For nearly a century the Trinity icon lived at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, nationalised there in 1929 along with the rest of Russia's church property. It was shown behind climate controlled glass, in a case built specifically to manage a five hundred year old wood panel's sensitivity to humidity and vibration, and Tretyakov conservators treated it as one of the most physically fragile objects in their care.
In May 2023 Russian officials confirmed that the icon would be moved to Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow for a service, on the personal order of President Vladimir Putin. Museum professionals and art historians publicly objected, warning that removing the panel from its case and controlled environment risked real and irreversible damage; a senior archpriest who sided with the museum's advice was later dismissed by Patriarch Kirill. The transfer went ahead on 4 June 2023 regardless.
The icon underwent conservation work while away from the Tretyakov, and rather than returning to the museum it was moved a second time, permanently, to the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Lavra, the monastery Rublev had originally painted it for. It arrived back on the feast of Pentecost in 2024, ending 95 years of museum custody and returning the icon to active liturgical use on the same site where Sergius of Radonezh's monks first commissioned it. The episode remains a live point of tension between Russia's museum community, which values controlled conservation, and the church, which regards the icon first as a sacred object meant to be venerated rather than displayed.