The icon we present to you today is related to the feast of January 30, when the Three Holy Hierarchs are celebrated: Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John the Chrysostom. In the popular tradition, this Christian holiday is also known as the ʺTrisfetiteleʺ or the Philippians of winter.

The icon with inventory number C5071 is a glass icon from the collection of the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography that is also part of the exhibition organized within the project ”Innovative techniques in Cultural Heritage Valorisation. The icons from the Sebeș Valley in the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography collection”, a project of the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography made in partnership with the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and the Norwegian organization NUDA AS, project funded by the EEA Grants 2014 – 2021, within the RO- CULTURE., which takes place at the Museum until the end of March 2022.

The icon dates from the middle of the 19th century, it belongs to the Lacrăm icon centre. As a technique, the icon was made by drawing the outline with ink on the back of the glaze (a thin, irregular glass, made by hand) with a pen or brush, after a model, then the surfaces were painted with tempera, and after this operation silver paper was applied. At the end, the frame was fixed, which is of resinous essence, profiled and stained. The dimensions of the icon are 37 cm x 31 cm.

The icon was restored by two of the specialists of the Conservation-Restoration Laboratory within the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography, Maria Tonca, tempera painting restoration expert and Ioan Butnariu, polychrome wood restoration expert.