Рідкісний медальйон із поховання у крипті кармелітського костелу в Дубні

The circumstances leading to the researchers’ access to the church's dungeons are discussed. In 2011, a preliminary survey was conducted, during which the number of burial vaults and the condition of the burials were assessed. In 2017, rescue excavation work took place as part of efforts to organize the crypt. The aim of this research was to remove the remains of destroyed burials from the premises for their subsequent reburial within the monastery grounds.

The article presents a brief history of the monastery, the main stages of its functioning, re-profiling, and closure. The main features of the architecture of the church of St. Joseph and the location of the crypt are noted. The research has established the planning structure of the dungeon under the central nave. Two storerooms were found. In the eastern one, there were recesses in the walls of the niches intended for individual burials.

The burials made in the crypt at one time were preserved in a very ruined state – a cluster of scattered skeletal bones that were not in anatomical order. Forty surviving skulls were collected. A number of artifacts representing funerary equipment were found between the remains. Most of them are personal objects of Christian piety (religious pectoral medallions, icons, a cross, and a ring) and elements of accessories for outerwear (buttons, buckles) and shoes (buckles). The main attention is focused on the analysis of one medallion, which was found for the first time in Ukraine.

The iconography of the medallion is associated with the famous Spanish sanctuary in the city of Zaragoza, where the Basilica of Our Lady of Zaragoza, the patron saint of the entire Spanish World, is located. The obverse of the coin depicts the figure of the Virgin Mary with Jesus. The peculiarity of this composition is that the Virgin stands on a column (jasper), at the foot of which St. James the Elder Apostle and his disciples kneel. Each element of the image is endowed with Christian symbolism, so the ideological content of the plot and the history of its origin, which are directly related to the missionary activities of St. James in the Spanish provinces of the Roman Empire immediately after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, are considered in detail.

On the reverse surface of the medallion is the image of St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the Benedictine order and spiritual father of all monks in Western Europe. The objects depicted around the saint reflect the main stages of his life. The symbolism of some of them (for example, a raven with bread in its beak) has its roots in events described in the Old Testament.

In general, the medallion discovered in the Carmelite church in Dubno has analogies known from Central and Western Europe, from where it presumably came to Ukraine on a pilgrimage or through the mediation of Benedictine monks. Given the image of Our Lady of del Pilar (on the Column) of Zaragoza on the obverse of the medallion, this is the only such find in Ukraine today.