Ecclesia Design

There is a great beauty to rural churches that new modern churches lack. Perhaps it is that they look like churches and were built by a community, which although presently small in numbers, continue to maintain them.

The completed restoration of the Basilian Fathers Pioneer Chapel tabernacle. The original icon was consolidated to prevent continued paint flaking, but left unrestored.

A church fire is a devastating loss to a community of faithful, but not having the proper insurance to replace those precious churches, especially the beautiful interiors is also a tragedy. It is important for all church's to check to see what is covered by contents insurance, chances are that pews and altars are covered, but not artwork, such as icons, wall ornamentation and the iconostasis. Ecclesiastical artwork must be appraised and insured under an a separate artwork p...olicy. Fr. Jim Nakonechny of Ecclesia Design in Edmonton, Alberta, is an accredited Canadian Personal Property Appraiser and specializes in Byzantine (Catholic /Orthodox) ecclesiastical artwork appraisals. An appraisal report ranges from 15 to 25 pages per church depending on the size of the church and the number of ecclesiastical pieces: icons, tabernacle/kivot, iconostasis, etc. These appraisals provide photographic documentation of the church interior, which considers the age, condition, provenance, and the artist/iconographer, when known, of each piece. Fr. Jim is currently accepting appraisal projects for Winter 2017 - Spring 2018 for any Eparchies/Dioceses, Catholic or Orthodox, that would like this work done. Please contact Fr. Jim at Ecclesia Design & Appraisals to discuss your church's appraisal requirements. z Bohom.
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I am so pleased to be working on my latest commission the conservation of the original c. 1920's tabernacle from the Basilian Fathers' Pioneer Chapel. The paint was in very poor condition and had alligatored (cracked) on all sides which required the tedious and careful removal of the original paint. I have now removed and prepared the wooden surfaces and have sealed/primed the surfaces to be repainted. If all goes well it will be back in the chapel for St. Peter and Paul Pilgrimage (Vidpust) on June 25th.

Welcome to Ecclesia Design & Appraisals. This is a collection of photos of the various church projects that I have work on. I am always open to work with parishes to assist them in designing and beautifying their church interiors through colour, ornamentation, stained glass and iconography.

This was a project to design an iconostasis for a church in southern Manitoba. I do not believe that it was ever constructed. The model was a lot of fun to construct.

Fr. Jim Nakonechny of Ecclesia Design is a Certified Personal Property Appraiser who specializes in ecclesiastical artwork appraisals. Having your parishes artwork appraised is very important, since most insurance companies will only cover artwork which has been appraised and has a special artwork clause as part of their insurance policy. Many parishes have discovered only after a fire or theft that their beautiful church interiors are not covered under their existing contents insurance, which only covers pews and church furnishings, but not artwork.
Contact Fr. Jim at Ecclesia Design to discover your ecclesiastical artwork appraisal needs. nakone@hotmail.com

This was my very first church ornamentation project in 2004.

Chapel Door - Stained Glass Project 2016

Tabernacle Refurbishment Project 2017

Selective Restoration