Znaki Antychrysta. Miniatury starowierskiej ”Komentowanej Apokalipsy” z kolekcji Biblioteki Narodowej

English Title: The signs of the Antichrist. The miniatures in the Old Believers ‘Komentowana Apokalipsa’ [Annotated Apocalypse] from the collections of the National Library of Poland

In: Rocznik Biblioteki Narodowej, 45 (2014), pp. 79-96 ; Abb. I-XVI.

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Translation of abstract (English)

The article discusses the iconography of miniatures illustrating the ‘Komentowana Apokalipsa’ [Annotated Apocalypse], an early nineteenth-century manuscript, executed probably in the milieu of the Old Believers in Russia. The manuscript, which once belonged to the English collector Charles Butler (1821-1910), has been in the collections of the National Library of Poland since 1985 and is one of the most interesting illustrated codices on the Apocalypse in Polish holdings. The iconography of the seventy-two miniatures is linked to ancient traditions of Ruthenian art, and simultaneously bears many features uniquely characteristic of the culture of the Old Believers, forming one of the foundations of the eschatology and beliefs concerning the role of the Old Believers at the end of the world.