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The Ethnology Notebooks. 2025. № 4 (184), 956—968

UDK75.052:27-565.5]:[726:27-523.4](477.85-22)

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

THE PASSION CYCLE IN THE WALL PAINTING OF THE NAVE OF THE ASCENSION CHURCH IN LUZHANY

SADOVA-MANDYUK Oksana

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3863-3482
  • Ph.D., Art History lecturer,
  •  Iv. Trush Lviv Professional College of Decorative and Applied Arts,
  • 47 Snopkivska St., Lviv, 79011, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: oksanasadova@ukr.net 

Abstract. The article is devoted to the study of the frescoes of the Church of the Ascension of the Lord in Luzhany (Chernivtsi region), dating back to the 15th century. In many respects, this mural painting is consistent with the contemporary paintings of Christian churches of the Byzantine and post-Byzantine period. From the end of the 19th century, the church and its paintings were in the field of view of scientists and local historians, but it was impossible to study them comprehensively since most of the murals were whitened. In recent decades, thanks to the restoration, the possibility of their research has opened up. There are scientific articles related to the painting of the narthex, where the portrait of the founder is preserved and according to which the entire wall painting of the temple dates back to the 15th century. However, the difference between the painting of the narthex and the nave delineates at least two different periods of painting, which were performed by different groups of masters. Therefore, it is important to study the technological, iconographic, and stylistic features of the wall painting of the nave, and later the altar. This will make it possible to carry out their comparative analysis with the painting of the narthex and make it possible to clarify the periodization and dating of the wall paintings of the temple.

The wall painting of the Luzhany church has not been completely preserved. Large losses of painting and the absence of more than half of the images in the nave complicate research, especially the study of the iconographic program of the temple’s painting. Along with this, the preserved scenes, primarily of the Passion of Christ, allow us to partially understand the intention of the customers and artists of the painting. The aim of the article is to search for iconographic analogues of the Passion cycle, adapt the images to architecture, determine the ways of distribution of certain types, etc. The study is based on art historical analysis, descriptive and comparative methods.

The results of the study of the Passion cycle in the mural painting of the church in Luzhany revealed that its feature is the emphasis on the themes of sacrifice and salvation. The idea of strengthening the didactic function in the monumental Passion scenes probably belonged to the priest, who could also have been the author of the iconographic program of the altar part and the nave. The iconography of most part of compositions, which were widespread in the decoration of temples at least from the end of the 13th century, is related to the scenes of the same name in the paintings of the churches of Athos and the Macedonian school in general. The interpretations of the widespread iconographic variants («The Kiss of Judas», «The Pilate’s court», «Jesus is Laid in the Tomb») turned out to be interesting.

Keywords: Luzhany, Passion cycle, iconography, wall painting, monumental painting, murals. 

Received 12.07.2025

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