Mount Athos

The inclusion of Mount Athos as a theme in the Slav Epic is explained by the painting's subtitle, describing the monastic republic as an Orthodox Vatican and sanctuary for Southeast Slavs, the place where Slavic literary monuments are kept and to which for centuries devout Slavs made pilgrimages.

Mucha, who visited Mount Athos in April 1924, was deeply impressed by the ancient spiritual atmosphere of the place. In his painting he again used the combination of two visual planes, the real and the symbolic, which he already applied in the first three paintings in the series. He made a designed use of light to create a powerful image of the church interior, with a ring of Russian pilgrims circulating along the interior wall, bowing, genuflecting, and kissing the relics presented to them by the Igumens in front of the iconostas. The transition from the earthly to the heavenly sphere is achieved by the sublime, athletic figures of the cherubim carrying models of the four Slavic monasteries on Mount Athos: the Serbian Hilandar, the Russian St Panteleimon, and the Bulgarian Zograf and Vatopedi. They are accompanied by the main Igumens of these monasteries. The figures of two girl-angels hover over the iconostas holding signs indicating purity and faith. The spiritual scene culminates in a mosaic of Theotokos in the apse.