Description
Изображенїе сїе вобеденїа во храмь прес(ве)тьи Бгомтре, Преѡѱенньий Православньй Єпкопь Пакрачкїй й Славонийскїи, Гдинь Арсенїи Радивоевйчъ, Ѭ гораѱїа любвьì йзволйль приложити храмуꙋ сто воведенскомъ въ слободной кралевской вароши Коморанꙋ, на тѵпь издати собственнимѣ йѭдйвенїемѣ за спомень вѣчнїй свой родителей й сроднй, в ползꙋ й употребленїе дароварй й подь симбхрамо живꙋѱимь усрдствова в Бго спасаемой Епархїи бꙋдимской. Во Виеннѣ аꙋстриской, 2. фебфара 1761 лѣта
This extremely rare broadside is a copper engraved copy of an Orthodox painted icon, and showcases an image of young Virgin Mary, accompanied by her parents St. Anna and St. Joachim to the presentation to the temple to St. Zacharias, followed by a group of angels. The interior of the temple is decorated with Baroque rocaille ornaments and an image of the Annunciation in the upper part. The text below is written in the old Slavic Church Cyrillic script and is ornated with an image of the Serbian church in Komárno in today’s Slovakia.
The painted icon was ordered by a bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Eparchy of Buda, Arsenije Radivojević (1759-1769) for the decoration of the Serbian church in Komárno, consecrated to the Presentation in the Temple. The Eparchy of Buda (Budapest) in the 18th century covered the Serbian Othodox church on the territory of Hungay, which included parts of today’s Croatia, Slovakia and Czech Republic.
The beginnings of this only Serbian Orthodox Church in Slovakia go to the year 1756, when the bishop of the Eparchy of Buda, Dionisije Novaković, started building the church. In 1759 Radivojević took over the patronage over the construction, which was finished in 1770.
The church was destroyed in a fire and it was rebuilt between 1849-1851.
As mentioned in the text below, the engraving was made in Vienna, on February 2nd 1761. We can assume, the engraver could not read the Old Slavic Script, since some of the letters were misinterpreted.
The print is extremely rare. We could not find any references to it, nor any examples in the institutions. The image below is one of the earliest views on the Orthodox Church in Komárno.
