Virgin Hodegetria of Tikhvin

The iconography of the Virgin Hodegetria of Tikhvin comes from the Byzantine art of the late fourteenth century. The original icon allegedly disappeared from Constantinople, miraculously reappearing on the shores of Lake Ladoga in 1383. The Church of the Dormition was built on the River Tikhvinka in honour of the event. In 1526, Grand Prince Basil III of Muscovy visited the site of its appearance and prayed to the icon for a son. Four years later, his wife gave birth to the future Ivan the Terrible. This led to a profusion of icons of the Virgin Hodegetria of Tikhvin.