“Churches and icons of Lemkovyna” – in the oldest Lemko church – photoreport (phot. P. Basałyga)

Last weekend, to the western part of Lemkovyna – Powroźnik – where the oldest existing Lemko church from the XVIth century is located – guests came to promote the recent book by Jarosław Giemza „Churches and icons of Lemkovyna.” The meeting with the author in the church of St. Jacob, as well as other actions that then were moved to Krynica, have been announced by us recently on our website. The organizers intended not only to show the new book but – which is satisfying  – to put the promotion of the comprehensive, professional book in the contemporary Lemko context related to  both the sacred architecture of the place of the events and presenting Lemko culture.

On Saturday afternoon, 1 April 2017, the organizers – the Rzeszów publisher Libra (book publisher), mayor of Krynica Dariusz Reśko, decided to begin a meeting in the church of St. Jacob, the construction of the church (according to the inscription put in the altar part) ended on 5 October 1600. There, the participants had the occasion to see with their own eyes the oldest from the existing ones, pearl of the Lemko church architecture, completed with a professional lecture by Jarosław Giemza who spoke with fascination about the history, architecture, icons and paintings.

Further part of the book promotion was moved to the Ball Room of the Old Spa House in Krynica. It was initiated by the host of the resort – the mayor of Krynica who patrons the action. He invited the artists to the stage: Julia Doszna, a famous Lemko singer who has been performing for a long time with an eminent Polish lutenist, Antoni Pilch. The Lemko-Polish duet performed songs by Oskar Kolberg and surprisingly invited Petro Murianka to perform with them. Before the  most eminent contemporary Lemko author read his works, on the occasion of his coming 70 birthday J. Doszna and A. Pilch dedicated him his authorial song “Balada o drazhci” which certainly was, although  not the only one, a nice moment of the meeting.

Then there was time for the main point of the programme – presentation of work by Jarosław Giemza entitled „Churches and icons of Lemkovyna” about which the author, an eminent expert on icons and church architecture, said a few words. We informed about his monumental book on our website not once, starting with the publishing announcement, through further articles announcing promotion meetings from Lemkovyna, to Kraków and even Warsaw. Last weekend the author, together with the publisher and organizers of the meeting, had the honour to come also to Powroźnik/Krynica by which he truly broadened the interest not only in icons and sacred architecture of Lemko part of the Carpathian Rus’, but it is precious also that by inviting the contemporary Lemko artists (as emphasized the leader of the meeting Zygmunt Śliwa, the editor in chief of Libra publisher: artsts of high prestige) he did not forget that Lemkovyna is not only the past, but also the presence. Let’s hope also the future.

The book by Jarosław Giemza is available for purchase on the website of the Libra PL publisher, or in the Ruska Bursa Library. Before you acquire it, take a look at the photos by Piotr Basałyga that present both parts of the Saturday meeting for which we want to thank the author.