Veraikon Icon Studio, Cisna: Carpathian icons and workshops

The Veraikon Icon Studio (Pracownia Ikon Veraikon) in Cisna is, in its owners' words, the oldest and largest icon studio in the Bieszczady. It was founded by Jadwiga Denisiuk: born in 1951 in Zamość, after agricultural studies in Kraków she settled in the Bieszczady, living in Średnia Wieś, Skorodne, Cisna and Wańkowa. She studied icon painting for several years in a conservation studio and has worked independently since 1990. She paints in the traditional technique of egg tempera with gilding; her works have been shown in Czarna, Lesko and France and hang in Orthodox and Catholic churches. It was Jadwiga Denisiuk who made the copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Beautiful Love for the rebuilt church of St Paraskeva in Łopienka.

The Carpathian icon has a special place here: a local icon born on the border of Eastern and Western cultures, combining Byzantine art with Latin tradition. With her collaborators the studio paints copies of medieval Ruthenian and Greek icons and Gothic panel painting, modern icons after Jerzy Nowosielski and its own original images. The studio's website regularly tells the stories of new works, such as the icons of Our Lady of Kalwaria and “Mary among herbs and flowers” in August 2026.

Why go

• The studio gallery: see icons up close, ask about subjects and symbolism, buy a finished image or commission an icon of any subject.
• A permanent icon display in part of an old Lemko house: classical Byzantine and Ruthenian icons, modern ones, works inspired by Ethiopian sacred art and above all Carpathian icons. An icon painter's workstation shows all the stages of making an icon and the traditional materials.
• An icon-writing workshop: 30 hours (five days of six hours) under the guidance of Jadwiga Denisiuk. Participants freely choose their image, learn every stage from preparing the board to gilding and tempera, and take the finished icon home.

What to buy

The gallery offers Christ Pantocrator, the Mandylion, the Mother of God with Child, archangels and saints, Carpathian Madonnas, and the icon of Our Lady of Łopienka (of Beautiful Love) from the very painter who made its copy for the church. The icons are painted in egg tempera on wood with gilding, so each is unique. Traditionally an icon is not painted but “written”: a ground is laid on a wooden board, the background is covered with gold, and pigments ground with egg yolk are applied layer by layer, from dark tones to light. So even a small icon means weeks of work, and the gallery staff are glad to tell you about each image.

Practical information

Address: Cisna 4, 38-607 Cisna, in the village itself on the main road of the Small Bieszczady Loop, reachable by car or by bus to Cisna. Gallery: open seven days a week; no fixed hours are published, so call before you come. Workshop: 1000 zł per person, materials included; agree dates by phone. Contact: +48 502 851 912, +48 570 226 809. The place suits anyone interested in art and borderland culture and needs no mountain walking.

Nearby

• The Bieszczady Forest Railway from Majdan near Cisna.
• Łopienka, the rebuilt church of St Paraskeva with the copy of the Łopienka icon.
• Połonina Wetlińska above Wetlina.
• The Bieszczadzka Koza goat dairy in Smolnik.

Official website: ikony.bieszczady.net.pl

Photos: ikony.bieszczady.net.pl.