The 1150th anniversary of arrival of Constantine and Methodius, brothers of Thessaloniki, to Great Moravia (in 863) was an opportunity to reassess the historic role of their mission both from the religious and ecclesiastical and from the political, cultural and historic points of view. The cult of Constantine and Methodius was
obviously reflected not only in the high art but also in folk culture. Velehrad, which has become one of the leading Moravian sites of pilgrimage, was connected with production of objects of devotion, which the pilgrims brought back to their homes to use in their prayers or as souvenirs of the place. The earliest group of these objects of devotion is represented by documents of folk art and works with features of folk art but the most popular objects include pieces of devotional graphic art, “holy” pictures commercially produced and sold at pilgrimage destinations since the latter half
of the the 19th century. For the purpose of the contribution a
couple of interesting artefacts (prints) of 19th century related to the Constantine and Methodius tradition were acquired. The different approaches to the composition of the scenes from the life of the two saints and different attributes of their appearance shown in the pictures demonstrate transformations of their cult, which was mainly developed in the Moravian environment, but also as regional patron saints in the Czech lands and as Slavonic faith promoters in other European nations.