A resident of Britain found paintings about 400 years old during a kitchen renovation (photo)

Luke Budworth, a resident of the United Kingdom, accidentally found paintings under the ceiling during renovations in the apartment he moved into in October 2020. An interesting incident occurred in the city of York in the north of England.

The BBC reports that these paintings may be 400 years old. The paintings depict scenes from a book called Emblems, written by the poet Francis Quarles in 1635.

According to the publication, Luke Budworth, a medical researcher at the University of Leeds in the UK, and his partner Hazel Mooney decided to renovate their kitchen two years after moving into a new apartment. And when he removed the attached panels under the ceiling, the canvases were revealed underneath.

Read also: Archaeologists have found a 1,400-year-old grave of a woman who was a church leader in medieval England

"I took out my tools and started chipping away at the board. As soon as I took off the panel, there was a painting, beautiful colors, with some more layers of Victorian wallpaper," the man said about how he discovered the find.

Local media reports that these works of art were painted directly on the plaster and may date back to the 17th century. One of the paintings depicts a biblical scene - a man in a cage being dragged by an angel. There is also a painting that depicts a man on a white cart "riding into the kingdom of heaven."

The owner of the apartment contacted Historic England, the government agency that takes care of the country's historical heritage, and the team helped him find out more details and the significance of the paintings.

A representative of Historic England examined the artwork and took several professional photographs, and Budworth received a high-quality, life-size copy of the friezes.

Simon Taylor, senior architectural researcher for Historic England's northern region, said it was a "fascinating rediscovery."

"We believe that they are of national importance and in the context of York, where domestic wall paintings are quite rare, they are of particular interest," he added.

Earlier, we reported how an archaeological find was accidentally discovered in Chernihiv during the repair of a water supply system.

If you want to receive the latest news about the war and events in Ukraine, subscribe to our Telegram channel!