The Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan -- the Museum of Religion --seems an appropriate place to stage an exhibition of manuscripts and handwritten books.
For the first books to appear in ancient Russia or Rus, as it was then called, were solely devoted to the lofty moral and spiritual ideals espoused in the Bible.
The exhibition is small but concise and clearly demonstrates the development of manuscripts from the 15th century until the 19th century in Russia.
Of course, right up until the late 19th century, most people couldn't read or write, and so religious ideas, tales of Greek and Roman heroes, folk heroes and fairytales were illustrated using pictures and simple language.
Early on from the 11th century it was only the priests and scribes to the nobles who had access to the written word and could write and read the beautifully illuminated texts which were painted with gold leaf and rich egg-based paints in vermilion and cobalt.
These early manuscripts were solely to glorify God and portrayed the lives of the saints, the life and miracles of Christ and his suffering on the cross.
The influence of the Byzantine and Constantinople is evident. It was from here that Christianity spread to Russia in the early middle ages.
Later natural science, philosophy, geography and medicine were the subjects of these ornate books, which enjoyed a revival in the 17th and 18th centuries. Archaeological discoveries in Greece and Italy fired an interest in the antiquities. The tales of the Trojan Wars and Alexander of Macedon became popular subject matters for hand-written and painted books.
Among some of the highlights of the exhibition is a hand-written medical textbook dating from the 18th century and giving lists of ailments and their sometimes bizarre treatments using plants and leeches. Because of a lack of such textbooks at the time, this example is translated into Swedish, German and Polish.
A 19th century hand-finished lithograph depicts the richly dressed village "dandy" surrounded by poor people pulling firewood while the 19th century hand drawing "Pure Soul" shows the simple and ancient theme of man's struggle against temptation.
Simple in its treatment, it is hand painted using watercolors but in the manner and tradition of the icon. There is also a particularly colorful graphic of the same period depicting the heroic Russian fairytale immortalized by Pushkin, "Ruslan and Ludmilla."
After the exhibition, take time to marvel at the classical extravagance of the cathedral's interior. Breathtakingly beautiful on the inside, its painted roof and iron cupola are supported by 56 pink marble columns rising up from a mosaic floor.
This cathedral is more like a palace for balls and receptions than a place of worship!