Conservation of Jerzy Nowosielski's polychromes in Warsaw's St. John Climacus's Orthodox Church

Jerzy Nowosielski was a painter, set designer, and draftsman, as well as one of the most outstanding contemporary icon artists. His art constitutes a unique phenomenon that combines sacrum and profanum, and fuses Orthodox theology with secular reality.

The Polish Parliament has declared 2023 the year of Jerzy Nowosielski, as the 100th anniversary of the artist's birth was celebrated in January.

Some of Jerzy Nowosielski's artwork can be found in St. John Climacus's Orthodox Church in Warsaw. The paintings, which decorate parts of side walls and the arched coping of the church, depict saints, angels, evangelists as well as selected scenes from the New Testament. The style in which they were painted harks back to Byzantine art.

Jerzy Nowosielski completed the polychromes in two stages. The first one in 1956, when he decorated the walls of the apse. The artist returned to the church in 1977-1979, after it had been reconstructed and extended, to ornament the lower storey of the temple. It was then when he painted the walls of the newly-built nave. In 2022, the polychromes were inscribed into the cultural property register.

The polychromes made with acrylic paint underwent consevation at least twice. As their condition was deteriorating, a decision to restore them was made in 2022. Earlier on, in 2018, insulation was replaced and a drainage system was built around the church. The improvements removed the cause of the damp and damage to the paintings.

Despite those efforts the artwork was very dirty, and the plaster was cracked. The paintings on the very damp eastern wall were especially at risk of being ruined. "The polychromes bore traces of dampness and salinity. Some of them had missing parts where the blistering plaster had fallen off," Warsaw City Hall said in a press release.

The conservation work began in July 2023, but it was very quickly interrupted. Warsaw City Hall explained that the conservators found many traces of repainting. The work schedule had to be updated. As of now, the process has been resumed.

The city hall also said the conservators had carried out tests which helped to establish the composition of mordants, removed dirt, desalinated the lower parts of walls, and enforced the plaster with special substances.

The city supported the conservation of Jerzy Nowosielski's work with a subsidy worth 300,000 zlotys.