Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, Bishop of Myra in Lycia. Wooden orthodox icon.

The original icon is from the late 17th century. It is kept in the Museum of Fine Arts of Tatarstan.

Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker is one of the most revered saints in Christian culture. He was an archbishop in the city of Myra in Lycia and became famous for his numerous miracles. People pray to him, asking for protection from troubles and help in traveling.

In 1877, Kazan researcher Platon Zarinsky in his work "Church Antiquities of Kazan" drew attention to two icons of the warm church of the Zilant Monastery, one of which was the image of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker. In his opinion, the features of this icon were "ornaments along the field and edges" and "bright colors".

The author of the icon was an unknown master of the second half of the 17th century. The antiquity of the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the Zilant Monastery is evidenced by the style of the icon: the face with a characteristic cut of the eyes, a thin nose, a high forehead and locks of hair above it, as well as rich and contrasting colors.

The originality of the icon's style is emphasized by a combination of unusual methods of processing the board. The artist used ornamental carving of several types, imitating a metal frame on the fields and on the background. At the same time, the plant ornament of the wheat field on the background echoes the image of the saint's eyebrows in the form of ears of corn.

The halo is filled with a plant pattern reminiscent of the multi-colored ornaments of decorative boards that covered the tyablas of ranks in iconostases. Tyablo (Greek τέμπλον - templon, altar barrier) is a wooden beam of the iconostasis decorated with plant or geometric ornaments for installing icons. In the Trinity Church, a chronicle (inscription) about the consecration of the temple was placed on the tyably. Similar ornaments on the saint's halo have been preserved on rare Balkan (14th century Athos icon from the collection of the Russian Museum) and Old Russian (1294 icon by Alexy Petrov, from the collection of the Novgorod Museum-Reserve) monuments. Ornamented halos are more often found in sculptural images of St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk.

To date, art historians do not know of similar monuments that would be distinguished by such a wealth of ornamentation and original artistic techniques.

The icon is made by printing on a wooden board. Paints are mineral, do not fade with time. The thickness of the board is 2 cm. The board is covered with primer by hand. The image is covered with wax. Each icon has a metal mount on the back side so that you can hang the icon on the wall.

You can buy the icon in three sizes:

• 13 х 11 centimeters (5,1 x 4,3 inches)
• 19 х 16 centimeters (7,5 x 6,3 inches)
• 26 х 22 centimeters (10,2 x 8,7 inches)

Our icons are made by Orthodox craftsmen. You can read more about the technology here.

We hope it will be a good gift for you and your loved ones.