By Roksolana Kosiv | Lviv National Academy of Arts, Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv, Ukraine

Overview

The National Museum in Lviv was founded in 1905 by Andrei Sheptytskyi (1900–44), Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. The museum was originally named “The Church Museum” as it was planned to collect only works of religious art. Later, the scope of the collection was expanded to secular works of art, but the emphasis was still on works of Ukrainian art, which make up the majority of the collection. In 1911, the museum was renamed to “The National Museum in Lviv”. During the period of Soviet occupation, the museum’s name was changed again to the “Lviv State Museum of Ukrainian Art”. In 1990, the museum was returned to its historical name, the National Museum in Lviv, and since 2005, it has been named the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv.

This institution has the largest collection of Ukrainian church art of the 15th – 18th centuries. It is famous for the collection of icons, liturgical manuscripts and printed books of the printing houses in Lviv, Kyiv, Univ, Pochaiv. It has a collection of church textiles, ecclesiastical metal objects, decorative wooden works of art and sculpture. The collection began to form from the early years of the museum’s activity. Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi took care of the museum and was its main patron until his death. As records of the museum’s director, Ilarion Sventsitskyi (who headed the museum from 1905 to 1952) attest, “larger and smaller purchases of works were coordinated with the Metropolitan, who had the final say in the expediency of acquiring artifacts”. At the call of Metropolitan Sheptytskyi, many priests donated old church items from their churches to the museum. Some works were gifted to the museum during the first decade of its operation.

For example, in 1909, a rather large group of church textiles, including embroidered vestments of the clergy and liturgical veils of the 17th – 18th century, were donated by Fr. Danylo Bodrevych from Porokhnyk (now a village in Poland). In 1912, Fr. Stepan Yuryk from St. Nicholas Church in Zolochiv, near Lviv, donated a phelonion (the upper liturgical vestment of a priest) with embroidered figures of the Deësis from the 15th century, which is a rare example of medieval church embroidery of local origin. In 1924, Fr. Volodymyr Tolochko donated an aër-epitaphios with the scene of the Lamentation of Christ from the late 15th – early 16th century (from where the aër-epitaphios was taken is not recorded in the museum’s inventory book). This aër-epitaphios is almost identical to the one in the collection of the Cyril-Belozersky Historical and Artistic Museum-Reserve (Russia). Both works were embroidered in memory of an unknown priest Manuil Ambaratopoulos in a Greek or Moldavian workshop. With the support of Metropolitan Sheptytskyi, some church textiles were transferred to the museum from St. George’s Cathedral in Lviv in the 1910s. The director, Ilarion Sventsitskyi, conducted regular expeditions to churches, mostly in the Peremyshl and Lviv dioceses of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, from where he brought various objects.

In 1939 and after World War II, the Soviet authorities liquidated the Museum of Lviv Theological Academy, the Museum of the Stavropegion Institute in Lviv, the Museum of the Shevchenko Scientific Society, and others. Part of the collections of these museums, including church textiles, were transferred to the National Museum. From these collections, the collection of the Stavropegion Institute in Lviv is worth highlighting, as it possessed valuable examples of church textiles with figurative embroidery. A group of church embroidery from the 15th – 17th centuries of Greek and Moldavian workshops were transferred from there to the National Museum. Some of them may have originally belonged to the collection of the Dormition Church in Lviv (most of the church textiles in the collection of the Museum of the Stavropegion Institute in Lviv unfortunately do not have a recorded place of provenance).

The church textiles in the National Museum in Lviv museum collection are part of the Old Decorative Fabric collection, which includes over 1,500 items. The main part of the collection consists of church textiles (and their fragments) from the 15th to 20th centuries, including clerical vestments, liturgical veils for the chalice and paten, and ornamental curtains. The collection of church textiles at the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv is not the largest in Ukraine (the biggest collection has National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”), but it is extremely valuable for examples of medieval embroidery. The works of embroidery from the 15th century are noteworthy in the context of studying Ukrainian art, but also for researching post-Byzantine church embroidery and iconography.

In general, most of the works in this collection are little-known. This is primarily due to the history of the museum, in particular during the Soviet period, when the National Museum in Lviv and its collections of Ukrainian art were seen as a source of nationalism. Any research and publications on church art had no chance of success due to censorship. In 1952, the Soviet authorities confiscated and destroyed over 1,700 objects, including works of art from the museum. The museum’s closed nature, due to the fear of losing works, meant that researchers were rarely allowed to access the collections during the Soviet period.

In recent decades, museum collections have been more thoroughly studied, primarily through cataloging. However, for non-Ukrainian readers, the works of art held in the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv, especially the collection of church textiles remain relatively unknown. In the last decades, several articles have been devoted to key works in this collection, and some of the most valuable objects have been presented in the commemorative volumes dedicated to the National Museum in Lviv (in 2005 and 2013) for the first time. The book published in 2013 is bilingual, in Ukrainian and English. In 2013, a catalog of the liturgical veils for the chalice and paten with figurative images was published. This is the first book dedicated to the objects from the collection of church textiles at the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv. Conservation on the most valuable items of the collection is currently underway, and the process of cataloging and studying the works is ongoing.

The collection of the National Museum in Lviv is essential to the study of the development of church art, the evolution of stylistic and iconography. The collection of church textiles presents significant objects of medieval embroidery that are unique to this region and important in the study of the development of Ukrainian art. Including them in the broader context of researching post-Byzantine textiles allows tracing common patterns and expanding our knowledge about this type of church art.

Key Issues and Debates

The collection of church textiles at the National Museum in Lviv raises questions about the artistic centers and workshops where the objects were created. It is also important to trace whether the objects were of local origin or imported from neighboring regions or more distant locations. The most valuable items in the collection are church textiles from the 15th to 18th centuries, consisting of around 300 works of art embroidered with gold and silver metal threads and silk. Objects with figural embroidery allow for the study of how the tradition of iconography developed, what images and scenes were popular on particular items of church textiles during a specific period of time.

In the National Museum in Lviv are some of the oldest surviving Ukrainian embroidered church textiles, including the 15th century Zhyrivka epitaphios and 11 single figures of Deësis from the St. Nicholas church in Zolochiv (Lviv region). The figures were later sewn onto a phelonion. Although the Deësis was often embroidered on the backs of phelonia of the local clergy of the 17th and 18th century, these figures are too large for the size of a phelonion. This suggests that originally the Deësis likely came from a large aër (liturgical veil) or an altar cloth.

In the embroidery of the figures of the Deësis, similar to the Zhyrivka epitaphios, colored areas dominate over gold and silver. However, the proportions of the figures and the manner of drawing indicate that these works come from different workshops. Both objects have analogues with 15th century icons from the Lviv and Peremyshl regions, in particular, with the Deësis from the iconostases of local churches. The Zolochiv Deësis depicts Christ on the throne in the center, with the Virgin Mary, John the Baptist, the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, the Sts. apostles Peter and Paul, and four holy hierarchs: Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian, and Nicholas, all shown in full height. This type of the Deësis with selected saints in full height is depicted in all surviving Ukrainian icons of this iconography from the 15th century.

Among the works of church embroidery, we can also distinguish the objects of Greek and Moldavian figurative embroidery, including, in addition to the aforementioned aër-epitaphios with the scene of the Lamentation of Christ, also an aër or podea of the 16th century with the image of Christ on the throne and apostles. We assume that some of the embroideries could have been gifts to the Dormition church in Lviv, which in the 16th and 17th century had close contacts with Moldavian voivodes, who were also its benefactors. For example, one of the epitrachelia with full-length images of the bishops has an inscription that it was “created by Vasylii, the voivode of the Moldavian land” in 1643. This refers to the Moldavian voivode Basil Lupu (r. 1634–53), the father-in-law of Bohdan Khmelnytsky and the patron of the reconstruction of the Piatnytska Church in Lviv.

The material evidence also exhibits an adaptation of Eastern and Western visual forms and techniques. This is evident in a 17th-century cape with rich figurative embroidered compositions, which originates from the Lviv Armenian Cathedral. The iconography of this liturgical garment is dedicated to the Lord’s Cross and the Savior, and is associated with the dedication of the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross in Lviv (which no longer exists). Based on the stylistic and technical features of the embroidery, the cape has been dated to the second half of the 17th century. The object may have belonged to the Armenian pro-uniate bishop Mykola Torosovych (1627–81), who sought support from the Roman Archbishop during his long and conflict-ridden rule. In the second half of the 17th century, the Armenian clergy gradually adopted the Latin form of the Liturgy and, accordingly, Latin liturgical vestments. This young Basilian monk was ordained as a bishop in the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross in Lviv with support from the former Catholicos-Patriarch of all Armenians, Melchizedek. The most inscriptions on the cape are in the Old Ukrainian language written in Cyrillic script, and certain compositions, such as Christ as the Good Shepherd, indicate the impact of Catholic iconography. This suggests that the cape may have been embroidered by local, possibly Lviv master (masters) of embroidery. However, so far no embroidered objects have been identified that can be conclusively linked to Lviv embroidery masters or workshops of that time.

The collection also includes embroidered figurative compositions from the first half of the 17th century, which were obtained from the church in the village of Porokhnyk. The cross-shaped design of the four works suggests that they may have originally belonged to omophorion, the liturgical vestment of a bishop, so it is possible that these embroideries were originally intended for the bishop of the Peremyshl diocese. At that time, the parish in the village of Porokhnyk was part of the Peremyshl diocese. One of the embroideries depicts the Virgin Mary with Sts. Anthony and Theodosios of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, indicating a connection to Kyivan traditions. It is also possible that it was created in a Kyivan workshop. This iconography was relevant to the faithful of the Peremyshl diocese for the purpose of religious affiliation, which is an issue that became acute in the 17th century when two bishops claimed authority over the diocese: one Uniat (united with the Roman Church), and the other Non-Uniate, subordinate to the Kyiv orthodox Metropolitan.

A group of works from the 17th century belongs to the workshop of the Kyiv convent of the Ascension of the Lord, which was renowned for its church textiles in the 17th–18th centuries. In particular, the mother of hetman Ivan Mazepa – Maria Magdalyna, who was the abbess of this nunnery from 1686 to 1707, was involved in church embroidery. Numerous embroidered liturgical veils for the chalice and paten are associated with this workshop. The Lamentation scene was usually embroidered on the aërs produced in this workshop. The “Melismos” composition (with the Christ in the chalice) often appeared in the center of the small veil for the chalice, with four archangels on the sides. On the paired veil for the paten, the Mother of God with the Christ Child in front of her chest was embroidered, which reflected the symbolism of liturgical veils. On one of the veils for the chalice, in addition to the liturgical prayer, the name of a nun Anastasia and her two pupils, nuns Alepiada and Anna, appear. These nuns were probably the ones who executed the veil. The workshop of the Kyiv convent of the Ascension of the Lord is also credited with precious liturgical vestments. Some of them are stored at the National Museum in Lviv, but the most of the preserved object belonged to the collection of the National Preserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra”.

The collection of church textiles in the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv reflects the development of textile production and church interiors structured through the use of textiles. Textiles with figurative compositions attest to local tradition of church embroidery and reflect the widespread tendency in the 15th–17th centuries to use imported works, mostly of Greek or Moldavian workshops. These objects make it possible to trace the connections between different artistic traditions and to identify mutual iconographic types with analogies in other media, such as engravings or icons.

Further Reading

Sydor-Oshurkevych, Oleksandra. “Пам’ятки сакрального гаптування XV–XVI століть у збірці Національного музею у Львові”. Записки наукового товариства імені Шевченка. Праці комісії образотворчого та ужиткового мистецтва. Львів [“Objects of Sacred Embroidery of the 15th–16th centuries in the collection of the National Museum in Lviv”. Notes of the Shevchenko Scientific Society. Proceedings of the Fine and Applied Arts Commission. Lviv] CCXXXVI (1998): 419–436.

The article examines and attributes the oldest embroidered objects with figurative images of the 15th–16th centuries in the collection of the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv.

Helytovych, Maria. Давня декоративна тканина. у: Національний музей у Львові : 100 років. Альбом [Old Decorative Fabric. in: National Museum in Lviv: 100 years. Album.] Kyiv: Rodovid, 2005.

A brief overview of the collection of church textiles the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv.

Kosiv, Roksolana. Літургійні покрови на чашу і дискос (з каталогом творів з фігуративними зображеннями зі збірки Національного музею у Львові імені Андрея Шептицького) [Liturgical Veils for the Chalice and the Discos (with the catalog of works with figurative images from the collection of the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv)]. Kyiv: Maister Knyh, 2013.

The first book about objects from the collection of church textiles at the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv.

Національний музей у Львові імені Андрея Шептицького. Серія: Державні зібрання України [The Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv. Series: State Collection of Ukraine]. Kyiv, 2013.

Bilingual edition in which church textiles at the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv are most fully presented. 27 objects are reproduced (with catalog entries).

Kosiv, Roksolana. “Внесок митрополита Андрея Шептицького у формування збірки Давньої декоративної тканини Національного музею у Львові”. Артклас. Митрополит Андрей Шептицький Основник Національного музею у Львові. [“The contribution of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi to the Formation of the Collection of Old Decorative Fabrics at the National Museum in Lviv”. Artclass. Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky as the Founder of the National Museum in Lviv] 3–4 (2015): 500–517.

The article studies the role of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytskyi in the history of the collection of Old decorative fabrics at the Andrei Sheptytskyi National Museum in Lviv.

This contribution was sponsored through the Research Fellowship on the Cultural Heritage of Ukraine, 2023.