The author of this publication, St. Petersburg historian A.V. Fedorov tried to open the veil over the secret darkening of the revered icon, tracing its path from the moment the image appeared in Gorodets to the present day. Today it is the most complete study of the history of the greatest Orthodox and monarchical shrine of Russia. For the first time, the book traces the internal mechanisms of the evolution of society's views on the significance of the Theodorov Icon, shows the fallacy of a number of established opinions about it; shows previously unpublished documents and photographs.