Spatial icon in the culture of Vetka: Our Lady of Kazan
No. 2 (37) (2025), Eurasian Heritage
No. 2 (37) (2025)

Spatial icon in the culture of Vetka: Our Lady of Kazan

Eurasian Heritage
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.02.003
Published 2025-06-30
Galina G. Nechaeva
Vetka Museum of Old Believers and Belarusian traditions named after F.R. Shklyarau, Vetka, Republic of Belarus

eLibrary ID galnech51@gmail.com

Abstract

The article examines the semantics of iconography and decoration in the Old Believer Vetka (or Vyetka, Vietka) culture. In the previous stage, titled “Embossed icon covers of Vietka: space and time”, the solid-wrought icon frames were presented as representations of the world. At the next stage, with this article, the author explores the decoration of the canonical icon, which is composed of multiple parts — chasing, gold embroidery, sewing with river pearls, gilded wood carving. This decoration, along with the pictorial image, creates a complex artistic and symbolic representation. Its semantics deepens to the level of technologies and their interaction, and the symbolism goes back to the Byzantine tradition of venerating the iconic image. At the same time, this canonical type of decoration clearly shows the features of the New Age, included in its formal and semantic syntax. The decorated, “dressed” icon itself has a number of expressive means directed outward, toward the viewer. The theme of creating a “sacred space” and a “spatial icon” is presented in terms of hierotopy. The results obtained from the analysis are valid for the icon complex Our Lady of Kazan in Rize and Embossed Cover, as presented in this study. However, these conclusions have the potential to be further developed within a broader context. This includes exploring the inner world of the Vetka icons themselves, as well as their interaction with the outer world of traditional culture.

https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.02.003

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