What is the value of icons as spiritual monuments, works of art and historical sources?

Believers praying in front of icons, asking for healing and help, experience special feelings, a state of mind, reverence, hope. This is the main spiritual value of the icon. It is important to note that Christians do not worship icons, but God and the saints depicted on them. The artistic value of an icon lies in its perception, not as an antique thing, but as an object of art. Although the rules for writing icons are very strict, for different icon painters, in different historical periods, in different regions of Russia and other Orthodox countries, the style of writing, plot, framing, etc. had their own characteristic, distinctive features. As historical sources, icons are inextricably linked with the era in which they were painted. Historians, studying them, can understand and learn a lot.