Първата реставрация на иконата на Св. Богородица Теоскепасти от Созопол
The early conservation history of Panagia Theoskepasti icon from Sozopol

Summary/Abstract: Dimitar Rizov is the first full-time icon conservator-restorer of the National Church Museum of History and Archaeology. He held this position between 1938 and 1960. Although his work is of great importance to the current state of the museum collection, his conservation practice has not yet been sufficiently studied. The article focuses on the first conservation of the two-sided icon of Panagia Theoskepasti and Crucifixion of Christ, performed by Dimitar Rizov in 1941. The icon was relocated to the museum from the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin, Sozopol, in 1939 and is being published for the first time. Thе current text is an attempt to reconstruct and evaluate the work done by the museum conservator-restorer to establish the degree of authenticity of the restored artwork.Notes and photographs from the personal archive of the conservator-restorer were used for the purpose of the study. The examined documents contain information on the transfer of the painting layer of the icon onto a new panel. This calls into question the authenticity of the artwork, because the icon is originally two-sided. The present research reveals a number of inaccuracies in Dimitar Rizov’s notes. Surviving photographs indicate that he attempted to transfer the painting layer of the icon of Panagia Theoskepasti, but returned it back to its original wooden panel.The interventions carried out (without the use of protective layer) damaged the entire surface of the icon, which can hardly be positively evaluated from a modern point of view. Nevertheless, today it can be considered that Dimitar Rizov is a conservator-restorer with great experience gained during his long-term work with the collection of the National Church Museum of History and Archaeology.

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