The art is orthodox, which has a confluence with the muslims in the balkans and the baltic.
At anyrate, I just stopped by for the art.
As why do we carve stuff rather than paint it?
Hand oils preserve the wood.
They stain paint, but its OK on painted carvings.
Im fact I try to age them so the paint is faded and yellowed but preserved in oil.
Baltic? There were no Muslims on the Baltic.