NAP445
First Legion
Figures NAP442-448 depict the evening of September 6, 1812. This was the night before the battle of Borodino when the Virgin of Smolensk Icon was paraded before the Imperial Russian Army to steel their nerves for the horrors that would come the following morning.
These troopers have been given the great honor of carrying the Hodegetria. Russians believed that after the fall of Constantinople, St. Luke's icon--the first and most famous hodegetria--surfaced in Russia where it was placed in the Assumption Cathedral in Smolensk. The icon, dated to the 11th century, is thought to have been destroyed by fire during the German occupation of 1941.
The last photo shows the entire 'Russian Virgin of Smolensk' vignette. The additional figures are available separately.