Transfer and Reception of the Kyivan Spiritual, Artistic and Cultural Environment in the Iconography of Three Wooden Churches in Maramureș, Eighteenth Century
Transfer and Reception of the Kyivan Spiritual, Artistic and Cultural Environment in the Iconography of Three Wooden Churches in Maramureș, Eighteenth Century

Summary/Abstract: In the wall paintings of three wooden churches in Maramureș (Borșa, Ieud Deal and Poienile Izei) there were depicted images of several saints related to the political or ecclesiastical history of Kyiv – Anthony and Theodosius of Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra ¬– other holy monks of the same Lavra and medieval Kyivan Rus saints – knyaz (prince) apostle Vladimir, Jona metropolitan of Moscow, Alexios metropolitan of Russia and Peter metropolitan of Kyiv. The aim of this article is to shed some light on the transfer paths of the images in the iconographic programme of the aforementioned churches. I also illuminate the alleged connecting links between Maramureș and Kyiv that stood behind this. The presence of the aforementioned images in the iconographic programme of the wooden churches indicates some ties between the village communities and the Kyivan cultural, artistic and ecclesiastic environment that determined the transfer and the reception of the images in the local iconography. I also hypothesise on the identity of some Kyivan saints depicted in the aforementioned churches. The temporal range of the study is the eighteenth century, a period of time when all three of the churches were painted.

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