Mother of God: ranking of officials' icons (infographic)

Ukrainian officials are fairly devout people. At least, that conclusion can be drawn from the number of icons in their declarations.

The Deklaratsii project prepared a ranking of officials whose home collections could compete with museum holdings. However, the exact number of icons is hard to count because some declarants list only the word “icons” or “collection.”

Topping the ranking is Oleg Lyashko’s right-hand man — People’s Deputy Andriy Lozovyi. In the declaration for 2016 year he indicated 74 icons. In 2015 he also owned a pectoral encolpion with saints’ relics from the 13th century, but in November he donated it to a church.

Second place went to assistant-consultant to People’s Deputy Serhiy Drayuk, Mykola Petrenko, who declared 63 ordinary icons and another 10 marked “antique.” It is worth noting that Mr. Petrenko’s experience as an assistant is considerable — he previously worked with former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

A short distance behind Petrenko is Odesa Regional Council deputy Yuriy Maslov, who owns a collection of icons from the 16th–20th centuries totaling 69 items. Nestor Shufrych, the MP, gathered a collection of 51 icons. The declaration of Serhiy Taruta could make the average church envious: the People’s Deputy listed as many as 40 icons.

A true expert in Ukrainian iconography is Olha Bohomolets. Although the exact number of items in her two collections is not specified, she is the ultimate beneficial owner of the Museum of Ukrainian Home Icons and Antiquities “Dusha Ukrayiny.” She is also the author of two books: “Home Icons of Central Ukraine” and “Windows into the Beyond: The History of a Collection of Ukrainian Home Icons.”

A connoisseur of church antiquities is also People’s Deputy Ihor Hryniv. His declaration lists 8 icons from the 14th–17th centuries and Ivan Fedorov’s Bible and Apostol (16th century). And MP Viktor Pynzenyk, for his part, prefers age over quantity — he declared 3 9th-century icons.