Maps of Power

Reliquary of the Serbian Queen Jelena Anžujska, Now Lost

Properties

ID 133167
System Class Artifact
Artifact Reliquary
Case Study Beyond East and West: Sacred Landscapes Duklja and Raška , Tabula Imperii Byzantini , TIB 17

Description

According to written accounts, the Serbian Queen Jelena Anžujska (ca. 1230-1314) donated a Staurotheke to the Monastery of Sopoćani. The richly bejewelled reliquary in the form of a cross enshrined five pieces of the Holy Rood and is now lost.

Relations

Places (1)
Name Class Begin End Description
Sopoćani Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity Place 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.