The Petit Palais museum holds the largest collection of icons now presented to the public in France. Composed of postbyzantine Russian icons from the legacy of industrialist and collector Roger Cabal, this collection provides a broad overview of different schools which developed after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and reflects one of the sides most important Christian religious art. Events of the coronation, the icons are primarily an object of worship and continued importance in the Orthodox religious practice. This book invites the reader to discover the pictorial and symbolic richness of these paintings on wood with gold backgrounds representing Christ, the Virgin or the saints, and, through them, to learn the artistic history of the Eastern Christian world.