The exhibition features a hitherto little known group of icons, one of the oldest and most precious collections of Orthodox painting in Central Europe. It contains mainly the works coming from the south-eastern borderlands of the old Rzeczpospolita.
The core of the collection constitute priceless 15th and 16th century Carpathian icons, sometimes referred to as Western Ruthenian. On display are also icons from the modern times (the 17th and 18th centuries), with a discernible influence of the Renaissance and Baroque patterns borrowed from West-European art (intensified especially after the Orthodox Church in Poland accepted the union with Rome in 1596).
The exhibition includes also icons of Balkan origin and artworks from the territory of the present-day Greece; some of them come even from the holy mountain Athos. An interesting exhibit is a part of the iconostasis from Lipovec in the Kiev district. Its beautifully carved structure, complemented with numerous examples of Orthodox sculpture, imparts an air of a genuine Orthodox church interior to the Gallery rooms. The objects connected with the Eastern liturgy complete the exhibition.
