Contrasto
04 June, 2004
Pilgrims gather on a hill for evening mass, during the annual pilgrimage from Kirov to the Velikaya river. The procession, which takes place over 240km, dates back more than 600 years. In 1383, a peasant discovered an icon of St. Nicholas on the banks of the river, and it was found to have miraculous healing properties. The summer pilgrimage that grew up around it became one of the most popular in Russia. The icon itself was lost during an explosion in the Troitsky cathedral in Kirov in 1935, and though the procession was suppressed during the Communist era, it was revived in 1990.
