The Icons In-Between exhibition is dedicated to Eastern Church art, highlighting the cultural exchange between East and West from the 15th to the early 20th century. The exhibition is the first of its kind and features 39 icons and devotional objects. About half of the exhibits are from the collection of the Ikonen-Museum Recklinghausen in Germany. Three icons are from the Icon Museum in Kampen, Netherlands, one from the Art Collection Foundation of the Würzburg Diocese in Germany, and another from the Museum of Russian Icons (Gunnar Savisaar Collection) in Tallinn, Estonia. The remaining exhibits come from private collections in Germany. Some of these works were genuine discoveries, requiring intensive research, collaboration with colleagues, and adjustments in dating and provenance. Most importantly, every icon tells a story that embodies the exhibition’s concept.
The primary goal of Icons In-Between was to unite Christian art studies and the research field of Eastern European border regions in order to explore the diverse interactions between Eastern and Western iconographic traditions. Another aim was to present Eastern Christian art that feels familiar to Western audiences, as similar iconographic programs are often found in Catholic churches. Furthermore, the exhibition highlights the shared roots of Christian iconography, the intersections between traditions, the development of specific Eastern Christian iconographic centers, and the networks connecting them over a long historical period. It also examines the interactions with Islamic depictions of the transcendent.
Icons In-Between focuses on the border regions of the Russian, Habsburg, and Ottoman empires from the late 15th to the early 20th centuries. These territories, with their shifting and fluid borders, spanned parts of many modern East, Central, and Southeast European countries over the centuries. These empires expanded and competed for control over these lands and their populations, creating territories of intertwining influences and "spaces-in-between."
Defining the exact borders of these "territories of ambiguity" is challenging; they are better described in terms of exchange and cultural transfer than the concept of centers and peripheries, which often led to those labeled as peripheral being deemed inferior. These regions share characteristic borderland phenomenon often described in historical and anthropological studies with terms like cultural hybridity, syncretism, synthesis, bricolage, pluralism, polyphony, or osmosis. While these terms may be imprecise, they generally refer to situational belonging to multiple cultures within so-called contact zones. Such areas are also referred to as communication regions, where interaction within the region is markedly more intense than external interaction.
The concept of contact zones is central to this project, along with a focus on iconographic centers and networks of exchange. The vast geographical scope necessitated a careful selection process, also influenced by the practical constraints of a museum exhibition. Ultimately, the exhibition represents regions including Greece (especially Corfu, Crete, other the Ionian Islands, and parts of mainland Greece), the western Balkans, Romania (notably Transylvania, Wallachia, and historical Moldavia), Ukraine, and Belarus. Some border regions were not included, such as parts of modern Poland, Hungary, the Baltic and some Balkan states, the Caucasus, and areas of the modern Russian Federation. Nevertheless, the Eastern Christian artifacts on display illustrate the essential features of this "iconography in-between."
The exhibits reflect cultural transfer and various manifestations of interconfessionality, transconfessionality, and confessional ambiguity within the context of Eastern Church iconography. These manifestations can be broadly categorized into two main themes:
The exhibition is organized around these two main themes, arranged chronologically. However, the division between the two groups is largely symbolic, as many exhibits fit into both categories.
Interconfessional Interaction is reflected in the adaptation of Western European iconographic models and the incorporation of "foreign" themes and motifs. Icon painters were inspired by engravings and prints, as well as by renowned artists and their works. For example, a Cretan icon indirectly traces back to a Raphael drawing, a Ukrainian-Belarusian icon to an Albrecht Dürer woodcut, and a Romanian glass icon from the early 20th century features a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper, with added details to suit the requirements of icon painting (e.g., a halo for Christ, and related inscriptions).
The impressive Iconostasis cross (c. 1600, from the western Balkans), featured on the exhibition catalog and poster, is another example of interconfessionality at the iconographic level. Typologically, it resembles crosses typical of the Diocese of Venice; its iconographic program reflects influences from Veneto-Greek painting, which spread across the Adriatic.
Additionally, "foreign" (mainly Catholic) theological elements and rituals were received and adapted in Eastern Church art. Examples include the coronation of the Virgin Mary or depictions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, visible on various icons from Ukraine, the Ionian Islands, and Romania. Icons and sacred objects in these contexts served as bridges between East and West, exemplifying interconfessionality in the contact zones of that time.
Transconfessional, shared veneration of miraculous objects, especially representations of the Mother of God, is another focus of the exhibition Icons In-Between. One key example is the Black Madonna of Częstochowa (Poland). This depiction of the Virgin Mary originates from a revered Byzantine icon that reached Western Ukraine in the 13th century and was transferred in 1352 to the Catholic monastery of Jasna Góra in Polish Częstochowa. Crowned in 1717 with the Pope’s blessing, the icon’s miraculous power was affirmed. It is highly venerated by Catholics and considered Poland’s patron saint. In the 18th century, the Black Madonna of Częstochowa entered Russian icon painting, with a 1713/14 engraving serving as a model. The icon continues to be venerated in Ukraine and Belarus. The spread of this cult—from Orthodox Byzantium through Catholic Poland and back to Orthodox lands—is a prime example of the transconfessional worship explored in this exhibition. We display such a Częstochowa icon (southern Russia or Ukraine, late 19th century).
Other examples of such cults, presented in the exhibition, include the Mother of God “of the Passion” (Southern Russia?, 19th century) (known in the Catholic tradition as Our Lady of Perpetual Help), the Pochaiv Mother of God (Ukraine, after 1773), and a stunning Madre della Consolazione (late 15th century), a remarkable example of interconfessional style blending and shared veneration from Crete.
Monasteries were key to spreading such cults. Possessing miraculous icons, they became pilgrimage centers visited by both Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Pilgrims took souvenirs—often small-format icons painted, carved, or enamelled—back to their homes, spreading the cult across confessional boundaries and increasing the monasteries’ fame as pilgrimage sites. For example, the exhibition includes pilgrimage souvenirs from Mount Athos.
Special attention is given to Kyiv, home to the Kyivan Caves Lavra, one of Orthodoxy’s most significant spiritual centers. Kyiv also presumably holds a truly "transconfessional" relic: the head of Saint Barbara, a key saint in both East and West. A pilgrimage souvenir featuring Saint Barbara is displayed in the exhibition (Ukraine, around 1900). Historical sources confirm the veneration of Kyiv’s relics of Saint Barbara across confessional lines: Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics, and Orthodox Christians all came to Kyiv to pray before them. This cult contributed significantly to Kyiv’s reputation as a major Christian center, as the "New Jerusalem."
Icons In-Between also highlights shared saintly cults, such as a Cretan icon of Saint Anthony of Padua, a Franciscan depicted in Eastern Church iconography from the second half of the 17th century.
The exhibits illustrate both the artistic diversity and integrative potential of Eastern Church art. Icons In-Between is the first of its kind to focus on visual evidence from border regions within a comprehensive, comparative framework. It transcends the focus on objects from a single country or region, instead emphasizing interregional connections and demonstrating the diverse cultural interactions between "East" and "West" that persisted despite political and confessional divisions.
Finally, some exhibits address the rarely depicted interaction with Islam in iconography. These include, for instance an icon of St. Cosmas of Aetolia, the New Martyr (Greece, 2nd quarter of the 19th century) and an exceptionally detailed depiction of mosques and minarets on the icon St. Basil the Great of Caesarea with Scenes from His Life(diptych) (possibly from a Greek-Orthodox community near Kayseri, 1793).
Icons In-Between is curated by Dr. Liliya Berezhnaya, a historian specializing in Eastern Europe and a member of the ORTHPOL project (Orthodoxies and Politics: The Religious Reforms of the Mid-17th Century in Eastern and Southeastern Europe), Institute for Habsburg and Balkan Studies at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna.
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