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Bijelo Polje, Church of St. Peter
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The Church of St. Peter is situated in Bijelo Polje, on the Lim River, and was probably founded by the Serbian Prince Miroslav (reigned 1162-1190) before 1161-1162. It was built on an old place of cult, probably from the 9th or 10th century. (SN ZSp., 596 - koga izvoli Svety Petrь Apostolь; MD Kar. trg., 123, nap 14 - usque Limum ad ecclesiam S. Petri). It is a single nave edifice, with three bays skirted by pilasters and arches, and a rectangular apse. The Eastern and Western bays are almost equal in length, whereas the central one is much shorter and has a transverse barrel vault, in the middle of which is a square dome covered by a pyramidal roof. The construction above the vaults gave the church the look of a three-aisled basilica with a transept and a dome. In the second half of the 13th century the Western porch of the church was turned into a narthex and was painted with frescoes at the beginning of the 14th century. Also, bell-towers were added resembling the Churches of St. Tryphon in Kotor, Djurdjevi Stupovi in Budimlja and the Monastery of the Mother of God in Hvosno. The church furnishings, done in a pre-Romanesque style, were taken from the original (older) building.
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Blagaj, Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian
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The Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian is situated in Blagaj in Zachlumia, near the city of Mostar.
It was built by Župan Djordje, in the time of Stefan Nemanja, as was written on the dedicatory inscription. The Church has been demolished and torn down but the remains of other Churches built in the Ponikve region (Church of St. George in Sparagovići and Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian in Metohija), in the late 12th century, we can reconstruct how this edifice looked like.
It was a single nave edifice with three bays and an apse which consists of three niches in the Eastern wall (the one in the middle was rectangular on the outside).
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Budimlja, Monastery of Djurdjevi Stupovi (St. George)
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The Monastery of Djurdjevi Stupovi (St. George) is situated in Budimlja near Berane and was built by Stefan Prvoslav, the son of Tihomir, as his mausoleum between 1170 and 1190. The monastery also served as the see of the Bishops of Budimlja (Rl. 9, 43). (PJ Š Pam., 68 - sьzyda crьkovь ... u Budimlje svetago Geōrgïa; LjS ZiN I, 1029 (286) episkopь Budimlьsky Teofilь ... vь domu svetago velikago Strastotrьpьca Hristova Georgïa).
The church underwent several reconstructions, but its plan remained the same. It is a single nave edifice with three bays and a dome. Later, in the 13th century (certainly by the 1240s), a narthex was added in the West of it with two rectangular-based towers. As most researchers believe, it was built by masters from the Adriatic (as to be seen in the polychromic façade), following the model of Apulian churches. Also, this church is similar in plan with the Church of St. Luke in Kotor.
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Budva, Church of St. Sabbas
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The Church of St. Sabbas is situated in the old town (stari grad) of Budva and was consecrated in 1142. At that time, St. Sabbas was a patron saint of Budva, whose cult had come to the Southern Adriatic from the East through the Byzantine dignitaries, who had served in the theme of Dalmatia. It is a single nave building leaning against the town wall, vaulted, with the interior divided into three bays. Its facade is constructed with alternating blocks of greyish and rose-coloured stone. The entrance to the church lies in the West.
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Island of Mljet, Church of St. Mary
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The former Benedictine monastery was built in the middle of the Great Lake, on the Western part of the Island of Mljet. On the North side of the fortified monastery complex is the Romanesque church of St. Mary. Allegedly, it was built in the 12th century after Desa, the Grand župan of Zachlumia, in 1151 donated the Island of Mljet to the Benedictines. The Church was first mentioned by Serbian king Stefan the First-Crowned at the beginning of the 13th century, when the Nemanjyd dynasty had supreme power over the Island of Mljet.
Its a single nave edifice with a dome. Typologically, the Church follows the tradition of rural single-nave domed Churches from the end of the 11th and the middle of the 12th century in Apulia. Also, the Church resembles the Church dedicated to the Mother of God Euergetis in Studenica Monastery, in the size, plan, forms etc.
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Island of Mrkan, Church of St. Michael
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The Church of St. Michael is situated on the Island of Markan, near Cavtat, and was first mentioned in the sources in 1218. Most researchers believe it was probably built around the end of the 12th century, when Cavtat was at the centre of the coastal part of Raška. Others date it to the end of the 11th century.
Its a single nave edifice with a dome which has until today left unstudied. Next to its ruins are the remains of the Benedictine Monastery.
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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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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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Metohija, Church of Sts. Cosma and Damian (St. Tudor; Sts. Philip and Jacob)
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The Church of Sts. Cosma and Damian (also know as the Church of St. Tudor and Sts. Philip and Jakob) is situated in Metohija (Prve Ponikve), near Ston. Today, the Church is dedicated to St. Philip and Jacob, a dedication first mentioned in the 16th century.
Its a single nave building divided by lesenes into two bays. Bays are vaulted with cross-domed vaults. On the Eastern end of the Church were three niches. Today the central niche (which was the deepest and which ends in apse) has been walled up. Shallow apse is semicircular on the inside and rectangular on the outside. The Western façade is not known due to the addition of a more recent corpus on that side (probably in the 16th century when its dedication was changed).
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Panik, Church of Unknown Dedication
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The church in Panik is of unknown dedication and is situated in the village of Panik. Its remains were submerged by the artificial Bileća Lake (Bilećko jezero). It was a single nave edifice with an apse, which was rectangular both on the outside and the inside, and a narthex. The church was fresco painted, dated probably to the 12th century. The frescoes are similar in style to the Church of St. Thomas in Kuti and some churches in the South of Italy.
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Ponikve, Church of St. George in Sparagovići
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The Church of St. George (Sv. Juraj) is situated at the Ponikve region, in Sparagovići, on the Island of Pelješac, in the so-called Crna gora.
In the 1st or the 2nd century a first building was erected, following a pre-Romanesque building from the 12th or the 13th century.
Its a single nave vaulted building with an apse which has three semicircular niches in the inside and is rectangular on the outside. Lesenes are dividing the interior into three bays. On its Western side it has a bell-tower.
Devastated masonry tombs filled with earth and stones were found at the height of the existing church threshold.
The Church was renewed in 1987.
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Ras, Monastery of Djurdjevi Stupovi
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The Church of St. George is situated in Ras near the city of Novi Pazar and in close proximity to the episcopal see of Raška, a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. It was built in the years 1170-1171 by the Serbian Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja (reigned 1166/68-1196) as a combination of Byzantine and Latin spatial composition and construction, and as such belongs to the so-called Raška school of architecture. It was fresco decorated in 1975. The church is designed as a single nave edifice divided into three parts: the three-part altar space, the central bay and the narthex. Above the central part of the building is a dome with elliptical base, which is rather unusual, and decorated inside with arcades on free-standing colonettes. The entrances with vestibules on the lateral sides of the bay under the dome were created as a new solution. It has bell towers on its Western side (Spis sv Save 60-61; Kralj Stefan 5, Domentijan 16-17). (BĐ ŽSN., 23 - s(ve)ty m(u)č(e)niče H(ri)stovь Geōr'gije).
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Ratac, Church A
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Church A is situated in Ratac between the cities of Sutomore and Bar. It belongs to a monastery complex. The church was built in the second half of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century. It is a single nave edifice with a semicircular apse on its Eastern end. The church has a ground-level crypt modelled according to the Early Christian, two-storey mausoleums. The remains of plaster indicate that the church was fresco decorated. Remnants of the mosaic allude to the period between the 4th and the 6th century.
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Ston, Church of St. Martin
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The Church of St. Martin is located on the northern slope of the hill Humac and today lies in ruins. Most researchers agree that it was probably built in the beginning of the 12th century, even though earlier date is also possible.
Its a single nave building divided with two lesenes into three bays. It has a semicircular apse on the inside and a rectangular on the outside.
Today only Southern wall remains. Restoration works on the church, with a minor archaeological intervention, were undertaken in 1964 - 1965 by the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments from Dubrovnik.
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Studenica Monastery, Church of the Holy Mother of God
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The Church of the Holy Mother of God in the Studenica Monastery is situated 39km to the South-West of the city of Kraljevo. It was built between 1183 and 1196 by the Serbian Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja (reigned 1166/68-1196) (Spisi sv. Save 153; Kralj Stefan 9; Domentijan 24; ZSp. 569 V - I u Rasinyi methohь Popovacь, crьkva hramь Vavědenïe prěsvetïe Bogorodica i zaselakï, i selo Vožetinь, selo Rakla i zaseljakь, i selo Pohovacь, i selo Vělika Vruševïca i Podrumi, i povele da prinose vyno trevy rady monastiru). The relics of Stefan Nemanja were brought to Studenica (from the Monastery of Hilandar) making this place the political, cultural and spiritual center of the Serbian realm. Around his tomb are buried - his wife Ana (nun Anastasija), his son the Serbian King Stefan Prvovenčani (reigned 1196-1227), Grand Prince Vukan, Nemanja's grandson Stefan (the son of King Uroš I) and the Serbian King Stefan Radoslav (reigned 1228-1233) with his wife. Therefore, Studenica Monastery became known as the Lavra of St. Simeon the Myrrh-Streaming (Myroblytos). For this reason the church became the model to emulate in the construction and fresco painting of Serbian churches.
It is a single nave edifice with a dome and a three-part altar space, side vestibules and a narthex. The vestibules had a cult purpose, as evidenced by niches in their Eastern walls.
The façade of the Church of the Holy Mother of God is made in accordance with the traditions of Romanesque art (the masons came from the coastal region, perhaps Kotor). Some typically Byzantine details, such as the semicircular arch on the sides of the tambour of the dome and the disposition of the windows on it, are harmoniously integrated into the Western concept of the exterior of the walls. The most impressive Romanesque features of the monastery's katholikon are the friezes of arcades on the upper edges of the walls and the shapes of window openings and portals, i.e. their sculptural decoration. The Western and Southern entrance doors, along with a trifora at the altar, are most prominent example of the rich sculptural decoration of this period in history. Also, the lunette above the Western door is richly decorated with sculptural decoration of the Holy Mother of God with Christ and two Archangels. An inscription on the tympanum of the Western portal is written in Serbian letters, which indicates that the artist(s) were probably Serbian. According to the fragmentarily preserved inscription in the tambour of the dome, it is known that the painting of the church began in 1208 and 1209. The fresco decoration was thoroughly renovated in 1569 by Longin. Around 1230 the Serbian King Stefan Radoslav (reigned 1228-1233), the son of the Serbian King Stefan Prvovenčani (reigned 1196-1227), built an exonarthex with two semicircular chapels on the Southern and Northern sides and perhaps a square tower with a chapel on the upper floor of the main entrance of the monastery.
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Toplica, Church of St. Nicholas (near Kuršumlija)
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The Church of St. Nicholas is situated in Toplica, near Kuršumlija, in the upper valley of Toplica River. It is the oldest Church built by Stefan Nemanja in Byzantine manner, sometime between 1155 and 1165.
Its a single nave edifice, divided along its length into three parts. with a dome and an apse, also divided into three parts. The dome rises above the squarely designed central bay of the nave. There is a bell tower on the West side of the Church (built probably at the beginning of the 13th century since the building material is slightly different from the rest of the Church), resembling the Church of St. Tryphon in Kotor. The façade is decorated with shallow blind arches.
A tomb inside the Church was probably meant to be Nemanja's gravesite.
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Toplica, Church of the Mother of God (near Kuršumlija)
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The Church of the Mother of God is situated in Toplica, near Kuršumlija. The edifice was erected by Stefan Nemanja in 1155-1165, in an ancient place of cult dated to the 6th century.
Its a single nave triconchos, with an apse (triangular on the outside and semicircular on the inside) on its Eastern end and a narthex with two towers with rectangular ground plans (some researchers indicate that the towers were to mark the Church as a royal endowment, in accordance with the dominant custom of the time in the countries close to Raška, primarily Hungary). The Church was probably built by Constantinopolitan builders (masters). Therefore, some researchers believe that the construction of this and the Church dedicated to St. Nicholas, situated in its close proximity, sparked dispute between Nemanja (who was close to the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos) and his older brothers.
Today the Church is in ruins.
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Trebinje, Church of St. Paul, Monastery of St. Peter de Campo
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The Church of St. Paul is situated within the Monastery of St. Peter de Campo, on the edge of Dižvar field and to the South of the village of Bihovo, near Trebinje. The church was erected by the Grand Župan Desa of Raška (reigned 1144-1165) in the period from 1145 to 1150, according to the account of Mavro Orbini. It is a single nave edifice with a triconchal plan, with an apse which is semicircular on the inside and rectangular on the outside. The roof was wooden. In the tomb construction, placed on the Northern wall of the narthex, the Grand Župan Desa of Raška was buried.
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Zadar, Stomorica Church (S. Maria de Pusterla)
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The Stomorica Church in the city of Zadar was most probably built in the 11th century. Goss argues for this date based on architectural grounds, i.e. the combination of the church and a bell tower. In Croatian coastal cities bell towers are not to be found before the 11th century. The church came out of use before the year 1560, when it was demolished. It is not shown in the model of Zadar of the same year, which is kept in the Museo Storico Navale in Venice. The Stomorica Church was discovered in the year 1880 and excavated between 1956 and 1967.
Its a six leaf Church (or as some researchers indicate - a circular ground plan with five semicircular apses) with a dome, an atrium and a bell tower on its Western side. Remains of fresco paintings were found.
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Zvečan, Church of St. George
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The Church of St. George is situated in the city of Zvečan, in the Mitrovica district in Kosovo. It was built at the end of the 11th century probably by Vukan, because he controlled that high fortress at the time.
Its a cruciform edifice with a dome, made of alternating rows of brick and stone. It was constructed in the Byzantine style. Soon, the Church became an important cultic place. It is also known that in 1168, Nemanja sent his priests to pray for his victory while in conflict with his brothers .
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Škaljari, Church of St. Domnius
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The Church of St. Domnius is situated near the city of Kotor and is dated in the late 12th century, and was first mentioned in written documents in the 14th century.
It is a single nave edifice, semicircular apse and bell tower on the Western side, with a ground-level crypt. The Church is built of stone.
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