Tour #3 – Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Museum of the Russian Icons, Clinton, MA

Departure: Durham 9:15 AM and Portsmouth 9:45 AM

The Museum of Russian Icons was founded in 2006 as a nonprofit educational institution by Massachusetts art collector and industrialist, Gordon B. Lankton. It includes more than 500 Russian icons and artifacts and is the largest collection of its kind in North America, and one of the largest private collections outside of Russia. Spanning six centuries, the collection includes important historical paintings dating from the earliest periods of icon “writing” to the present.

The museum facility is 16,000 square feet and comprises gallery spaces, a research library, archive storage, conservation studio, conference room and offices, performance facilities accommodating lectures and concerts, catering kitchen, a tea room, terrace, a green roof, mechanical rooms and rest rooms. Three floors are connected by a custom-designed, sweeping metal and glass stairway that allows visual access from virtually any place in the museum. All levels are also connected by an elevator.

Ristorante Via Alto 27 brings the fine Italian dining experience to Clinton, MA and to all of us who will be having our lunch there. All the pasta on our menu is hand made by Chef Christiana and her colleagues. Our menu choices consist of 1) Stuffed baked sole w/ vegetable risotto; 2) chicken piccata w/pasta; or 3) beef braciole w/ pasta. Salad, bread and oil, coffee and soda and a dessert of golden cake with buttercream frosting will accompany our entrée.

If you finish lunch early and/or you decide not to go back into the Icon Museum, there is another smaller museum to visit in the afternoon. It is called the Gallery of African Art. It is primarily an educational display representative of various regions, tribes and traditions of the African continent. The Gallery encompasses a diverse collection of more than 600+ African tribal masks, figures, sculpture and artifacts crafted in stone, wood, clay and bronze, spanning 32 tribes, including Dogon, Baule, and Bamana art. It is located very close to the restaurant. This museum will only hold 5-6 people at a time.

Handicap Accessibility: Russian Icon Museum is fully ADA compliant. Restaurant is accessible. The Gallery of African Art would be difficult due to how small the museum area itself is. Also in order to access the African museum one must walk through a very narrow shop.

The cost is $63.00 per person which includes transportation, admission to both museums, docents, luncheon, snack, taxes and gratuities (including the bus driver).

Approximate time of return: Portsmouth 5:30 PM and Durham 6:00 PM