PART 2: THE SACRED MEANING:

The Vyshgorod icon of the Mother of God, which was renamed into “Our Lady of Vladimir”, is on display in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The icon is considered the main Orthodox relic of Russia.
In 1155, the icon was taken from the half-ruined Vyshgorod by the Prince of Volodymyr-Suzdal Andrii Bogolyubsky, son of Yury Dolgoruky during a raid on Kyiv.
In the 12th century, the Kyiv principality stood out among other principalities (Novgorod, Pskov lands, etc) as a prominent cultural and religious center. Therefore, the icon from Kyiv was very special to the northern prince in terms of value.
Actually, Kyiv is still held sacred in modern Russia which is stubbornly trying to identify itself as a descendant of the powerful ancient Rus.
WHY?
”This gave Muscovy, albeit fake, the veneer of a cultural, civilized state with an ancient historical tradition and one with Byzantine-Kyiv church metrics”, explains Ukra-inian historian Yaroslav Dashkevych. “Not only did such fabricated genealogy enable the grand dukes and tsars to use a stylized version of the name for their state, but it also helped to legitimize the aggressive policy of taking control over the territories of Rus and claiming them to be Russian — the latter remains at the top of our northern neighbor’s agenda to this day”!