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Bijela, Church of St. Peter
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The Church of St. Peter in Bijela was probably built in the Early Christian period (probably in the 5th or 6th century). Fragments of plaster indicate that a pre-Romanesque building was erected on the basis of the original church, which has not been researched so far. For these fragments it could be assumed that they belong to the remains of the former Benedictine Monastery of St. Peter de Campo, which is also mentioned in the charter of Pope Clement VI (1342-1352) from 1345. After the demolition of the church, the present-day church of St. Peter was built by the family Burović from Perast, and some parts of the pre-Romanesque altar screen have been preserved and included in it.
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Budva, Church of St. Mary (in the Castello)
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The Church of St. Mary (in the Castello) is situated in the citadel of the old town of Budva, to the South-West of the Church of St. John the Baptist. It was built in the period of Late Antiquity (remains are still visible) and was later renewed. Several stages of development can be observed. The three-nave basilica was built in the late 5th and the beginning of the 6th century. In the 9th century it was turned into a single nave edifice, and galleries were to be found above the aisles. The remains of the church furnishing from the 9th century prove that the church was still in use at that time. Today the church is in ruins.
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Kotor, Church of St. Archangel Michael
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The Church of St. Archangel Michael is situated in the old town of Kotor. It is an Early Christian three-nave basilica with an apse on the Eastern side, which is semicircular on the inside and polygonal on the outside. It was probably built in the 6th century and equipped with liturgical furniture of the time, which was added in the 9th century. In the preserved apse are representations of Saints in fresco technique, of which only the lower halves have been preserved. In the first half of the 13th century the original church was demolished and a new single nave edifice was built in Romanesque-Gothic style dedicated to St. Archangel Michael. In the 15th century Lovro Dobričević painted the frescos in the church. The abbot of the church called Peter is mentioned in 1166 in a document regarding the consecration of the altar of the new Romanesque cathedral of St. Tryphon. In the 19th century the church became a military warehouse and is today a museum (lapidarium).
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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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Male Rose, Church of St. Mary
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The Benedictine Church of St. Mary is situated in Male Rose, at the Western end of the Luštica Peninsula in the Bay of Kotor. The letter of Pope Clement VI (1342-1352) from 1346 mentions the church under the name Santa Maria de Resson. The church is also mentioned in the charter of the Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš V (reigned 1355-1371) to the people of Kotor dated to 1355, confirming the borders of the district of Kotor. It is a single nave edifice with an apse, which is semicircular on the inside and rectangular on the outside. Lesenes in the interior show that in at least one of its early medieval construction phases the church had a dissected interior with niches, girders and a barrel vault, showing similarities with the Church of St. Peter on the Island of Lopud. Therefore, the researchers concluded that the first building was erected initially in the Early Christian period, the second phase was in the 9th century and the third in the 11th century. According to the Latin inscription above the entrance to the church in the East, the church was refurbished in the year 1783. On the fragment of a stone cross the engraved name Petrus may refer to the donor of the church.
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Martinići, Church of St. Archangel Michael
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The ruins of a basilica are situated in the vicinity of the village of Martinići. It was built in the second half of the 9th or in the 10th century. It is a three nave basilica, having lateral aisles separated from the central one with full walls. A narthex is to be found on the Western side of the basilica. Some researchers believe that the Northern aisle served for baptism. The remains of sculpted stone furnishing in the altar and the nave indicate a richly equipped edifice. A Greek inscription on the altar screen mentions the name of Saint Archangel Michael, which led researchers to believe that he is the patron Saint of the church. This very inscription has been interpreted in two ways:
1. + Ο Θ(EO)C TH ΠΡΕC(BEIA) ...E TON (Π)ETR(0N)I ...
2. + Ο Θ(EO)C TH ΠΡΕC(BEIA) ... (ΦYΛATT)E TON (Π)ETR(0N)I ...
Moreover, it mentions the name of a certain Peter, who could have been the donor of the basilica. Another inscription in Latin has been read as follows: + (MICH)AEL ET IOH(AN)E DIE ... ET GLORIA BEATO MIXAEL AR(CHANGELO) ... N ... LIN
Unfortunately, no other written account has been preserved on this basilica.
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Prčanj, Church of St. Thomas
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The Church of St. Thomas is situated in the surrounding area of Prčanj. Today only its foundations remain. It could not be localised in situ in autumn 2021 due to the vegetation in the area. The church is a triconchos with a dome, built probably in the 9th century. Fragments of capitals and an altar screen have been found. Such a ground plan is preserved only in the Boka Kotorska in the Eastern Adriatic and was also implemented in the original church of St. Tryphon in Kotor. This form, however, is known in Carolingian architecture with the most prominent example in the oratory at Germigny-des-Prés, dated to the beginning of the 9th century, and in Early Christian as well as Early Medieval Armenian architecture.
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Ratac, Church C (Bogorodica Ratačka)
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The Benedictine monastery complex of St. Mary is situated on the Ratac peninsula between Sutomore and Bar. Between the 9th and the 11th century a Benedictine monastery was founded, initially dedicated to Saint Archangel Michael and later to the Holy Mother of God, also known by the name Bogorodica Ratačka (Mother of God from Ratac). The oldest church is from the 11th century and is designated as Church C. The peculiarity of this single-nave building with a dome are the four bays, one of which in the West had probably the function of a narthex. This church is mentioned in the Kotor Charter by the Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin (reigned 1282-1321) in 1319, confirming the charter by his mother the Serbian Queen Jelena Anžujska (ca. 1230-1314) from 1305 and indicating that the church was dedicated to the Mother of God. A Latin inscription from September 1347 to the left of the Southern entrance to the Church C mentions the monastery's abbot Paulo Rugerii (Marković 2004, 201).
The monastery complex consisted of several buildings. Among them three churches stand out. During the 14th and 15th centuries other buildings and fortifications were added to the monastery, especially when there was a danger from the Ottomans. The monastery and its buildings were looted and demolished by the Ottomans in the 16th century. The Venetians turned it into a military fortress, which was later taken over by the Ottomans. The walls of the monastery were especially devastated in the Second World War (1941-1945), where the occupying forces installed artillery and built bunkers.
(KJ TDR., 102 nap 205 - Abbas de S. Micaele (!) de Reteza; SN ZSp., 604 - u Rьtьčьka, svetoi Bogorodici Rьtьčьskoi).
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Stari Bar, Church of St. George (St. Theodore)
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The Church of St. George is situated in the old town of Bar (Stari Bar) on an elevation called Londža. Beneath the remains of the Romanesque Church of St. George (dated to the 12th century) the remains of an older church, dedicated to St. Theodore, were discovered (probably built in the 5th or 6th century). When the Church of St. Theodore was erected in Stari Bar, a mosaic floor from the triconchos edifice in Novi Bar, which had already been in ruins at that time, was transferred. The older church of St. Theodore was probably ruined in a fire, and a new edifice honoring St. George was erected by Archbishop George of Bar (as evidenced by a tombstone) in the 12th century, thus becoming the see of the Archbishopric of Bar. Both churches were three nave basilicas. The Church of St. George had three apses. Remains of vaults indicate gothic elements. Fragments of stone furnishing and decoration belonging to the altar screen have been found. In 1125, King Grubeša of Zeta (reigned ca. 1118- ca. 1125) was buried in the church. High dignitaries of the Archbishopric of Bar were also buried there, e.g. Bishop Jovan from the time of Prince Vladimir and the Archbishops George, Peter and Sergius, who lived in the period from the 11th to the 12th centuries. The church was turned into a mosque in the 16th century, and in 1881 the church was completely destroyed by a gunpowder explosion or, as some indicate, by lightning (since the church served as an ammunition depot).
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Sušćepan, Church of St. Stephen
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The Church of St. Stephen is situated in Sušćepan near Herceg Novi. Based on the preserved capital, it can only be assumed that the pre-Romanesque Church of St. Stephen was built as a three-nave basilica, erected between the 9th and the 11th century. The Early Medieval church was destroyed by the Ottoman invasion and built anew in the 17th and 20th centuries. The current church is a single nave edifice with a semicircular apse in the East and an entrance in the West. The church has been recently pargetted. It is surrounded by a cemetery.
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Tivat, Church of St. Sergius
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The Church of St. Sergius is situated on Djurdjevo brdo in Tivat.
It was built in the 16th century on the grounds of probably Pre-Romanesque edifice with an original inscription, from a lintel mentioning Saint Sergius, Saint Nicholas and Saint Demetrius built into its wall.
Apart from the fragments, built into today's Church, there are no traces of the original building, therefore its orientation, dimensions or materials, architecture and construction are unknown.
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Ulcinj, Church of Christ the Saviour
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The Church of Christ the Saviour is situated in the old town of Ulcinj and was found beneath the Romanesque Church of St. Mary (Sveta Marija). The Church of St. Mary itself was transformed into a mosque (cf. the remnants of a minaret at its South-Western corner) and is now the Archaeological Museum in Ulcinj. The Church of Christ the Saviour was a single nave edifice, perhaps with a dome (as some researchers have suggested). Next to the Southern wall a ciborium was found, which could have belonged to another church.
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