Mstyora: a historic home of Russian icon painting

Icon Painting Workshop “Mstyora Icons” is located in Mstyora, a historic settlement in the Vladimir region of Russia and one of the traditional centers of Russian Orthodox icon painting. For centuries, local icon painters worked for churches and private prayer corners, and the craft was passed from teacher to student inside families, artels, and local schools.

After the difficult twentieth century, when many icon-painting workshops were redirected toward applied art, the classical Mstyora school gradually returned to its sacred work. Our workshop is part of this living tradition: we preserve the Mstyora approach to Orthodox icons and adapt it carefully for modern commissions, churches, and families around the world.

Who paints our Orthodox icons

Our icons are painted by trained iconographers with art education, icon-painting practice, and knowledge of Orthodox visual tradition. Many skills in the workshop are learned directly from older masters: preparing the board, applying gesso, gilding, drawing the image, and painting with egg tempera.

For us, an icon is not a printed decoration or a souvenir. It is a prayerful image created by hand, with attention to the saint, feast, or sacred subject requested by the customer. This is why every commission is discussed individually before work begins.

How our hand-painted icons are made

We work with traditional materials and techniques used in Orthodox icon painting:

  • Icon board: a prepared wooden board, usually linden, with fabric and layers of levkas/gesso.
  • Painting: egg tempera with natural pigments, applied gradually in thin layers.
  • Gilding: halos and backgrounds may be decorated with gold leaf, including 960-fineness gold when the design requires it.
  • Protection: the finished icon is carefully dried, protected, photographed, packed, and prepared for shipment.

Because each icon is painted by hand, small differences in tone, gilding, and brushwork are natural. These details are part of the living character of a handmade Orthodox icon.

Icons for homes, churches, and custom orders

We paint Orthodox icons for home prayer corners, family gifts, weddings, baptisms, churches, chapels, and iconostases. Customers order icons of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God, Guardian Angels, Archangels, patron saints, feast days, family saints, and custom compositions.

The workshop can create a new icon by traditional canon, repeat an existing iconographic type, or discuss a personal commission when the request is appropriate for Orthodox iconography. We can also send photos or video of the work stages by request, so the customer can see how the icon is being created.

Ordering from abroad

Orthodox-icons.com was created for customers outside Russia who want to order a hand-painted Orthodox icon directly from the Mstyora workshop. We help with choosing the image, size, materials, gilding, and delivery option. Finished icons are packed carefully for international shipping, with special attention to protecting the painted surface and gilded details.

If you are choosing an icon for a church, a family prayer corner, or a meaningful gift, you can contact us before ordering. We will explain the available sizes, production time, price, and possible details of the future icon.

Why customers trust Mstyora Icons

  • We work in a real icon-painting workshop in Mstyora, not as a reseller of printed images.
  • Each icon is painted by hand on a prepared board using traditional icon-painting materials.
  • We discuss custom orders personally and can show the stages of work.
  • We pack icons carefully for delivery and stay in touch before and after shipment.
  • Our workshop has experience creating icons for private customers, families, and churches.

To choose a finished icon, visit our catalog of Orthodox painted icons. For a personal commission, see custom icon painting. You can also read customer feedback, check shipping and payment, or contact the workshop directly.