Sky Arte Documentary Tells How a Soviet Soldier Saved Raphael's Sistine Madonna

A new documentary airing on Sky Arte on Saturday, December 26, recounts the dramatic story of Raphael's Sistine Madonna, a masterpiece that narrowly escaped destruction during World War II. The film, titled "La Madonna Sistina di Raffaello ‒ Il capolavoro ritrovato," marks the 500th anniversary of the artist's death. It traces the painting's journey from its creation in early 16th-century Rome under Pope Julius II, through its stay at the Benedictine monastery of San Sisto in Piacenza, to its arrival at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden in the mid-18th century. During WWII, the work was hidden in a railway tunnel in the mountains of Saxony, then disappeared and reappeared in Moscow in 1955 before being returned to the gallery in East Germany. The documentary focuses on Soviet junior lieutenant Leonid Rabinovich, a Ukrainian Jewish artist who saved the painting in 1945. His story is told through excerpts from his memoirs, reports, and letters, along with an exclusive interview with his granddaughter, writer and translator Elena Kostioukovitch, who preserves his archive. Art historians Marina Mojana and Eugenio Gazzola analyze Raphael's style, while experts Irina Alter and Irina Antonova (the late longtime director of the Pushkin Museum in Moscow) discuss the complexities of art requisitions and restitutions. Eyewitness accounts bring to life key moments such as the bombing of Dresden. The documentary is a tribute to the Sistine Madonna and the power of art.