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Island of Šipan, Church of St. John
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The Church of St. John is located in Šilovo Selo, in the vicinity of Sundjurdje. The original pre-Romanesque Church was expanded in the 15th century and a new renaissance Church of flat surfaces and much larger dimensions was built. The original Church became a presbytery.
The original Church of St. John was a single nave edifice built probably in the 11th century. The interior had a semicircular vault intersected by two girdles and divided into three aisles.The facade walls feature a rhythmical alteration of decorative lesenes and niches (four on each side of the building) that are deeper than on other buildings on Šipan, of the same period. The apse was semicircular inside and rectangular on the outside.
Fresco decoration, with inscriptions in Latin, can be found in the apse and on the South wall, indicating that once the entire interior was painted.
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Kotor, Church of St. Luke
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The Church of St. Luke is situated to the South-West of the Northern city gate in the old part of Kotor. It was built in 1195 with the efforts of Mauro Casafranco in the time of the Serbian Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja (reigned 1166/68-1196), as is written on an inscription carved in a stone slab placed on the Western façade of the Church (a ktetorial inscription next to the ruler's name is a proof of the new practice in Serbia). It is a Romanesque single-nave church with a dome and with leaning arches divided into three aisles, of which the middle one is longer. On the East is a large semicircular apse. On the Northern side of the church another church was erected in the 18th century and is dedicated to St. Spyridon. However, spolia placed in the church (lintel, portal, stone furniture, etc.) probably belonged to the Church of St. Michael in Kotor. During conservation works in 1971 a fresco was discovered on the Southern wall of the West aisle belonging to 12th century Byzantine art.
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Kuti, Church of St. Thomas
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The Church of St. Thomas in Kuti near Herceg Novi was probably built in the last quarter of the 11th century. It is a single nave edifice with a semicircular apse in the East as well as with semicircular vaults and a dome, indicating a strong Byzantine influence. Fragments of fresco paintings and stone furnishings have been found. A remaining stone altar screen with two parapets indicates a new, Romanesque style. On the other hand, the fresco decoration (dated to the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th century) with heads of Saints points to Byzantine artists, having similarities with the frescoes in the chapel and crypt of the katholikon of the Monastery of Hosios Loukas in Phokis and the Church of St. Nicholas on the island of Koločep. The Church of St. Thomas is in ruins with walls preserved up to a maximum height of ca. 2,5 m.
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Manastir, Church of Saint Nicholas
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Written sources:
The only source is three inscriptions, two in the interior of the church and one on the southern facade.
Geographical location:
Monastery church dedicated to St. Nikola is located in the village of Manastir, in the atar of Mariova, about 20 kilometers from the town of Prilep in the southeast direction. The monastery was built about 50 m south of the village, in the immediate vicinity of the Black River. The village of Manastir in Mariovo is located at latitude 41° 10' N and longitude 21° 43' E. The Mariovo region is an isolated, partly mountain area east of the Pelagon lowland.The natural defense of the monastery was supplemented by defensive walls that protected the monastery community. The southwest corner of this original defensive rampart (probably from the 11th century) is still visible today at a height of two meters.
The monastery complex contained buildings necessary for the smooth functioning of the monastery community. Auxiliary buildings, of smaller dimensions, either stood freely in the space, concentrated in the center of the monastery courtyard, around the catholicon, or were placed along the walls. Conceptually, the monastery settlement was divided into three dedicated zones: sacral, residential and economic. Apart from the catholicon, the accompanying chapels and the necropolis, the monastery's dining room also belongs to the cult group, because here the meal follows strict rules and is followed by prayers.
Epigraphic data:
Type and place of the first inscription:
The founder's inscription in the nave is preserved on the south and north walls. It is written between the first and second zones of the painting, in one line, in black letters on a white background, in the form of a strip framed by a red border. It is badly damaged and illegible in several places. The beginning is located on the west side of the corner pilaster on the south side of the altar apse, and the inscription then runs along the south wall and continues on the north wall.
Text of the first inscription:
ἐν ἔτειa ς χ γ ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλ(εί)ας τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτ(ου) βασιλέως καὶ αὐτοκράτωρ[ος] ̔Ρωμαίων κυρ(οῦ) Ἀλεξίου τοῦ Κομν[ηνοῦ]. Διελθὼνb ἐν τόδεc τόπ(ον) ὁ
περιπώθητο(ς) θεῖο(ς) τῆς βασ(ι)λ(εί)ας αὐτ(ῆς), κυρ(ὸ)ς Ἀλέξιος ὁ πρωτ(ο)στράτ(ω)ρ καὶ ἀρεστ(ὸς)d τὸν τόπον ἀνήγυρενe ναὸν ἐκ βάθρων τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις π(ατ)ρὸς
ἡμῶν ἀρχ(ι)εράρχου καὶ θαυματουργ(οῦ) Νικολ(άου) ... καὶ τιμήσεως αὐτῶ διὰ
χρυσοβού[λλου] κτήμ(ατα) οἶκα προκυρῶσ(ε) καθ(ῶς)f τὸ βρέβαιων παραδηλῶσειν.g Ὁ ναὸς γὰρ ἦν σμικρώτ(α)τ(ος),h σαθ(ρὸς),i ῥακοθ(εὶ)ς δὲ καὶ διατετρω[μένος] ἀρ(ρ)αγῆςj καὶ μὶ φ(έ)ρων ὁρᾶν τὴν τοῦ ναοῦ σβέσιν ὁ πανοσιώτ(ατος) καθηγ[ού]μ(ενος) τῆς μονῆς ὁ κυρ(ὸ)ς Ἰωαν(ν)ίκιο(ς), ὁ καὶ διὰ τοῦ ἁγίουk σχίματο(ς) ἐπωνο[μασθεὶς] Ἀκάκιος καὶl χωρέ[σας] ὑπ(ὲρ) χρη(μά)των ἀν(α) χωρ(εῖ)m τοῦτον θεῖαν εὐσ(εβ)ῆςn ἐπιχωρῖνo καὶ ἐν ὑπηρεσί[α] ἄγειν ὁ καὶ πρ[ο]καλ[έ]σα[ς]p τοὺς ἐν Χρ(ιστ)ῶ ἀδε[λφοὺς] αὐτοῦ ... ἅμα καὶ εὐθ[ὺς] χαλάσ[ας] τὴνq ἐκ(κ)λη σίανr ἀνήγυρενs ἐκ βάθρ(ων) τὸν πάνσεπτον ναὸν τοῦ[τον] καὶ οραΐσ(ας) καὶ καλεῖ ἐν αὐ[τοῖς] τὸν ἐν χρωματουργίμασιν πικυλοτρόπ(οις) καὶt ἐν βαθεῖ γνόμ(ονας) χεῖρ(ας) ταπινότ(α)τ(ος) Ἰω(άννης) διάκον(ος)u καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κρίσεωνv τ[ῆς] ἁγιωτ(ά)τ(ης) ἀρχ(ι)επισκοπῆς, καὶ ... [ἐν ἔτει ἐξακισχιλιοστὸ] καὶ ἑπτακοσιοστό τε ο δ, ἰν(δικτιῶνο)ς θ, ἀνιστορίθι δὲ ἐν ἔτι ς ψ ο θ, ἰν(δικτιῶνο)ς ιδ, [ἐπὶ τῆς βασιλ]είας τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου μεγ(ά)λ(ου) βασλέως καὶ αὐτοκράτωρος ̔Ρωμαίων Δοῦκα Ἀγγέλου Κομνηνοῦ Μιχαήλ τοῦ Παλαιολόγ(ου) καὶ Νέου Κωνσταντίνου
Translation of the first inscription:
In 6603, during the reign of the venerable emperor and autocrat Roman master (kyr) Alexios Komnenos, passing through this region, the amiable uncle of the empire, kyr Alexios the Protostrator, loved this place and built a temple from the ground up among the saints of our father archbishop and miracle worker Nicholas ... and, as befits, he confirmed with a chrysanthemum of possession, as it stands in the crowd. Since the temple was small, neglected, damaged and dilapidated, persevering and not being able to bear the decay of the temple, the most holy abbot of the monastery kyr Joanikije, called Akakije in the holy shima, assumed devotion to money and with the help of his fellow believers in Christ ... immediately after the demolition of the church from then he raised this most holy temple and invited it to be decorated with various colors by the skillful hand of humble John, deacon and ἐπὶ τῶν κρίσεων of the most holy Archbishopric, and... , [year six thousand and]5 seven hundred 74, indicta 9, and paintings of the year 6779, indicta 14, for the governments of the venerable great emperor and autocrat Roman Doukas Angelos Komnenos Michael Palaiologos and New Constantine.
Тype and place of the second inscription:
The long inscription in the fresco technique was written in Greek letters in the form of a thin strip and ran below the row of martyr busts, on the south and north walls of the central nave.
Тext of the second inscription:
δέησις τοῦ δού]λου τοῦ θ(ε)οῦ Ἀκακίου ἱερο(μον)άχ(ου) κ(αὶ) καθηγουμ(έ)νου
[...]ορεντος. κ(αὶ) δευτέρου κτήτωρ[ος]
Тranslation of the second inscription:
Prayer of the servant of God Akakije, hieromonk and abbot ... and another founder.
Тype and place of the third inscription:
On the southern facade of the church, in at least eighteen lines visible today, a text was written which, exposed to the weather for a long time, was almost completely washed away to the point of illegibility.
Тext of the third inscription: The text is badly damaged and some words can be read as well as the last two lines with the founder's name.
ΑΝΔΡΟΝΙΚΟС εΝ Χ(ΡΙСΤ) ω Τ ω Θ( ε)ω ΠΙСΤΟС ΒΑС[ΙΛ εΥС] ... ΚΟΜΝΗΝΟС Ο ΠΑΛΑΙ[Ο]ΛΟ[ΓΟС].
The voluminous text with the ruler's name at the end undoubtedly points to the conclusion that the chrysobull that the monastery received from the Byzantine autocrat Andronikos II was inscribed there Palaeologus (1282–1328)
Description of the church:
Church of St. Nikole is the oldest precisely dated architectural and artistic monument from the 13th century in Macedonia. According to the long inscription, made in the fresco technique, construction work on the restored architecture of the church was completed in 1265/1266. Catholicon of the monastery of St. Nicholas is basically a three-nave basilica. On the east side, it ends with a three-sided central apse. Both side aisles end up in the east with a small apse. Inside, the space of the sanctuary and the pastophoria have the shape of a conch. The basilica inside is divided into three naves, of which the central one is vaulted with a semi-barrel vault, and the side aisles are covered with single-gable wooden roofs. The separation of the nave from aisles is achieved by massive masonry columns and pilasters resting on arches, on which the upper parts of the walls of the central nave rest. In the course of several archaeological investigations, the existence of the narthex was not established. The Church of St. Nicholas in the village of Manastir had two entrances, on the west and south sides. In the reconstruction in 1939, the entrance on the west was walled up. The south entrance has its original location.
Archaeological and conservation works:
The first remodeling of the church was done in the nineteenth century. Conservation works were carried out in 1939, about which there is a carved inscription above the western entrance to the church.
Architectural dating:
From the long founding inscription in Greek from 1271, we learn about two different periods in the history of the monastery. According to the inscription the church was originally built in 1095 by Protospator Alexios, uncle of Alexios I Komnenos. The church was restored by abbot Akakije, formerly Joanikije in 1265/1266.
Facade decoration:
The greatest attention was paid to the construction and treatment of the eastern facade of the Church of St. Nicholas. It carries within itself a clear projection of the structure of the inner space it encloses. The central apse dominates the eastern facade and is placed across the entire width of the main nave of the church. The main apse of the church is three-sided from the outside, and on each side there is a large niche that is set back from the plane of the wall. The two side niches of the main apse are blind, while in the lower part of the central niche there is a window in the form of a bifora.
The entire northern wall of the church was plastered made during the reconstruction in the 19th century before the conservation work on the architecture began. After the conservation work, the plaster was removed from the facade, so that its wall become visible. The western facade of the church suffered serious damage due to shelling during the First World War. It was later rebuilt in 1939. According to previous researchers, the central part of the western facade was completely walled up in 1939.
The lower part of the southern facade is today covered with plaster in several layers from different periods. On the easternmost part below the niches, plaster remains are visible, over which a "cloisonné" facade wall was painted in the fresco technique, imitating the combination of a horizontal row of bricks with two vertical bricks. To the left above these remains is another fragment of fresco plaster lying in the same plane as the painted "cloisonné", but it does not have a painted opus, but is most likely a remnant of a painted figure or composition. The painted surfaces on the western part of the southern facade are more complex and have already been subjected to analysis. It is believed that a few decades after 1266, the old layer of plaster with painted "cloisonné" technique was removed in order to install a new layer of fresco plaster on which the image of the Byzantine emperor Andronikos II Paleologus was painted, according to the copy of his charter given to the church of Saint Nicholas in the village Manastir. Furthermore, the figures of Saint George and Saint Demetrius were also identified as part of the same composition. Over parts of this layer of plaster, later in 1327 or 1370, a new layer of fresco plaster was placed with a representation of an unknown person and the patron saint of the church of St. Nicholas.
What can be concluded is that the basic concept in decorating this part of the church was the painting of the facade. This is clearly seen in the presentation of the model of the church in the founder’s composition, where the founder - monk Akakije and the patron of the temple Saint Nicholas are represented, and where the church is painted as if it was built in the "cloisonné" technique. It is difficult to determine to what height this painted imitation of construction technique extended today. It can be assumed that such decoration was not painted in blind niches, and if they were painted, then the figures of saints were represented in them. Furthermore, the parts of the composition in which Andronikos II Paleologus and his charter are depicted cannot be connected with the first layer of plaster placed on the facade of the church, for the simple reason that the time of the construction of the church - 1266, precedes the beginning of the reign of Andronikos II Paleologus (1282 -1328).
Analysis of the founder:
There are several possible identifications of Alexios Protostrator, the first founder of the monastery. According to Franja Barišić, Alexios was the uncle or cousin of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who remained in this position for a short time and was therefore not recorded in narrative sources.
According to Petrula Kostovska, Alexios, the founder of the monastery church, can be identified with a personality well known in historical sources. We are talking about Alexios Komnenos, the nephew of the brother of Emperor Alexios I, otherwise the brother of the renegade duke of Durrës, John Comnenоs. In 1106, we find him in the sources as the duke of Durrës (Dirachion), at the time when Durrës was threatened by Norman attacks, i.e. at the time when Durrës was besieged by Bohemond of Taranto.
Second founder:
From two preserved inscriptions in Greek on the walls of the church, we learn that Joanikije or Abbot Akakije was the second founder of the Monastery of St. Nicholas. According to the founding inscription, hieromonk and abbot Akakije tried to restore this monastery in all its glory and splendor with his own funds in 1265/1266. The third date 1270/1271 gives us the year of completion of the restoration and painting of the church.
Founder’s portrait:
In the lower parts of the southern wall of the northern nave, the space between the first and second pillar is walled up in order to provide an adequate surface for painting of the founder’s composition. The composition is quite damaged and St. Nicholas, the patron saint of the church, who leads the founder by the hand towards Christ on the throne, is barely recognizable. The founder is visibly shorter than St. Nikola, and the lower part of the body was destroyed. However, the preserved head and torso allow us a precise description. The face is painted in a three-quarter perspective. A portrait of an elderly man with a high forehead and sparse hair was presented. His beard is wide and not very long, and he is holding a model of the church in his hands. The model of the church shows the painted cellular method of masonry, indicating the original way of decorating the facade of the church. The founder is dressed in a whitish felon with accented ruddy shadows and a hood that falls on his shoulders. A barely visible embroidered epimanikion artistically confirms one of the titles from the short founding inscription.
Founder's Tomb:
In the monastery, graves were recently discovered under the floor of the northern nave, which, judging by the absence of material grave finds, probably belonged to members of the monastic community. It is not excluded that the founder of Akakije was also buried in one of these graves. Not by chance, the founder's composition was painted under the scene of the Last Judgment, which occupies the upper parts of the walls of the northern aisle and, together with the portraits of numerous monastic figures in the lowest zone, embodies a complex idea of intercession in favor of the founder and abbot of the Monastery Akakija.
Painting:
The walls of the church are decorated with frescoes. The entire decoration is relatively well preserved, except for the vault and the western wall of the central nave, where the original frescoes were lost due to the reconstruction, as well as in parts of the northern and southern naves. The walls of the church are divided into horizontal strips. The altar apse is divided into three zones where complex liturgical compositions and themes are painted, and the side walls of the sanctuary are occupied by individual figures and busts of bishops and deacons. The only composition painted in the altar, which nominally belongs to the festive cycle, is the Annunciation, but the remains of the Mandylion are also visible. In the central nave, the south and north walls are divided, from top to bottom, into the zone of Great Feasts, where the scenes are separated from each other by a red frame; below it is a zone of an uninterrupted row of busts of martyrs; followed by a frieze in which a long founding inscription is written. The walls of the columns and pilasters are occupied by standing figures; while two friezes with Old Testament figures are painted on the lower spaces between the central nave and side aisles. The side aisles are very similarly designed. The higher southern wall of the northern aisle and the northern wall of the southern aisle are divided into three zones, and the opposite walls in the same aisles, due to their lower height, only into two zones. The west wall of the north aisle, despite the damage, appears to have been divided into three registers, the lower of which was filled with standing figures of monks, which continued on the north wall as well as on the pillar walls. The highest parts of the northern aisle were reserved for the complex composition of the Last Judgment, which consists of several segments. The western wall of the southern aisle contained, on its entire surface, the composition of Jacob's Ladder, and in the upper zone of the same nave there are scenes from the patron cycle of the temple of St. Nicholas. The lowest zone of the southern nave is painted with different categories of saints, including: bishops, holy doctors, warrior saints, apostles, hermits, monks, and holy women.
On the south wall, below the central protagonists of the composition of the Last Judgment, stretches a belt of damaged busts of saints. The founder's composition is painted on the surface obtained by walling up the last two pillars. In terms of decoration, the northern aisle reveals many original details in the design of the space and the iconography of the program.
Dating:
From the data in the founding inscription the painting was executed in 1270/1271
Painters:
In the monastery church of St. Nikola, due to the size of the building, probably four painters worked. From the data in the founding inscription, we learn that the construction work around the church was completed in 1266/1267 year, and painting in 1270/1271. Therefore, either the painting of the church did not start immediately, or the painters needed several years to complete the started activities. Several painters or assistants participated in the painting of the monastery church. This is evidenced by the frescoes themselves, which differ in the style of processing. The whole painted ensemble at first glance looks very diverse, as if it was painted by many different hands, in terms of quality, understanding and stylistic preferences. A few years after the completion of the ensemble in the Monastery, the fourth most talented artist, began to paint the church of the Archangel Michael Monastery in Varoš.
The Church of Saint Nicholas was damaged in the fighting along the Salonica Front during the First World War.
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Novi Pazar (Ras), Church of St. Peter
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The Church of St. Peter in Ras was built by order of the Serbian Prince Mutimir (reigned 851-891) around 870-890 on a hill of Stari Ras ("Old Ras"), in today’s city of Novi Pazar. (VĐ ŽSN., 18 i 19 - se v'toroje kr'Štenije prijeti ... u V'seslavnyju ... Petra i Pavla). However, the latest research refutes the previous beliefs that the church was built by Prince Mutimir in 870, but much earlier, probably around 820, by Prince Radoslav. It seems that Prince Mutimir restored the building approximately six decades later, making it an episcopal seat (the church was most likely destroyed in one of the two Bulgarian campaigns against Serbia). It was decorated with fresco paintings at the beginning of the 10th century with the merit of the Serbian Prince Petar Gojniković (reigned 892-918).
The building, made from sandstone and travertine, is a rotunda encircling an irregular tetraconch (with the fact that the conch on the Eastern side, intended for the altar space, had a different shape and a larger area than the other three conchs) with vaults in the form of semicircles. Above the central area is a dome which is octagonal on the outside. The Eastern conch served as an altar, while on its Northern, Western and Southern sides the rotunda is embraced by a horseshoe-like ambulatory above which are galleries looking onto the nave, which served as a catechumenate or matroneum. The rotunda constructed on the described foundation was surrounded on all sides, except in the east, by a nave, which was divided by radial walls into five "rooms", interconnected by passages. The outer wall of the nave was adjacent to the circular wall of the rotunda. On the exterior, the edifice resembles pre-Romanesque style, with shallow arched niches placed on the upper part of the drum and the lateral wall of the rotunda, along the apse. Niches can be seen in the interior as well.
The baptismal piscina, hollowed out in front of the southeast pilaster of the rotunda, points to the conclusion that St. Peter's church was partly intended for baptisms. The church simultaneously functioned as a court chapel.
The only preserved sculptural decorations inside and around blind niches in the interior of the church are floral and geometrical motifs along with crosses engraved into fresh plaster.
The fresco paintings have mostly faded. Today some of the decoration can be seen in the drum with five scenes associated with Christ’s nativity and childhood (Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi and Presentation at the Temple). In the squinches, one can see parts of scenes of the Baptism and Betrayal of Christ, and on the Western wall, below the drum, parts of the Crucifixion. All compositions were framed with wide bands, rimmed with red. On elongated figures, red-violet and yellow-golden tones prevail. The background is mostly golden, while grey is seen once it progresses towards the top. Art historians believe that Byzantine masters were hired to decorate the church (they also find similarities with the Church of St. Stephen in Kastoria and the Church of Transfiguration near Koropi, Attica).
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Peć, Church of the Holy Apostles (The Patriarchate of Peć)
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The Church of the Holy Apostles is situated in the city of Peć. It was built by Archbishop Arsenije I in the middle of the 13th century (even though an inscription on one of the frescoes from the 14th century states that St. Sava initiated the construction). In time, as other buildings erected next to this Church, its shape changed so the original appearance of the Holy Apostles cannot be reliably reconstructed.
The Church belongs to the Raška style and was a seat of Archbishopric (after it was moved from the Žiča Monastery) and later raised to the rank of Patriarchate (1346-1766).
The Church was built on the grounds of an older three nave basilica which was reconstructed and modified to a single nave edifice with a dome and an apse with proskomidia and diakonikon. Side naves became chapels. Nave was elongated and suitable for liturgical purposes. Along its Western part there were once chapels (paracclesions) which were demolished in the 14th century. Today it is a space of rectangular base with a semicircular vault.
Similar solutions are to found in Pridvorica and Davidovica.
Along the South wall of the central bay is a sarcophagus which once housed the remains of Archbishop Arsenije I. Another sarcophagus in the South-West corner of the Church kept the relics of Joanikije II, the first patriarch of the Patriarchate in Peć. The tomb of Archbishop Sava II is located between these two sarcophagi, also placed along the South wall.
The Church was fresco decorated in the 13th century. Western part of the Church was decorated in the time of King Milutin, marking the beginning of a new style, that of the 14th century.
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Prilep, Church of Saint Nicholas
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Place
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Description
The Church of St. Nicholas is located in the medieval lower town of Prilep (today Varoš). It is situated a few hundred meters away from the medieval marketplace, at the foot of the medieval fortress known as the "Markovi kuli." It is a small single-aisled building with an externally three-sided apse. The lower part of the building is constructed with roughly cut stone, including spolia, while the upper part is built of stone and brick. The significant differences in construction and treatment between the lower and upper parts of the facades are the result of two construction phases. The frescoes inside the Church of St. Nicholas consist of two stylistically different parts, found in the altar apse and the nave. The dedicatory inscription above the southern doors of the church reveals that the frescoes in the nave were commissioned by Vego Kapza and his wife Maria in 1298.
Architecture
The first phase of construction:
The high stone base belongs to the first construction phase of the Church of St. Nicholas (2.6m), made of rough-hewn stone of various dimensions and several rectangular marble blocks used as spolia. These are the remains of a small single-aisled church, built with rough stone.
Parallels: In the older layer of the building, there are no stylistic or any other elements that could clearly indicate the construction period. The simplicity of their plan and the construction material suggest that they were built by local craftsmen. Similarities have been observed with objects of domestic architecture from the second half of the 12th century, whose remains have been found in the area of the present-day settlement of Varoš.
Dating: end of the 12th century
The second phase of construction:
The upper part of the church, set on a high stone base, corresponds to the second construction phase. The predominant characteristic of the interior space is the dominance of height over the length of the church. The facade surfaces are entirely covered with ceramic plastic decoration. The quality of the exterior is emphasized by continuous horizontal bands made of various brick motifs, representing a distinctive feature of late Byzantine, and particularly Epirote architecture.
Parallels: St. John Kaneo in Ohrid; the Church of the Theotokos Peribleptos in Ohrid; the Church of Christ the Savior in Borje, near Korcha (Koresha), Albania; Panagia (the Panagia Kyriotissa and Ag. Theodoroi) in Preventza, Greece; Ag. Vassileios stin Gefyra in Arta, the Narthex of the Church of Ag. Theodora in Arta.
Dating: ca. 1285-1295
Painted Decoration
The first fresco unit: consists of frescoes in the altar apse and the lunette of the western facade. A conservative artistic approach was applied, based on expressive means inherited from the Comnenian art, but adapted in a provincial spirit of the second half of the 13th century.
Parallels: St. John Kaneo in Ohrid; the Church of St. Nicholas in the village of Manastir in Mariovo; the Church of St. Demetrios in Prilep; the Church of St. George Omorphoklisias near Kastoria
Dating: third quarter of the 13th century, or 1298
The second fresco unit: consists of frescoes in the naos. The work of the two painters has been assessed as a fusion of old and new concepts during the stylistically transitional period of the late 13th century.
Parallels: Virgin Mavriotissa in Kastoria; Vlacherna monastery in Arta; The Church of Archangel Michael in Kostaniani near Ioannina; the Church of Taxiarches in Kostaniani near Ioannina; Ag. Demetrios Katsouris in Plissioi near Arta.
Dating: 1298
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Prilep, Church of Saint Peter
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Place
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Description
The Church of Saint Peter is located in the medieval lower town of Prilep (today Varoš). It is a small single-nave church with an apse at the east end, of simple rectangular shape and modest dimensions.
Architecture
First phase of construction:
The Church of Saint Peter has a simple rectangular shape and modest dimensions. The building is terminated with a striking elliptical apse on the east side. At the northern end, there are two more small niches (one rectangular niche recessed into the mass of the apse, and another elliptical niche designed for protheses). The main characteristic of the interior space of the church is its height. The only entrance to the church is from its western side. The facades are designed as flat surfaces, emphasizing their decorative treatment. This is most evident on the north and east facades, which are intersected by horizontal ornamental bands with various motifs: a series of rhomboids in the highest zone and simplified meanders alternating with rows executed in cloisonné technique. The lower zones are constructed with rough stone masonry.
Parallels: Church of Saint Demetrios in Prilep (the latest construction phase); Church of Saint Nicholas in Prilep (the second construction phase), and the Church of Saint Elijah in the village of Grnčari
Dating: most likely dated from the end of the 13th century.
Comment: In earlier scholarship, it was posited that the construction of the Church of Saint Peter took place during the 14th century. However, more recent analyses of the church's architectural features have led to a revision of this view, suggesting a more precise dating to the late 13th century. The examination of the church's conceptual design, layout, ceramic ornamentation, and construction techniques has revealed significant affinities with architectural styles prevalent in the 13th century.
Reconstruction/Renovation: The church underwent significant damage at an unknown time after its construction. The structural system was reconstructed, and the southern wall of the church was completely enclosed. The restored sections were built with stone, which distinguishes them from the other original walls.
Dating: there is no information about the reconstruction of the church
Painted Decoration: The remains of the frescoes are in very poor condition
Parallels: Theotokos Prečista in Prilep
Dating: the end of the 14th century
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Prilep, the Church of Saint Demetrius
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Place
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The church St. Demetrius is located in the western part of Varoš, in the area that used to be the economic centre of the lower town of medieval Prilep. The village of Varoš, a suburb of Prilep, in the Middle Ages was in the vicinity of the fortress that Skilica calls Πρίλαπος τὸ φρούριον. In medieval sources, the church is mentioned only in the charter of Emperor Stefan Dušan from 1335 to the Treskavac monastery, in which he bequeathed the church as a gift to this monastery. One of the founders is also mentioned in the charter. The founder of the major additions from the 13th century was the Byzantine nobleman, Dimitrios Misinopolit.
Architecture:
Church of Saint Demetrius has a complex architectural composition and is preserved in its entirety with modifications over the centuries. The church represents a group of three churches separated from each other by massive walls built in the period from the 12th to the 14th century. The core of the church is the nave, which is placed in the direction of the east-west axis. Above the eastern part of the nave rises a dome placed on a drum, which is cylindrical inside and divided into twelve sides on the outside. The dome has nine narrow windows. On both sides (north and south) parallel to the main axis of the church, are placed two side annexes. The connection of the nave with the side annexes is achieved by means of two semicircular arched openings. All three spaces in the east end with an aps, while in the west they are connected with common narthex. The apse on the south side is three-sided, while the other two are semicircular on the outside. The external dimensions of the church are: to the east and west - 11.43 m, to the north - 13.65 m. and in the south - 13.95 m. The total height (from the floor in the nave to the summit of the dome) is 10.64 m. The constructive system of the church of St. Dimitrija contains all the essential features of the constructive systems of churches of the inscribed cross type with a dome.
The facades with a variety of ceramoplastic decoration have a particular architectural value.The northern facade is the most representative. It was built in a typical Byzantine style of masonry, alternating between stone blocks and bricks. The checkerboard system, which is carried over to the northern apse, and the three bricked-up arched openings of the former porch with frames decorated with radially placed bricks, have been recorded. The northern facade is decorated with two toothed cornices, the higher of which extends to the eastern and western facades. The niches to the left and right of the window have bricks arranged in zig-zag lines.
The southern facade has a lower part that is built of irregularly arranged stone blocks with the occasional use of brick. The higher parts are processed more meticulously with a combination of stone and brick. The apse of the central church and its upper parts, which represent the oldest part of the building, are the most roughly executed. The narthex suffered the most, where the southern side, which adjoins the southern wall of the church, has been preserved. The northern side has been preserved up to a height of half a meter.
The northern annex of the church has the shape of an irregular quadrangle that ends in the east with a semicircular apse. The connection of the northern annex with the nave and the altar area is via two arched openings. It is also connected to the vestibule through an arched opening. The northern annex is entered from the outside through an opening on the northern facade of the church.
The southern annex, like the northern one, consists of three sections in the east-west direction. It has the shape of an irregular quadrilateral. As with the northern annex, the upper structure is characterized by a transverse arch above the central nave, which is supported laterally by two arches above the eastern and western naves placed in the east-west direction. The connection with the nave is achieved through an arched opening. The floor in the southern annex is lower than the floor of the nave.
The church undergone significant architectural changes, and it is an outstanding indicator of the general flows in the development of the church architecture on the wider territory of Macedonia in the late Byzantine period.
Dating:
First phase:
Sašo Korunovski distinguishes four stages of church construction. In his opinion, the first single-nave church was built in the middle of the 12th century.
Second phase:
After Prilep came under the rule of John III Doukas Vatatzes (1221-1254) in 1246, an open porch was added from the north, which shows similarities with the architecture of the Nicaean Empire probably between 1260-1270
Third phase:
In the third quarter of the 13th century, an open narthex was installed and the two resulting naves were covered with a transverse vault.
Fourth phase:
Finally, in the last decade of the 13th century, the church was rebuilt into an inscribed cross with a dome, the south nave and common narthex were added. The founder of all the undertakings of the fourth phase was Dimitrios Misinopolit, depicted on the founder’s composition. In the portrait he is not holding a model of the church in his hands. The text of the inscription above his head points out that he is the founder of the whole church and not just the added parts.
Parallels:
Epirus was certainly the most suitable area from where the type of churches with an overhanging cross vault could be transferred to Macedonia. This type will appear only in the third phase of construction at the church of Saint Demetrius. Some other specific Epirus motifs are also found in the church of St. Demetrius. On the south facade, above the windows, is a zig-zag frieze with triangular stones inserted into the gaps between the bricks. The dome of the Church of St. Demetrius also reveals motifs characteristic of the architecture of Epirus from the end of the 13th century. This type of dome was widely used in the 14th century and is linked to the influence of Thessaloniki architecture. However, as pointed out by the researchers, the earliest examples of such a drum design with windows reaching only to the middle with arched ends are known among the buildings such as the church of Panagia Parigoritisa in Arta, before 1294–1296, Archangel Michael in Berat, etc.
Epigraphic data:
Type and place of the first inscription:
The first inscription is located in the southern nave, on the western part of the northern wall, it is displayed in three rows, in white on a blue background, above the portrait of Dimitrios Misinopolit. who addresses the patron saint of the church in prayer.
Text of the first inscription:
δέ(ησις) τοῦ δού[λου] τοῦ θ(εο)ῦ Δημητρίουa τοῦ Μησηνοπολήτου καὶ κτήτορ(ος)c τοῦ ναοῦ
Translation of the first inscription:
Petition of the servant of God Dimitrios of Misinopolit and the founder of the church.
Type and place of the second inscription:
The second inscription is on the western side of the altar column, it is written above the representation of the prophet Elijah, in one line, in red on a brown background.
Text of the second inscription:
[δέησις]a τοῦ δούλου τοῦ θ(εο)ῦ b [Ἀνδρο]νίκου καὶ Ἠρή[νη]ς a [Μνήσθητι Κύρι]ε
Translation of the second inscription:
Plea of the servant of God Andronikos and Irina.
Painting:
The church has preserved parts of paintings in the dome and area below the dome, on the walls of the nave and in the apse of the central church, as well as on the sides of the north and south arches that connects northern and southern annexes. In the annexes, as well as in the narthex, there are some badly damaged fragments. In the semi-calotte of the central apse is a representation of the Virgin Mary with Christ.
The founding composition is painted on the north-western wall of the southern annex. Paintings in the dome and below the dome belong to the younger painting of the 14th century. At the top of the dome is Christ Pantokrator. The circle around it has seven medallions with representations of angels painted in bust supporting the sphere. Between the windows in the drum are representations of prophets. Three compositions have been preserved from the Great Feasts cycle: the Ascension, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and the Annunciation.
Painting dates:
Vojislav Đurić dates the oldest painting, the scene with hetoimasia, in the apse to 1290, interpreting the style as a relapse of the Komnenian style of painting, connecting it to the layer of paintings from the 13th century. The same author attributes the youngest layer of paintings to the group of painters around Metropolitan Jovan, dating them to the period from the ninth decade of the 14th century to the third decade of the 15th century. He believes that Jovan followed the scheme of old painting during the renovation in the 14th century.
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Sopoćani Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity
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Place
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The Sopoćani Monastery is situated near the source of the river Raška in the region of Ras in the vicinity of the city of Novi Pazar. The church was built by the Serbian King Stefan Uroš I (reigned 1243-1276), the son of the Serbian King Stefan Prvovenčani (reigned 1196-1227) around 1260 (PJŠ Pam., 70 - sьzida že crьkovь Sopokjani). The exonarthex and a bell tower were added later, in the first half of the 14th century (resembling the Žiča Monastery). The church is a mausoleum of members of the royal Nemanjić members: the King's mother Anna Dandolo, Stefan Prvovenčani, Grand Duke Djordje and King Uroš I himself. It is a single nave edifice with three bays and a dome and has a three-partite semicircular apse as well as a narthex. On the sides of the narthex are separate chambers. On the outside, the edifice resembles a three-nave basilica (all side rooms, next to the altar, choirs and chapels are placed under one, single-pitched roof), which is also the element that distinguishes this building from the others of the Raška style group. The windows and portals were done by masters from the coastal area in the Romanesque style. The entire church was fresco painted around 1270. After being damaged, the church was reconstructed in the 15th century (at the time some alterations were made). After the Ottoman rule, in the 20th century, this site was reconstructed and renovated.
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Studenica Monastery, Church of St. Nicholas
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Place
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The Church of St. Nicholas is situated next to the monastery's katholikon in the Studenica Monastery. It was built at the end of the 12th century (Gsnd XIV 215), probably simultaneously with the Church of the Holy Mother of God or King Radoslav's narthex at the latest. The ground plan shows a single nave edifice with a semicircular apse. It was built with stone and tufa. Some fragments of fresco paintings have survived and are dated to the 1230s (until the middle of the 13th century the latest). It bears certain similarities with frescoes of the Church of the Virgin Ljeviška in Prizren.
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