"The Icons from St. Barbara Chapel of Markučiai Manor"

The restored façade icons from St. Barbara chapel of Markučiai Manor are exhibited at Biržai Region Museum ‘Sėla’

The exhibition presents to the public seven unique images painted on a zinc sheet and recently discovered by the staff of A. Pushkin Museum of Literature.

In 1903–1906, St. Barbara’s Chapel was built in the manor territory under the care of Varvara and Grigory Pushkin. The outside of the building was decorated with nine icons painted on a zinc sheet that depicted the saints – patrons of the Melnikov-Pushkin family. The icons were placed in the outer niches of the chapel. Surviving photographs of the chapel show that the icons were in the niches of the façade until the 60s of the 20^th century. Their further fate was unknown until 2017. Unexpectedly, seven of the nine icons were discovered in the premises of A. Pushkin Museum of Literature. The icons needed to be restored: they suffered not only from the weather but also from bullets. It is believed that they were shot in a mockery during the Soviet era.

The research has shown that the icons were made specifically for the façade of the Pushkin’s Chapel in Markučiai. Their shape and size correspond exactly to the niches in the façade of the chapel where they were embedded.  

The author of the icons is unknown. It is believed that it was a famous icon painter George Molokin (?–1905) from Vilnius. He painted the icons for these churches: St. Nicholas in Lukiškės, St. Archangel Michael in Šnipiškės, the Sign of the Mother of God from Heaven in Žvėrynas and in the chapel of Sergius of Radonezh at St. Michael Cathedral.