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

Abstract

On the wall painting of three wooden churches from 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 from Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, other holy monks of the same Lavra, 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 program from the aforementioned churches. I also illuminate the alleged conecting links between Maramureș and Kyiv, that stood behind. The presence of the aforementioned images in the iconographic program 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 18th century, a period of time when all the three churches were painted.