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Manastir, Church of Saint Nicholas
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Place
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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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Prilep, the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel
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Place
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The Church of the Holy Archangel Michael is located in the Varoš, in the suburbs of the "Mark's Tower" fortress in Prilep. There are opinions that the original church was built in the 10th century. Such a point of view is based on the content of a cyrillic inscription on a marble pillar from 996, which was used in the 19th century to support the roof structure of the church porch. In the inscription, according to the reading of Jordan Ivanov, Bishop Andrew, who died on February 17th of the said year, is mentioned.
Architecture:
Today's church is an interesting architectural achievement. It is a single-aisle church with an irregular foundation, built on very unfavorable terrain. It consists of an altar area and a nave with two bays. Under the floor in the western part of the church there are two rooms, probably burial chapels, contemporary with the construction of the main part of the church. The church today has a (reconstructed) dome over the western bay, but judging by the appearance of the church in the portrait of the founder, it also existed above the main part of the nave. Sašo Korunovski, who researched the architecture of the Archangel Michael's church in the most detail, recognized in its construction the peculiarities of Constantinople architecture - primarily, in the fact that there is a single-aisle church with two domes in the middle. He especially had in mind the central church in the Pantokrator monastery complex, also dedicated to the Archangel Michael. On the other hand, he found analogies for the two-story solution of the church in well-known monuments on the territory of today's Bulgaria (Bačkovo, Asenovgrad). The Church of the Archangel Michael is the endowment of the "great chartoularios of the West" Jovan, who, as a monk, is represented in the founder's portrait on the western wall, holding a model of the church in his hands. Next to his portrait is badly damaged dedicatory inscription. Two damaged figures of the founder(?) are located in one of the underground chapels of the temple, probably dedicated to St. Nicholas, who is shown intersecting for the mentioned figures to Christ. It is possible that they are members of the founder Jovan's family.
Painting:
The painting of the church, which dates back to the eighth or ninth decade of the 13th century, represents a valuable achievement of early palaeologan painting. Along with the remains of paintings in the altar, most of the wall paintings have been preserved in the western part of the church, where Saint Nicholas, figures of holy monks (first zone), figures of martyrs (middle zone), and, in higher zones, are represented two cycles, the cycle of the Passion of Christ, and, above him, the cycle of the patron saint of the temple, Archangel Michael.
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