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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. Tryphon
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The Church of St. Tryphon and at the same time the Roman-Catholic Cathedral of Kotor is situated in the old town of Kotor. The first building was a martyrium (a central plan edifice) built in 809, financed by Andrea Saracenis, a famous citizen of Kotor, who bought the relics of St. Tryphon from Venetian merchants. This church is mentioned in the work "De Administrando Imperio (DAI)" of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (reigned 913-959). Remains of a pre-Romanesque building were found along the North-Eastern segment of the wall of today's Romanesque cathedral of St. Tryphon. Fragments of stone furniture, especially a ciborium, have remained and are dated to the 9th or 10th century. The second edifice was erected from 1124 (during the time of Bishop Ursac of Kotor) until 1166 (when all three church altars were consecrated). It was built in Romanesque style with elements from Byzantine architecture. Its appearance has changed over the centuries, most often due to frequent earthquakes. The cathedral was built as a three-nave basilica with a dome above the middle aisle of the main nave of the church, which was removed after two earthquakes during the 16th century. Each of the naves has an apse. The central apse is decorated with a sumptuous Gothic triforium. Two bell towers are on the Western façade. The interior was painted with frescoes in 1331.
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Prevlaka, Monastery and Church of St. Archangel Michael
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The Church of St. Archangel Michael, also known by the name "Tumba sancti Archangeli", is situated on the small island of Prevlaka in the Bay of Tivat. There are three layers of edifices on this site. The first church was built on the basis of a 6th century basilica (with graves found as well), which became a three nave basilica by the end of the 6th century. A Benedictine monastery dedicated to St. Archangel Michael was probably built in the 9th century. It was a three nave basilica with a semicircular apse in the center and two rectangular little apses on the sides (which are still being debated in art history, since no similar examples have been found), a narthex and a bell tower on the South-East part of the edifice. A large number of fragments of architectural sculpture of the pre-Romanesque style has been preserved, and some of its pillars were moved to the Church of St. Tryphon in Kotor in 1166. In the 12th century this place was ruined and deserted. This abbey, according to the oldest preserved document in Kotor from 1124, was meant to be the Cathedral of Kotor. At the beginning of the 13th century (1220s) the bishopric of Zeta was founded at this very place by Saint Sava (ca. 1175-1236). Therefore, the second church was built on the remains of an abandoned and demolished Benedictine monastery. It had a dome and strong buttresses and a parraklesion was added on the North side. Numerous graves have also been found. The monastery was abandoned at the end of the 14th century and destroyed in the middle of the 15th century, following the killing of 70 monks. In the immediate vicinity of the ruins of this church, i.e. to the East of it, a single nave edifice, which is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was built in 1833 with bells above the Western entrance.
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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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