Is this the world’s largest Byzantine painting?

Graffiti artist and an iconographer in Orthodox Christian churches, Fikos is going for the record here in Kiev. “

With 46 meters height, this is the largest mural in the history of Byzantine Painting and the highest artwork in history of Greek art since ancient years,” he says on his Instagram account. Born in Greece, he may know something about the topic.

Fikos Antonios in Kiev for Mural Social Club Festival/NGO Sky Art Foundation. (photo © Maksim Belousov)

Additionally, Fikos (full name Fikos Antonios) says that he began studying Byzantine painting at age 13 under the guidance of George Kordis and after a while he collaborated with him to paint murals in Orthodox churches.

Now, as part of the Mural Social Club Festival taking place in Ukraine through the end of July, the 29 year old Athenian says he has painted this soaring Byzantine couple at a scale that is “three times higher than the chryselephantine statue of Zeus in Olympia, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world”.

Fikos Antonios in Kiev for Mural Social Club Festival/NGO Sky Art Foundation. (photo © Maksim Belousov)

Fikos Antonios in Kiev for Mural Social Club Festival/NGO Sky Art Foundation. (photo © Maksim Belousov)

Fikos Antonios in Kiev for Mural Social Club Festival/NGO Sky Art Foundation. (photo © Maksim Belousov)

Fikos Antonios in Kiev for Mural Social Club Festival/NGO Sky Art Foundation. (photo © Maksim Belousov)

Our sincere thanks to the team at Mural Social Club. Founder Dmytro Palienko and curators Oleg Sosnov and Julia Ostrovska as well as the NGO Sky Art Foundation for sharing these images exclusively with BSA.