SAFEGUARDING SACRED ART: CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION OF THE PROCESSIONAL CROSSES FROM BIGORSKI MONASTERY
The international scientific volume *Monumentet 64/2025: Materialet e Konferencës Ndërkombëtare Shkencore I* (Tirana, 2026) has been published; it features research and findings presented at the international scientific conference “60 years of study & conservation: ARCHAEOLOGY – ARCHITECTURE – ART,” organized by the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Tirana and held on October 21 and 22, 2025, in Tirana, Republic of Albania.
The proceedings include the paper Safeguarding Sacred Art: Conservation and Restoration of the Processional Crosses from Bigorski Monastery, authored by Dr. Jehona Spahiu Janchevska, art historian and conservation adviser – specialist in the artistic heritage of the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine periods (9th–18th centuries), at the Department of Artistic Heritage and Head of the Sector for Research and Conservation Design of Immovable Cultural Heritage, and MA Nevenka Velichkovska, painter and conservation adviser – specialist in icon conservation at the Icon Atelier, within the Conservation and Restoration Sector of the National Conservation Center – Skopje.
The paper stems from conservation research and conservation-restoration work carried out on four processional crosses from the rich, millennium-old treasury of the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist at Bigorski.
In 2023, the expert team of the National Conservation Center – Skopje carried out direct conservation interventions on two of the processional crosses, which were returned to Bigorski Monastery upon completion of the work. Conservation and restoration activities on the remaining two crosses continued in the following period. With their return to the monastery in July 2026, the conservation and restoration process for all four processional crosses from the monastery’s collection was brought to completion.
The four processional crosses constitute a significant ensemble within the rich collection of Bigorski Monastery. Their stylistic and chronological links with other works from the monastery’s treasury make it possible to examine them within the broader context of artistic and cultural heritage.
This paper represents another outcome of the ongoing professional work and scientific research activities of the National Conservation Center – Skopje. It also confirms the importance of integrating conservation practice with research, documentation, and scholarly interpretation. At the same time, it contributes to the exchange of professional knowledge and experience and to enhancing the international visibility of Macedonian cultural heritage.
Bibliographic reference:
Spahiu Janchevska, J., Velichkovska, N., “Safeguarding Sacred Art: Conservation and Restoration of the Processional Crosses from Bigorski Monastery,” Monumentet 64/2025. Proceedings of the First International Scientific Conference, Tirana, 2026, pp. 182–194.
Prepared by: Dr. Jehona Spahiu Janchevska, art historian and conservation adviser specializing in the artistic heritage of the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine periods (9th–18th centuries), and Head of the Sector for Research and Conservation Planning of Immovable Cultural Heritage.
