Виставка «Іхтіс. Чумацька ікона на рибі»

The Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv presented an exhibition project dedicated to a unique cultural phenomenon of Ukrainian history - the Chumat icon on a fish.

The exhibition "IHTIS. The Chumat icon on a fish" combined the amazing Chumat tradition and its modern interpretation. The exhibition will present the only original preserved in Ukraine of the icon on the head of a fish from the funds of the National Reserve "Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra" and samples of icon painting and painting on fish, created by the artist Oksana Osnach, saved from the Kherson Regional Museum of Local History. The exhibition immerses you in the daily life and habits of the Chumaks, reveals the topic of important economic and socio-cultural ties between the regions of Ukraine in the 18th-19th centuries.

Why did Chumaks draw icons on flounder

Description

The icon on the fish is an important symbol of the Chumak community. It can be compared to marching military icons known since the Middle Ages. The Chumaks could carry images made on traditional materials, but the icon on a fish was symbolically linked to their way of life, as fish was the second most important commodity after salt.

Diana Popova, General Director of the Kyiv History Museum, said: "I am extremely pleased that the Museum's specialists have managed to create a project that will definitely surprise. With this exhibition, we not only demonstrate the history of few and little-known museum exhibits, but also show the works of the artist Oksana Osnach rescued from occupied Kherson. Each exhibit has its own story, which is worth knowing and remembering."

The fate of the original icons on fish requires special attention: at the beginning of the twentieth century, there were six unique icons on fish, five of which were painted on flounder and one on the head of a catfish. Unfortunately, only three of the six icons have survived to this day, and only one of them, the one on a catfish head, remained in Ukraine, while the other two, on flounder, were taken from the village Demky (Zolotonosha district, Cherkasy region) to the Russian Ethnographic Museum in St. Petersburg in 1906.

nterestingly, all known places of fish icons are located at a distance of about 100 km from Kyiv. Presumably, the tradition of making such Chumak icons was inherent in the Kyiv region, and the icons created here accompanied the Chumaks to the Crimea and returned with them.

Curator Andrii Lopushynskyi explains the title of the exhibition as follows: "The word IHTIS or IΧΘΥΣ in Greek is translated as fish, but it also stands for the abbreviation of the first letters of the phrase: Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ - Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior. Actually, the fish is one of the first symbols of Christ. This made it iconic for the Chumaks, and thus it became the central image of the exhibition."