I worked a lot in Kizhi. Last year they gave me a party for my seventieth birthday and showed me slides of the work they had done. I was amazed: we walked and drank so much - when did we all do this?! And there are white nights, I can’t sleep. He got up and opened the window. And he looked at the icon he was working on, then out the window - the same colors: blue sky, yellow leaves, glistening water. I lived a lot in Suzdal, observed people in companies, at the bazaar, in pubs - they all look like saints from their icons. There is a plain all around - and their speech is smooth, their character is even. And they gesso the board like glass, polish it so that it looks good. And they write in layers - that’s why they say “as if it was written in smoke.” Or Novgorod and Pskov - it seems very close, only 200 km between them. Novgorod is rich, solid, churches with smooth walls. And the walls of the Pskov churches are like Easter cakes: here they are uneven, here they sag, there they swell... And if you move away, everything lives and swirls there, it’s clean water impressionism.

Now I’m thinking: what a fragile person in general he was, even so powerful in appearance. He walked with difficulty, with a cane, leaning more and more on someone. My blood pressure was skyrocketing, my legs hurt terribly, and he treated them endlessly. When I asked what was wrong with him, he grinned: “I should have drunk less.” For ten years he was practically excluded from life, then “resurrected like Ilya Muromets” - someone said that about him. And he hurried, hurried to live. He was cunning even in this insatiability of his: before we have time to discuss something, he’s already throwing the bait at the next “project” - they say, it would be nice to do this, and then this, and only after... “Yamshchikov, don’t drive the horses !" - I told him to myself.

Loved introducing him to his friends. A rare quality these days, by the way. Usually people get very upset when you ask them even for such a small thing as giving someone’s mobile number for business. It’s as if you’re not sure whether you’re one of those to whom you can whisper it. God! Savva himself suggested: “Let me introduce you to Georgy Vasilevich, the director of the Pushkin Nature Reserve. You will like each other.” Or: “Call Volodka Sarabyanov, the son of an academician. I’ll give you the phone number now. He’s a wonderful restorer and a nice person.” How much have I heard about Gavryushkin, the “engine” of St. Petersburg carnivals? I had never seen him before, but I treated him almost like a relative - Savva repeated his name like a prayer and an incantation. “Gavryushkin said”, “Igor promised”... And the other Igor? Igor Petrovich Zolotussky? “The most decent, most delicate person”... And Valya Kurbatov? And Valya Lazutkin? He strung us all like pearls on a string, and believed that you need to surround yourself with reliable people, close by blood. And let them communicate with each other.

I'm waiting for his call. What an unpleasant word "never". I wish I could erase it from my vocabulary.

No need to be afraid of high-flown words

Georgy Vasilevich, director of the Pushkinsky Nature Reserve:

Savely Yamshchikov and Norbert Kukhinke (foreigner from the film It seemed that death and Yamshchikov are incomparable things.

But he left. On the land that he loved, glorified, defended, sang. And he died the way and where he probably wanted to. And, God willing, he will rest in one of most beautiful places Russia - near the St. George Church on the Voronich settlement near Trigorskoye. It was here that he wanted to be buried and spoke about it shyly, as the greatest reward for all the work associated with the Pskov land.

He was man XIX and XX centuries. In the 21st century, something serious is happening to us, because fundamental concepts, which were absolutely clear to Yamshchikov, are turning into things for discussion programs.

During the Soviet era, he managed to save the “faculty of unnecessary things” - the same unique icons, monuments for which one had to fight, expose oneself to uncomfortable situations, to reprimands, to rejection. And he did the same in our time, when genuine culture is increasingly becoming an object of sale.

In this sense, his life, despite all the difficulties, was happy. He himself perceived it that way - as an opportunity to do the work given to him from above, which there was no one else to do except him. Therefore, this is a huge loss even for those who did not love him, sometimes even hated him, because with the departure of such an opponent, life becomes poorer. Real life consists of such real people.

Igor Zolotussky, writer:

Savva Vasilievich Yamshchikov patronized a huge Russian space: starting from the restoration of monasteries and restoration of icons to the preservation of Abramtsevo, Suzdal, Pskov... His efforts during the Gogol anniversary were enormous. If it weren’t for him, maybe nothing would have happened at all, there wouldn’t have been our film about Gogol, which was made only thanks to the fact that Yamshchikov introduced me to Dobrodeev, brought me to him, and Dobrodeev found the money for the film. In Plyos, where we recently went, the fate of a priest who was forced to leave his parish against his will was arranged. He arranged for him to enter a monastery near Plyos. Savva and I traveled along the Volga to pick him up from the shore and bring him to the abbot. There is a large monastery there, 400 orphans are saved and educated. Here is Savva, who cannot be replaced. This is a gaping wound in the heart of Russia. I believe that this is an all-Russian national loss.

Valentin Kurbatov, writer:

Death does not allow you to look around in words. Savva always lived for the minute, the Lord’s now, and demanded the same from us.

He always flew, easily making enemies and losing friends, he was Sancho Panza by build, but Don Quixote by heart and soul. Spiritually, he was always faithful to the tuning fork and did not indulge time, as we know how to do today. A true child of goodness and light. It was clear from him what a burden freedom is, and how much it demands from a person. Although this is all that requires sincerity at every hour of life, it is still a lot. And it turned out that such an abstraction as restoration, where everything is far away, everything is in the past, everything is in history, requires special sincerity and the whole heart. He knew how to read history as it is today and today as history. If we learn this from him, we will be omnipotent and invincible. Thank you, Savva.

Irina Antonova, director of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts:

My grief for Savva Vasilyevich is sincere. He belonged to people who, unfortunately, are now few in my field of vision. Those who would give themselves, their energy, their heart, their soul, their whole lives to the preservation of the artistic heritage, which ultimately constitutes the most essential thing in life. He was real. Nowadays, many people take care of themselves, preserve themselves, and are afraid to say a word. After all, he was only 70 years old! I dare say “just something” because I have a lot more.

He was a difficult person, you know. One could disagree with him and even violently oppose some of his views, which, say, are not compatible with my views, but his originality and his unconditional honesty in relation to what he considered to be true and untrue deserve respect. I loved him and I know he loved me too.

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Yamshchikov Savva Vasilievich is a Soviet and Russian restorer, art historian, and publicist. Discovered the genre of Russian provincial portrait XVIII centuries—XIX centuries, revived to life the names of forgotten Russian artists and icon painters. He was a consultant to A. Tarkovsky on the set of the film “Andrei Rublev”. Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

Born on October 8, 1938 in Moscow. Graduated from the art history department of the Faculty of History of Moscow State University. After an unsuccessful attempt to get a job in the Kremlin museums, I received an offer from Viktor Vasilyevich Filatov to begin his career at the All-Russian Restoration Center in the icon painting restoration department. So, at the age of twenty, Savva Vasilyevich began working at the All-Russian Restoration Center in the icon painting restoration department. (The center was located in the Martha and Mary Convent, founded by St. Elizabeth (Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna), built by A.V. Shchusev and painted by M.V. Nesterov).

Freedom of speech, which unexpectedly appeared in our strictly regulated life, hastened to be taken advantage of by all and sundry, leaving the all-powerful ship behind mass media those who could really tell people the deep truth, whose heartfelt words could help listeners more accurately navigate the complex labyrinths and dangerous reefs, abundantly built by pseudo-peer builders and home-grown liberals.

Yamshchikov Savva Vasilievich

S. V. Yamshchikov spent most of his life in the Russian province, first doing preventive restoration work on works of icon painting, and then examining museum storerooms, compiling a restoration “Inventory of works of ancient Russian painting stored in museums of the RSFSR” and selecting icons for restoration in Moscow .

For more than forty years, Savva Yamshchikov managed to revive hundreds of works of icon painting, unique collections of Russian portraits of the 18th-19th centuries. from various museums in Russia, to bring back many forgotten names of wonderful artists. The exhibitions organized by Yamshchikov, which showed the new discoveries of restorers, became an integral part of Russian culture. They educated young artists, art historians, writers and all those who value the artistic heritage of Russia.

In addition to restoration exhibitions, Yamshchikov managed in Soviet times to acquaint his contemporaries with the treasures of private collections in Moscow and Leningrad - from icons to the best examples of avant-garde art. The owners of personal collections elected him chairman of the Collectors Club of the Soviet Cultural Fund. Having published dozens of books, albums, catalogs, published hundreds of articles and interviews in periodicals, Savva Yamshchikov for many years wrote regular columns on Central Television, in particular “The service of the muses does not tolerate fuss,” and filmed rare stories in various cities of Russia and abroad.

With the saints, may God rest the soul of God's servant Savva. Russia said goodbye to the “restorer of all Rus'” - this title was awarded to S.V. Yamshchikov by popular rumor. So I say goodbye to my close friend.

We met Savely Yamshchikov in 1963, on the set of the film “Blizzard”. This happened in Suzdal, where S. Yamshchikov arrived on his restoration business. We lived in the same hotel. Savely himself came up to me and said that he and I have a mutual friend - Andrei Tarkovsky. I starred with Tarkovsky in Ivan’s Childhood, and Savely began collaborating with him as a scientific consultant for the film Andrei Rublev. Tarkovsky’s name has become a spiritual password for us, a signal for unity. Savva was 25 then, I was 17 years old, the difference was small. Saveliy and I became close instantly and soon became close friends, as they say, “we don’t spill water.”

At the very first steps of our friendship, Savely provided me with an invaluable service: he helped persuade Andrei Tarkovsky to try me for the role of bellmaker Boriska in the upcoming film “Andrei Rublev.” This image stunned me when I read the script. I was eager to play Boriska. But how can I achieve this when Tarkovsky and Konchalovsky wrote the role of Andrei Rublev’s student, Foma, especially for me, and the foundry worker Boriska was written with the thirty-year-old Moscow poet Chudakov in mind. Tarkovsky brushed aside my request to give me a screen test for the role of Boriska, saying that I was too small for this role. The petition of cameraman Vadim Ivanovich Yusov did not help either. Then, as a last chance, I used Savva’s complicity. He chose an extraordinary method: he told Tarkovsky that Boriska couldn’t be found better than me, and bet Andrei a box of champagne that he would approve me anyway. And so it happened. I will always be grateful to Savely for his friendly support.

For many years we met with Savva literally every day. We made nightly raids on the restaurants of creative houses: the House of Cinema, the WTO, the House of Journalists, the House of Writers, the House of Architects... And late at night, when all the “houses” stopped working, the inertia of bohemian gatherings often brought us to visit Savva. He loved to be in company and could not stand loneliness. In bachelor's pauses: after his separation from his first wife, the Bulgarian Velina, and his second, the Latvian fashion model Sarma, I had to live for weeks, brightening up my friend's loneliness, in his one-room apartment on Simferopol Boulevard. We spent summer holidays together: we went to the Black Sea, to Kizhi, to Bulgaria... We traveled in an antediluvian service van on the museum and restoration work of Savely, across the expanses of Holy Rus': Pskov, Ryazan, Pechory, Vladimir, Suzdal, Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Kostroma... I saw with what respect my friend Savely was received museum workers all around Russia.

The wild life tired me, but I followed Savva, like my Virgil, through the circles of bohemian hell. Once I read poems to my friend inspired by our life at that time:

Waste of time
With the elite in smoky pubs:
Nauseating night vigils,
Feasts in creative houses.
Company idle fun,
Strange bed, hangover pain,
But they loved picnics
Sons of Soviet classics.

Savva agreed with me in assessing the emptiness of this “elite” existence, but youth took its toll...

However, Savely Yamshchikov devoted most of his life to completely different spiritual pursuits.

It was Savva who began to open up a new, unknown and beautiful world: ancient Russian cities... provincial museums... monasteries... temples... icons... Russian World, Orthodox culture. We spent the night in run-of-the-mill hotels, rural inns, in ancient belfries, monasteries, in the hut of his friend, a village carpenter-restorer on Lake Onega, and sometimes just in the hayloft... Intersected with wonderful people Russian Land, friends of Savely, who became my friends: scientist Lev Gumilev, writers Valentin Rasputin and Valentin Kurbatov, great ballet dancers Vladimir Vasiliev and Ekaterina Vasilyeva, conductor Maxim Shostakovich, sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov, Pskov blacksmith-restorer Vsevolod Kuznetsov, Kizhi carpenter- restorer Boris Elupov, brilliant film director Andrei Tarkovsky and cameraman Vadim Yusov, outstanding actors Ivan Lapikov and Anatoly Solonitsyn, famous figure skater Alexei Ulanov, legendary hockey player Vyacheslav Starshinov... Someone whispered about Savely Yamshchikov that he collects famous friends. However, what a wonderful collection... I would wish everyone to live in such a spiritual flower garden...

Working together on the film “Andrei Rublev” united us even more firmly. Savva brought me to the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery for the first time and introduced me to the abbot, Archimandrite Alypiy, with whom we became friends, and who actually became my first confessor. The days spent with Savva in the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery will forever be remembered. Intimate conversations, lavish meals in the house of the rector, a former ordinary soldier of the Great Patriotic War, icon painter, member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, who revived the fabulous Pechersk Monastery from oblivion. His Tretyakov Gallery: amazing Russian painting that decorated the walls of the long, ascending staircase where Savva and I would retire for a secret smoke break. Blessed nights under icons with a lamp in a monastery cell, immersed in deep silence, like eternity. The velvety hum of a bell, helping the soul to be carried away to the heights of the mountains.

In the second half of our life, Savva was childishly offended at me because in my interviews I talked more and more about Tarkovsky and very rarely about him. Yes, Andrei Tarkovsky was and remains for me the man of my destiny, who determined my creative path and worldview. It was he who hung the first thing in my life around my neck on the set of Andrei Rublev. orthodox cross. He was and remains for me the unattainable pinnacle of creative greatness. However, today, when Savva passed away, I honestly admit that my friendship with Savva and his spiritual guidance had no less significant influence for my spiritual development. Andrey appeared in my life periodically, like the sun in a window, and my close friend Savva was always there. It was he who led me into the expanses of Holy Rus', helped me take the first steps along a new road for me leading to the Temple, and unobtrusively guided my spiritual, Orthodox ascent.

It was Savva Yamshchikov, by God’s providence, who became the first organizer of large-scale exhibitions of icons in atheistic Russia. It’s impossible to imagine, but it was then, in the sixties of Soviet atheistic reality. It was then that in the most prestigious exhibition halls In Moscow, Savely Yamshchikov introduced the capital to the masterpieces of ancient Russian painting, published monographs and albums. At these exhibitions, the best representatives of Soviet culture second half of the 20th century.

In his youth, Savely was similar to the Russian Falstaff: he had a dense figure, and hid his bodily suffering from those around him. As a child, he suffered from polyarthritis. All his life it was difficult for him to move, his legs hurt, but it was difficult even for me, a younger and healthier person, to keep up with him. Savely was generous in Russian. I didn’t count the money, I paid for everyone. He loved nourishing, tasty food and drinks, and appreciated female beauty, friendly feasts, jokes, and songs. And at every feast there are passionate conversations about world painting, art, literature, poetry, cinema, theater, architecture, politics... He was fundamentally educated and uncompromisingly uncompromising in defending his beliefs. It was impossible to argue with him: he swept away the enemy like a bulldozer and moved forward noisily. In his judgments about art and people, he was strict and categorical. Irreconcilable towards the enemies of Russian culture and his beloved Russia: he rushed into battle with any evil spirits, without comparing their capabilities with the administrative weight categories of their opponents. And he always won.

Saveliy Vasilyevich Yamshchikov spent his whole life making his indomitable, Russian ascent, his spiritual feat: the work of a restorer and art historian, exhibitions of icons, books and articles, consultations of artistic and documentaries, conducting television programs about culture and art, collaboration with N. S. Mikhalkov on the battlefield of the Russian Cultural Foundation. Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, member of the Union of Journalists, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, President of the Association of Restorers of Russia...

A true, fearless patriot of his Motherland, about whom one can say: “and one warrior in the field.” Saveliy Vasilievich Yamshchikov was a true apostle of Russian culture of the second half of the 20th century beginning of the XXI century. With his ascetic service he forever won his honorable place in the pantheon of the culture of Holy Rus' and the grateful memory of his descendants.