The Orthodox Church
and its Icons

 
General

Please note: Brackets around a hyperlink indicate that it has been dead or out of working at the time of updating this webpage. If the connection cannot be reestablished after some time, the link will be removed from the webpage.

Byzantium - Paul Halsalls comprehensive and well organized website concerning historical studies of Byzans, incl. texts and images from The Orthodox Church. A short introduction. Several search possibilities with good  comments. Audio. See Gallery for images, incl. some icons. Great site! (Associated with Fordham University, New York).

Global Index - claiming to be an alphabetical list of all copy-free material in English about The Orthodox Church online! Additionally the site contains a Local Collection of texts. (Karen Ræ Keck and Norman Hugh Redington, St. Pachomius Library).

A Dictionary of Orthodox Terminology   - an alphabetical dictionary, containing a lot of information about The Orthodox Church. (The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America).

Encyclopedia Britannica - articles about Eastern Orthodoxy, history, as well as about faith and liturgy. (password!).

Mount Athos - a well organized survey with short information about the monasteries of Athos. Many photos. (Private, Greece).

Mount Athos:The Holy Mountain - an instructive site about the history of Athos and about the monasteries with examples of the art/the icons of different epochs. Fine illustrations. Also information about visiting Athos. (Makedonia, Greece - see below too).

The Labyrinth - a good search engine for medieval studies, including religion and art; comprehensive database under construction. (Associated with Georgetown University, Washington D.C.).



Ortodox churches

Here are a few addresses of some of the ortodox churches which have gone on-line with the most (relevant) material.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople - containing among others a section about history, Hagia Sophia together with a digital photogallery, where you can find a collection of small icons.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America - contains a lot of information here about almost everything regarding the Ortodox Church,(click on "Orthodox Christianity"), some of which is available on Realplayer. A section about calendar og saints, liturgical music etc. Both audio and video. Searcher.

The Orthodox Church in America -  information about the church, faith, prayer etc. Also a section with icons (look below). Moreover a long article about orthodoxy (go to "Orthodox Christianity" and then to "The Orthodox Faith"). Documents about family politics (including homosexuality) and other chuch statements.

The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt - this website is not among the hottest; yet it is very informative. In the introduction you will find links to the history of the Coptic Church, as well as its liturgy, the sacraments, holidays, art, architecture, music etc. Apart from that also a section about gnosticism, and one about iconography. A collection of images. (confer icons below).

Myriobiblos - a Greek online library containing many liturgical texts, church documents, articles about art, theology, philosophy etc. (The Greek Church e-text library). 

Den ortodokse kirkeforening (danish) - information about the Orthodox Church and its theology. It contains articles about baptism, the Eucharist, confession, biblestudies and fast. A few liturgical texts. Links and service calendar. Primarily the purpose is to establish an orthodox christian service life in Denmark. The language of the liturgy is Danish. The Danish congregation is organized as a branch of a greater community in Oslo, Norway, Hl Nikolai Menighet. (Kirkeforeningen "Gudsmoders Beskyttelse").
 

Audio

Liturgia - here one can find quite a lot of liturgical texts, many photos illustrating different parts of the liturgy together with some videos from the service. This site is highly recommended though, because of music files of a good sound quality. Here one can listen to Orthodox Church hymns sung by different church choirs. The English version is still under construction, but you can click on translation. No problem. (St. John the Forerunner Russian Orthodox Church (Chesmenskaya), St-Petersburg, Russia).
 

Links

Orthodox Worldlinks - a subject catalogue of links. Weekly updating. Search function. This webpage is for the time being under reconstruction. (Theologic Systems Internet Center).

Eastern Orthodoxy - a series of annotated links. Good and well-organized. For links to icons look also here. (Wabash College, Indiana).

Byzantine and Medieval Web Links -  at this website you will find a rather large section of general links to Orthodox Christianity together with links to orthodox monasteries and churches. (Associated with Fordham University, New York).

Orthodox links in Internet - a huge collection of links to everything regarding The orthodox Church.  Geographical index. A lot of links to contemporary icon painters/workshops/galleries. (Bialystok-Gdansk Diocese of Orthodox Church in Poland).
 

Icons

The intention of this collection of references to icons is to make available to the visitor the rich world of the icons of The Orthodox Church. You may want to make yourself acquainted with the liturgical use of icons or you may just wish to rest a little while in communication with the icon. Be welcomed!

The icons of most websites will first appear as thumbnails, which may be enlarged to different sizes/resolutions on the screen. Now and then it will take some time to download the image, especially from some of the Russian pages. However, you will be fully rewarded for your waiting time, since only icons of good quality of appearance are accessible from this page (on a scale from acceptable/good to extraordinarily fine). So be patient, please, relax and enjoy these images!

When in the annotations the picture quality of the icons are referred to, what it meant is only the technical representation of the icon on the screen. There will be no comments to the quality of the icon as such!

All of the icons on this webpage can now be seen enlarged. To avoid typing on the pages with the enlarged icons, the links to the websites, from where they originate, will be directly activated by clicking on the enlarged icon.



Iconography

Icon Painting - an excellent website! A very good introduction to Russian icon painting; information about different techniques, the various schools (Kiev, Novgorod, Moscow and Pskov) and artists (Theophanes, Rublev and others). Information about the many themes recurring in icon painting abundantly illustrated by examples of high image quality. (Associated with Rollins College, Florida).

Novgorodian Icon-Painting - a long, thorough and informative article with a lot of annotated examples of the icons of the Novgorod School. (Official website about Novgorod, Russia).

Encyclopedia Britannica - short articles about (especially Russian) icon painting and some of the most famous icon painters. The address on this page links to a text about the Moscow school from where you have to go on via the various links in the article (subscription!).

The Icons of Macedonia - a short article about fresco and icon painting in Macedonia. (Macedonian Culture and Information Centre, London).

Russian Orthodox Cathedral - look for information about the feasts of the church year and the saints in the three sections: "Icons of the Mother of God", "Lives of Saints" and "Orthodox Feasts". Small icons illustrate part of the text.  (The Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Washington, D.C.).


Andrei Rublev - articles about Rublev and his icons. ("All Regions of Russia by Pictures", private).

Byzantine Art Icons - this workshop has painted icons for many churches in Greece and other places in the world. It contains pages about both "portable icon technique" and "wall icon technique". In additon an example of a prayer.  (Private, Greece).

- see below for more pages about iconography.

THE ICONS ARE ORGANIZED INTO 3 SECTIONS:

A. Icons: descriptions of the images

The Ukrainian Icon Gallery - a beautiful collection of 25 icons, chronologically divided into 6 sections. Fine descriptions and a fine short introduction. (Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archdiocese in Lviv).

Bulgarian Icons - a small collection of Bulgarian icons from the 19th century including descriptions. Organized into 2 sections (the icons of section 1 can be enlarged two times). Short introductions to Bulgarian iconography.

The Timken Museum Icon - contains a few small icons. (Timken Museum of Art, San Diego, California).

The State Hermitage Museum - some highlights from the collection of Russian icons. Images are fine quality. If you write "icons" in the search, you will get more examples of icons from other collections and from the exhibition archive of the museum. (St. Petersburg, Russia).

Kirchen Kalender - contains a collection of icons relating to the different holy days of the ecclesiastical year. See also the page about the monthly festival icons. German website.

Early Christian and Byzantine Image Pages - a comprehensive and absolutely beautiful website, connected with a course. A goldmine of frescoes, mosaic works, jewelry, textiles, ikons, illuminated manuscripts, churces, monasteries and a great lot of other images. Large files of very fine picture quality. Most icons are collected in the sektions "Sinai Icons", "Festival Icons" (3 pages), "The Theotokos", "Christ" and "Contemporary Russian Art". (Prof. Joe Byrne, Belmont University, Tennessee).

Icons of Bosnia-Herzegovina - an excellent site with a detailed text about churches, monasteries and icons in the area. Beautiful old icons from the 16th - 19th centuries. Good picture quality. In addition one is given an impression of the effects of war on the religious life and art. (Svetlana Rakic, fled from Sarajevo in 1992, now associated with Franklin College, Indiana).

Belarusian School of Icon Painting - a collection of fine old icons with descriptions of each image. The icons are from an area presumably not known to many people. Very good picture quality. Text about ikonography and the right use of icons. (Belarus - White Russia).

Macedonian Icons - here you will find a small collection of old Macedonian icons. Small images, but with description of each icon.

Sacred Art Gallery - a very large private collection of icons from c.1650 to 1918. The icons are placed chronologically, displaying the oldest ones first. Please notice: This website is very suitable for education because of its detailed description of each of the 84 icons. Excellent quality of images enlarged. (James and Tatiana Jackson Collection, Cedar Falls, Iowa - the collection is part of James Jacksons antique shop website) .

Mount Athos: The Holy Mountain - we are told here that there exist about 20.000 icons on Mount Athos. A small fraction of these are presented in an iconographic context. Very beautiful icons of a good picture quality. The same page contains also a paragraph about mosaics and wall paintings. (Makedonia, Greece).

Ethiopian Icons - interesting small collection  of Ethiopian Icons. Two sections: 1) "Faith" contains the exhibition of the icons and 2) "Science", where one can see a treatment case study. (National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution).

Ethiopian Icons through the Centuries -  a small collection of Ethiopian Icons from the 14th-18th century. Some miniatures in Bibles and service books. (Prof. Christopher Haas, Villanova University, Pennsylvania).

Kultura-Extra Online-Magazin - this magazine of culture contains an article about Russian icons and a representation of half a dozen icons. Only in German. (Editional main office: Tübingen, Germany).

Rosizo:Orthodox Art - a small and beautiful collection of icons with detailed descriptions of the images! You may also notice this page. (State Museum and Exhibition Center Roziso, Moscow).

The Icons of St. Catherine's Monastery - an exhibition of the very old icons of the St. Catherine Monastery in Sinai, including text about iconography and information about each icon. See also Icon Gallery. (John Watson for Tour Egypt).

Byzantium (ca. 330-1453) - an exhibition of Byzantine art including icons. Detailed information about the icons and the iconoclasm. There is another section, too, showing highlights, the images are very small though. But information is rich. (Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Byzantium - a long informative article dealing with a great part of the icons from the exhibition of the Metmuseum, "Faith and Power 1261-1557" (see above). The icons are shown in a low resolution, yet the picture quality is good. (Carter B. Horsley, The City Review Inc., New York).

 

B. Icons: limited information

Russian Icons - a rather big and very nice collection of an unusually fine image quality (it will take some time to download the very big picture files in high resolution, but it is worth the effort. Otherwise you may choose standard resolution or the quick P for low resolution). Searcher. (Christusrex, non-profit).

Gallerie di Palazzo Leoni Montanari - a comprehensive collection of around 130 icons from the 13th to the 20th century lies here on display as a permanent exhibition. Fine quality of the images. The information about the icons is in Italian, but the dates of the icons are easily recognized. (The Museum of Banca Intesa, Italy).

Icons of the Saris Museum - contains a collection of icons from the Saris Museum at Bardejov in Slovakia. Information about dating and place of origin. (Walter Maksimovich, Kensington MD, USA).

Orthodox Icons -  new and old icons mixed together. No datings. Beautiful in the enlarged sizes. (Orthodox Christian Fellowship - avoid clip-art on this site).

St.Catherine's Monastery - small website about the old monastery in Sinai containing among others some very old icons. Photos and some whole iconostases. (The Egypt Ministery of Tourism).

The Novgorod Icon Gallery - a big collection indexed according to subject and period. None or only a little information. Not the very best picture quality . A long article about icon painting. (Official website about Novgorod , Russia).

The Ecole Initiative -  a comprehensive project with an online encyclopedia regarding the early church. New message 5/1/2007:"This site is no longer maintained. It remains online for the purposes of archiving original content". (University of Evansville, Indiana).

Serbian Orthodox Diocese - a collection of (partly damaged) Serbian icons. Fine quality of images. Contains for example throrough descriptions of some monasteries, illustrated by pictures. Introductions to the history and the culturel inheritance of Kosovo and Metohia illustrated by icons. (Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren).

Old Russian Icons - contains a small collection of fine old famous icons, including some of Andrei Rublev. Good quality of images. A short survey. (Victor Potoskouev, The Russian Art Gallery).

The Russian Icons Gallery  - Japanese website, click on "Plates" to see icons. Short English and French text.

Gianadda Foundation - exhibits 9 small icons from Saint Catherine, Mount Sinai (Oct.-Dec. 2004). Look also for former and future expositions. (The Pierre Gianadda Foundation, Switzerland).

The Passions of Christ - contains 15 old icons from Cyprus; some of which are not well preserved. The icons are gathered around the themes of Eastern (and laid out with a political motive, on this greek-orthodox website).

The Icon Gallery - a German gallery in Munich. Fine old icons (21 examples online).

Imago - s small collection of old icons.

Old Serbian Icons - some very old (and damaged) Serbian icons are displayed here. Interesting. Unfortunately the quality of the images is not the very best.

World's Great Madonnas - a collection of historical images of the Virgin, including a couple of icons. The index page is focused on the annunciation and the birth of Jesus. More interesting may be the "archive of past images", an archive, to which a new madonna image has been added every week since July 1999. A spectacular collection of large fine picture files, unfortunately without any information.

Lemko Icons - here one finds 7 very beautiful icons from Polish museums. Large files of a fine quality. In addition a long article about ikonography. (Walter Maksimovich, Kensington MD, USA).

Pearls of Folk Architecture - a very interesting webpage about old wooden churches from the 18th century together with examples of ikonostasis and icons in the area of the Carpathian Mountains. The images are of a varied quality and size. This page has got the same domain as Lemko Icons (see above). If you go back to the intrance page: Religious Life, you will find links to other pages of a "different" content, like several articles about the wooden churches and the architecture. As the webmaster himself writes: "Lemko site is an organizational disaster but has lots of good information". He is right! (Walter Maksimovich, Kensington MD, USA).

Icon Painting in Belarus - here one can find 92 interesting and somewhat "different" icons from the 15th - 18th centuries. Really nice image enlargements! For information about Belarus (White Russia) see above (Belarusian School of Icon Painting).

Icons of the Church Year - the icons at this place are organized according to the church year. There are links to texts about most of the various feastdays, that is, the icons are placed in their right context, but there are no datings! Both the new and the old icons are of good image quality.
At the same website one can find the page Icons of the Mother of God, which contains a list of small icons. In addition there is also a page with a short text and images of the miracle icons of the Mother of God. (Orthodox Church in America).

Coptic Icons and Texts - a nice small collection with some information about each image, but no datings! (The Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, California).

Russian Icons - Olga's Gallery - a very beautiful gallery with many of the classical Russian icons in excellent enlargements. There are 3 sections plus special pages, including short biographies, about Theophanes, Andrei Rublev og Dionysius.
Most of the icons are dated between the 11th-16th centuries and belong to the museum collections in St. Petersborg, Novgorod and Moscow.
Short information about each icon and about iconography.

Icons from Struga (Macedonia) - a small collection with some information. (Father Stefan Sandzhakoski).

Gallery of Medieval Images - a collection of more than 100 images of icons, frescoes, miniatures and mosaics from many different countries. Many early icons with very brief information. Rather small enlargements of the images. "Gallery of Medieval icons" is part of a commercial website (Christian Icons and Frescoes Studio - see below). It is interesting to see which of the medieval icons has been used as models for contemporary icon painting. (St. Luke Icon Painting Studio, St. Petersburg).

Our Lady of Balamand - this monastery in the Northern part of Lebanon exhibits a small collection of icons. There are some iconographic information, but no dates of the icons. (Our Lady of Balamand Patriarchal Monastery, Lebanon)

Icônes de Tver - here you will find a lot of magnificent icons from Tver. Most of them are from the 15th - 16th centuries. Fine image quality. The icons seem to be scanned from a book about the icons of Tver, may be by an enthusiast from South Korea. Short text in French.

Rosizo: The Northern Letters - introduction to a small exhibition of icons from the Nothern parts of Russia. Most of the icons are dating from the 16th century; some are without a date. Low resolution and varied image quality. (State Museum and Exhibition Center Rosizo, Moscow).

Icons from Omsk - a small exhibition from the central part of Russia, the Urals and Siberia. (Omsk Museum of Fine Arts).

The Irkutsk Art Museum - a small nice collection of icons from the 15th-18th centuries.  Fine picture quality. (The Art Museum of Irkutsk, Siberia).

Old Russian Icon Painting - displays a nice collection of icons from the 14th-19th centuries. (The Sergiev Posad State History and Art Museum-Reserve, Moskva regionen).

McGhee Collection of Icons - a nice collection, which is displayed here in very small images (c. 20KB). (Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma).

Iconography - here one can enjoy an exhibition of several hundreds of icons, primarily from the 14th to the 17th century. Very fine image quality. For a start click on Иконография. The navigation may seem somewhat disorderly; the folders have been organized by topics, so some icons may pop up more than one time. Information in Russian about date and place (the original and the present place of each icon). Bibliography. Search. You may use a programme such as Free Translation Online, which offers a quick translation from Russian to English. This website is highly recommended!

Christianity in icons, murals & mosaics - an exhibition of a around three hundred old icons from the hands of the famous masters and from the great icon schools. The image quality is mostly okay. The gallery is organized by topics, but one can also browse the gallery by schools, by authors, by current locations such as cathedrals, monasteries, museums etc. The intrance "by groups" shows how the icons are placed together in the iconostasis. Please notice that the Russian section of the website shows more icons than the English section. A tour into these webpages is recommended!

Christian image - a huge collection of primarily old icons. Rather small files. Picture quality mostly okay. Image information about quite a lot of the icons. One is invited to vote or write ones opinion of each icon.
In the Russian version of the website one can find many more icons than in the English translation, and it is worth a visit, mainly because of the many Byzantine/Greek icons.

The Moscow Kremlin - the museum exhibits a page containing 7 small icons.

Saint Andrey Rublyov's Icons - here one can look at 17 nice icons by Rublev. The images are of a good quality and can be enlarged twice (the second time: click on "Cсылка"). Only in Russian.

Virtual Collection of Icons - if you want to visit this large collection of icons, you must have great patience, since it is downloading very slowly. The collection is divided into different subjects - the address inserted here begins with the section: Troica. You may go on to the sections: Christ, Deesis, Mother of God1, Mother of God2, Sofia, Festival Days NT, Festivals, Saints1, Saints2 and Others (the upper lines is an index - a translation programme such as Free Translation Online may be helpful). The collection is of mixed contents, but it contains many very beautiful icons. Only Russian. (Nesusvet, private).

Russian Art XII-XVII Centuries - the museum exhibits some very fine icons. (The State Tretyakov Gallery).

Palech Icons - a collection of icons from Palech from the 17th-19th centuries. No systematic list. Some images are not the very best picture quality. Slow downloading. Most icons are from the State Museum of Palekh Art.

Odigia Ikonenmuseum - an exhibition of old icons, e.g. John the Baptist. Illustrative examples of restoration. Information unfortunately only in Dutch. Images of nice picture quality. (Odegia Institute, Haag, The Netherlands).

Culture of Russia - an extensive and marvellous exhibition of the famous beauties of Russian icons. Apart from the frontpage, this website is only in Russian, and navigation is a bit difficult. But it is absolutely worth it to have some patience here. You may try to insert Russian seach words such as Икона - Богоматерь - Спас (that is: the words for icons, Gods Mother and Christ - copy them from here); in this way you will get many more results.

Old Russian Icons, Frescoes, Mosaics - the instance page of this website is extremely modest, but have a look behind and you will see a treasure of the old "classic" Russian icons in an excellent and high resolution picture quality. There are 6 sections in Russian. Please, use a translation programme such as Free Translation Online. The contents of the 6 sections is: Very early icons, Moscow icons, Novgorod icons, Theophanes, Andrei Rublev og Dionysius. Highly recommended. (Alexander Stoll).

The Embroidered Picture - a visit here is a must! The old classical icons exhibited here are of the very best picture quality! Take notice, please, downloading the enlargements, that they are of a very high resolution. There are 4 sections: Christ, Mother of God, St. John the Baptist and Angles. Actually this website is devoted to embroidery. Hajdar Natalia Aleksandrovna is an artist of "icon embroidery". Besides she exhibits outstandingly beautiful antique embroidered images and objects of an excellent picture quality. Highly recommended. Only Russian.

Virtual Icon Catalogue - an impressive big collection of Russian icons, divided into sections:Old icons from the 11th-16th century (176 icons), Godmother icons (151 icons), Novgorod icons (52 icons), Pskov icons (24 icons), Tver icons (44 icons) and Paul Korins oldrussian collection (20 icons). Unfortunately in some of the sections the icons are rather dark, but in other sections they are of a very high quality. NB: only Russian text. However the collection is very well organized, which makes it easy to navigate the web site. The dates can be understood right away. A visit is highly recommended! (Moscow's St Mitrophan of Voronezh Church and the Church of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos in Petrovsky Park).

Web Gallery of Art - here one can find a small collection of very beautiful icons from the 13/14th-16th century. Search "icon" in title and click on "Comment" for information. The icons may be send as postcards.

C. Icons: no additional information

The Coptic Network Picture Archive - subject indexed. (The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt).

Digital Icon Gallery - big collection, divided into various subjects. (Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America).

Russian Icons - big collection divided into 10 sections with icons from different ages. NB: only Russian text. (St.Petersburg Press).

OCF Icon Archive - the online icons of a enthusiastic collector. (Massachusett Institute of Technology).

Aquarium Icons - big collection of Russian icons. Many, but not all of them, are of a fine image quality (especially in the first half part of the list). Unfortunately no thumbnails. Click on the list and then click a second time to see the icon enlarged. Obs!: Information only in Russian (the reason why it is placed in this section C).

Georgian Orthodox Church - 4 pages with icons displayed at random it seems. Some interesting examples however. A part of the icons are from the 13th century. Not all of the icons are dated. Rather small sizes of files. No English.

Ikone - a big and very beautiful collection of famous as well as less known icons. Many gorgeous items from the 14th - 16th centuries. Most of the icons are of a very good image quality. Unfortunately this website is only in Russian, but datings are clear. Through the intrance page you may go to 5 different sections: Mother of God, Christ, angles, saints and festival icons. Worth a visit!

Holy Dormition Orthodox Church - a church presents its contemporary icons (nearly 50 pieces). (Holy Dormition, Cumberland, Rhode Island, part of The  Orthodox Church in America).

Aleppian Icons - a very short article about Syro-Christian art, that is Aleppan icons. Except for that all text is in Syrian. One can see some icons of Chrysostomos (Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo, Syria).

Icons of Ancient Russia - a small collection in 2 pages of Russian icons from the 11th-16th centuries. Information only in Russian.

Orthodox Icons - this website is only for those who have got the patience to look through this large collection of icons without any thumbnails (!). One may have luck and find some very nice images. The link refers to the section with icons of the Virgin. Russian text.

Gallery on Kotlovke - this website contains several hundreds of icons, but it is not easy to navigate unless you read Russian. From the main photo page a visit may be recommended into the following collections: Архангельский собор (Arkhangelsk Cathedral), where from page 13ff a great many icons can be seen. That section also includes liturgical objects, frescoes etc. of a fine picture quality. The most comprehensive exhibition of icons one can find in the section  Кострома (Kostroma). Almost all of the icons are earlier than 1800. The section Переславль (Pereslavl) contains some very beautiful icons in between a lot of other objects. Also in  Данилов монастырь (Danilov Monastery) fine icons can be seen. Dates and information about the main part of the icons, and only in Russian. A more direct way may be to write Икона into the search.

Andrey Rublyov Icons - here one can look at some of the famous icons, for example from the deesis row 1408 in The Dormition Cathedral, Vladimir. Nice enlargements. (Belarus).

Russian Icon Photo - here one can see a lot of photo prints of some of the most well known Russian icons. Nice picture quality. Slow speed. No info. Only in Russian.

Chat fora

Live Journal - Russian chat forum, where people have inserted many beautiful icons, some of them in a very big resolution of an excellent quality. Most of the icons have got dates. Please in particular notice the icons posted by John Petrov. Navigating this website is easy. You simply go backwards from the mainpage (the page of the day) by the link "go:earlier" at the bottom of the pages. This chat forum is worth a visit!

Below you will find some of the best COMMERCIAL addresses:

Even if these websites are primarily commercial, some of them actually contain information, which is not easily found elsewhere, for example about restoration, about copying, and about the technique of icon painting. Besides often a short survey of iconography may give you further information. The image quality is mostly good.

Please remember: When in the annotations the picture quality of the icons are referred to, what it meant is only the technical representation of the icon on the screen. There will be no comments to the quality of the icon as such!

The icons of the commercial websites are divided into 2 sections: 1) antique shops with online exhibitions of old icons and  2) modern icon painters.
 

1. Antique shops and auction houses

The Temple Gallery - this nice gallery displays an online exhibition of several hundreds icons of a good quality. Rather small images, but many fine details. New exhibitions twice a year. A visit is recommended! (London).

Russian Icon Gallery - a comprehensive collection of Russian Icons from 1500 to 1917. Beautiful enlargements of images including information. More new exhibitions during the year. Very nice website! (Tallinn, Estonia).

Zoetmulder Ikonen - a big collection of Russian icons from the 15th to the 19th century, divided into sections. Many beautiful high resolution images.  (Delft, Nederlands).

Sancta - this shop offers a big collection of icons for sale in 4 different websites. Most of the icons are from the 19th century. Big images of a fine picture quality. One can see many interesting details in excellent enlargements! Many of the icons are "folk icons" and not all of the icons are in a good state of repair, which is reflected in the price. The oldest and most expensive icons are exhibited here. Nice layout. You may also visit the other websites of Sanctas: here and here. (Edgaras Mickevicius, Antique Shop in Lithuania).

Antique shop - exhibition of several hundred icons, nearly all of them from the 19th century (the shop says that 70% of the icons are from the 19th century, but that is not the case regarding the online collection at least). Some of the first displayed icons have not been photographed right on and some are unsharp, but there are many pieces of a fine image quality, and there are many beautiful icons to buy in this shop. (Tallinn, Estonia).

Artantique - an excellent exhibition of icons from the 19th century. Fine enlargements of a good picture quality (except for a few). Nice layout. English version. (Moscow).

True Russian Icons - an exhibition of icons of a fine quality. Information including some descriptions of the images. High resolution pictures. New exhibitions twice a year. Have a look!

Russian Icons from George Serebryakoff - the collection is organized according to dates and prices. Most of the big enlargements in a fairly good image quality. The greatest part of the icons dates from the 19th century. (Estonia).

George Karpis Russian-arts - the icons here are displayed only in very small sizes, and the images are accompanied by short descriptions.

The Slava Gallery - small images including informative descriptions of each icon. A couple of illustrative examples of restoration are displayed.

Tóth-Ikonen - here you will find a small nice collection of Russian icons. Most of the icons are of a fine image quality, but some look unsharp. (Ferenc and Christel Tóth, Amsterdam).

Morsink Ikonen - many high quality icons, including quite a lot of early ones, offered for sale. The new ones can be seen in a very high resolution. Only short information. (Jan Morsink, Amsterdam). 

Auktionshaus Zeller - this auction house displays icons for sale as well as sold icons as far back as 2002. Click on the auction catalogs and scroll down to "Ikonen". The oldest and most expensive icons one can find in auktion 72. The picture quality of most of the icons is okay. Medium images. (Michael Zeller, Lindau, Germany).

Antique Icons - this monastery has got some Russian icons from the 18th to the 19th century for sale. Fine enlargements of most of the images. (Holy Cross Monastery, West Virginia, US).

Gelos Auction - big Russian auction house. Scroll down the page and enjoy the 23 icons (of the autumn 2005 collection), including some highlights from the 16th and the 17th centuries. English text in some of the pages. If you don't mind the Russian pages you may also look here. One may read about the collection here. (Moscow, Russia).
Gelos also has a branch in Kiev, Ukraine.

Iconastas of Piccadilly - an exhibition of a great deal of icons from the 17th century and later times. Short information about each icon. Rather small image files. The picture quality not impressive, unsharp as many of the icons appear. (London).

Ikonengalerie Loerke - a small exhibition. Small files of a varied picture quality. Some information including dates. (Marc Loerke, Velden, Germany).

Milatz Ikonen - here you will find descriptions of the images. Nice examples are displayed, though unfortunately quite a lot is of no good picture quality. The icons which have been sold are maltreated by big sold strips across the images. (Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands).

Ikonengalerie-Rutz - an exhibition of around 50 icons, some very old ones. Nice layout. Small enlargements with information. The quality of the reproduction of the images is not the very best.  (Düsseldorf, Germany).

Russian Art - a big private collection of Russian icons for sale. Organized into sections according to centuries. No further information. Images somewhat blurred. (Berne, Switzerland).

H.W.C. Dullarert - antique shop in Amsterdam, with many fine antique icons for sale. Unfortunately the icons are displayed in a very low resolution, and the picture quality is no good.

Ikonen-Galerie Horst R.Schmied -  a well organized exhibition of around 50 icons from the 16th-19th century. A separate section of brass icons. Some of the icons are very small and/or blurred. Not many replacements in this German website. (Bad Griesbach).

Carlo Teardo Antiquario - here one will find many nice icons for sale. The icons are displayed in high resolution, most of them are of a good picture quality. Descriptions only in Italian, but click on the right side of the mouse and go to "Translate into English". Unfortunately the icons are defaced by the trade mark of the company. (Milano, Italien).

Ikonenhandel Grassmann - a small exhibition of icons nicely represented. (Berlin).

Brenske Gallery - a rather extensive selection of icons, mostly from the 19th century. Small images, not the very best picture quality. (Stefan Brenske, Munich & Hannover, Germany, also in Zurich, Switzerland).

Russian-Antique - many of the icons here unfortunately are not displayed in a frontal way, but one can see many fine details. (New York).

The Russian Store - this exhibition quite nice, good quality images, descriptions of the icons and a number of original articles on related subjects. (Palm Beach, Florida).

Damascene Gallery - online shop features some authentic antique icons, new hand-painted icons and high quality printed icons on wood. (New Jersey, US).

 

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Ikonen Galerie Sophia - a small collection of old icons. German website. (Zurich). Also shop Gallery Sophia in U.S.

Senasis Kuparas - this antique shop is a bit hesitating included here. Exhibition of many icons, with several details, but dates are missing! Not all icons of the best picture quality. Not much replacement of the contents in this website. (Vilnius, Lithuania).

Antikhof Neuenstein - small online exhibition. Rather small images, but full descriptions! No updating for a long time. (Neuenstein, Germany).

2. Contemporary icon painters

Iconofile Resource Guide - helpful guide to find painters, fiber artists and metal workers in sacred art.

Palekhskaya Icon Painting Workshop - in this workshop there are 14 icon painters working, drawing icons of a rarely high quality. You may find some very exquisite works.
The website is only in Russian; one may use a translation programme (such as the free systran) or navigate a bit around (for example you will find icons on this page). The workshop has had exhibitions in many places, inside as well as outside Russia. The painters have made iconostasis in several churches. They also create and restore wall paintings in churches and monasteries.

Russian Icon" Moscow Icon-painting Center - this website contains contemporary icons of a high standard together with some articles about the situation of icon painting today. Unfortunately many links are out of function. You may visit the Russian page, where especially the section with St. Georg exhibits some excellent old icons. Russian and English.

Icon-painting Workshop Ekaterina - Russian workshop exhibiting contemporary icons. Only in Russian, but you may navigate through the (approximate) English words in the adresses of the different links on the menu. Click on gallery, on restoration and archive to see fine examples of icons from the nineties till now and also quite a lot of illustrating examles of restoration of damaged icons.
 
Ikons:Windows into Heaven - contains a lot of relevant information about both Greek, Byzantine and Russian iconography, illustrated by icons. In addition a detailed section about the craft, plus links to other icon painters. (Austin, Texas).

Cal-Hellas - contains many small reproductions painted in Thessaloniki. (California).

Iconography - Icon Arts  -  - icon gallery with pages about the technique and history of icon painting. (Austin, Texas).

McNichols Icons - a large choice of icons. Contains a long interesting interview with the Roman Catholic icon painter. (Omaha, Nebraska).

Icons and Iconography - one of the finer modern icon painters. Not much information, but a couple of examples of restoration before and after. (Vancouver, Canada).

Orthodox Byzantine Icons -  the monks in a small orthodox monastery in Wisconsin paint icons.

Orthodox Icons Today - a small exhibition of Fedor Streltsov's modern icons. Nice images. (Moscow).

Christian Fresco and Icons Studio - next to the contemporary icons are shown various medieval icons that have served as models and inspiration for the modern icon writers. Some photos of churches with modern icons can be seen. (St. Luke Icon Painting Studio, St. Petersburg).

Heavenly Art - Vivian Karayiannis exhibits here her fine collection of Byzantine icons. Short article about iconography. (Houston).

Atelier Saint-André - this workshop is a community of traditional Byzantine iconographers who follow the teachings of Egon Sendler. The website contains a full and interesting instruction of icon painting step by step including many illustrations.

Website of Maria Poltorak - a fine little gallery. Maria Poltorak is a member of the prestigious Union of Artists of Russia. She is the artist behind numerous works in churches and in private posession throughout Russia and abroad.

Moscow Ikonopisnaja Workshop  - here one finds an exhibition of fine modern icons. The workshop has been part of many exhibitions. It is a member of "The Orthodox Brotherhood of Icon Painters In the name of St. Andrey Rublyov". Only in Russian.

Orthodox Icons Of Olympia - a nice exhibition of icons painted in acrylic and gold leaf on gessoed wood. (Heather Williams Durka, Olympia, Washington, US).

Icons of Henk Roersma - this icon painter is an auto-didact who has been painting for 32 years. He has had several exhibitions. Very fine work indeed. (Lunteren, Netherlands).
 

 

 

 

 

 

Slideshow 1                    Slideshow 2

 

 

Ikonostasis
Deesis Range (most parts)
Andrei Rublev, 1408
The Dormition Cathedral, Vladimir
(display 1280x1024)