Ukrainian Iconography is a unique thousand-year-old tradition that reflects the profound spirituality and cultural development of the Ukrainian people. For centuries, Ukrainian painters faced discrimination, while invaluable works were destroyed or stolen by occupying regimes that subjugated Ukrainian territories.
After gaining independence, Ukrainian sacred art is experiencing a revival and is increasingly being studied. However, this development is complicated by deep scars inflicted by invaders: the myth of the "provincial" and "non-canonical" Ukrainian icon remains widespread, and in the global academic community, Ukrainian iconography often remains entirely unknown.
Icon.org.ua is the first online gallery of Ukrainian sacred art from the 11th to the 21st centuries. The project's goal is to familiarize audiences and promote Ukrainian sacred art both within Ukraine and globally. The gallery aims to represent Ukrainian iconography as a holistic thousand-year-old tradition that developed across all ethnic Ukrainian territories, including Zakerzonnia, Pryashivshchyna, Starodubshchyna, Kursk region, and others.
Therefore, many collected examples are housed in museums and churches in Poland, Slovakia, Canada, Belarus, and Russia. Another key objective of the project is to dispel colonial myths about the provinciality and non-canonicity of Ukrainian icons. Dedicated sections explore painting schools and artist biographies. The site also features a significant body of research by Ukrainian and foreign scholars, as well as detailed iconographic analyses of numerous examples.