“Churches and icons of Lemkovyna” in Kraków

On Sunday, 22 January 2017, an authorial meeting will take place concerning a book promotion: Churches and icons of Lemkovyna by Jarosław Giemza.

The book premiere took place in December last year, the first two promotion meetings took place in Gorlice and Rzeszów. The first this year’s presentation of the book starts at 11:30 in Kraków, in the basement of the Greek Catholic Church of  the Feast of the Cross.  Before the meeting, you can take part in the Holy Mass that will  be combined with a concert of the church’s choir (start at 10 AM).

The book is a work that comprehensively presents the church art from the area of Lemkovyna, put in the context of Rusyn-Byzantine sacred art culture. The publication starts with 4 introductions. The first three were written by: Catholic, Greek Catholic and Orthodox priests, the fourth one is a word from the author. The first chapter deals with the byzantine tradition in the church art and architecture. The second one is a continuation of a precious lecture from before 30 years, by an eminent specialist within wooden architecture, a man who dedicated all his life to saving material heritage of the Southern-Eastern Poland, who died in 2009 – Jerzy Tura. The third chapter refers to the interior of a church, iconostasis, icons, altars, the authors of the wall paintings. The fourth chapter includes much useful information, for example how to read dates or shorts on icons in the Old Church Slavonic, as well as other inscriptions.

The book’s author, Jarosław Giemza, is an eminent specialist on icons and church architecture. He has been the manager of the Department of Church Art by the Castle Museum in Łańcut for 25 years. He is the author of tens of articles on the church art, an editor of many scientific works on the church art.