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Banjska Monastery, Church of St. Stephen
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Banjska Monastery is situated by the Banjska river, near Zvečan in the North of Kosovo. It was built by King Milutin in 1313 to 1315, modelled on Studenica Monastery.
Its a single nave edifice with a dome and tripartite altar space. To the North and South of the central part of the Church are choirs with paracclesions next to each. Narthex has two bell-towers on its Western end.
The Church is rich with Romanesque sculptural decoration (it was probably made by the same artisans who worked in the Chilandar Monastery).The most prominent sculptural decoration is the statue of the Virgin with Christ as a child (kept in the nearby Monastery of Sokolica).
Some frescoes have remained, mostly under the dome.
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Gračanica, Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God
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The Gračanica Monastery is situated near Lipljan, in Kosovo. It was built by King Milutin and his wife Simonida in 1321, on the grounds of an late antique three-nave basilica from the 6th century.
The Church is in the form of a double inscribed cross, with a dome which rests on on four free-standing pillars and three-sided apses (altar, diaconicon and prothesis). Above the spaces between the cross-shafts are four smaller domes. Narthex and a tower on the West were damaged between 1379 and 1383 by the Turk invasions. In 1383 the narthex was reconstructed. The exonarthex was built at the end of the 14th century.
The Church was fresco painted in 1321-1322 and has been well preserved to this day, including famous portraits of the ktetors. In the 16th century exonarthex was painted, as commissioned by Patriarch Makarije Sokolović.
Numerous icons, dated 16-19th century are still kept in Gračanica.
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Mušutišta, the Church of the Mother of God (Hodegetria)
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The church of the Virgin Hodegetria near the village Mušutišta was erected in 1314/1315 as the endowment of the grand kaznac Jovan Dragoslav, his wife Jelena, his son Staniša and his daughter Annna (Poče se: i sьzda se: božьstvьni, i vsečstnii hramь prěčistie vladičice naše bogorodice ōdigitrie: is temelna va dan prěvisokago kralě Uroša sь trudomь i sь pospešeniemь Iōvana velikago kaznca Dragoslava sь Elenomь sь podružjemь svoimь i Stanišomь synomь si i sь Anomь dьšteriju si vь lěto 6823 endikta 20). The Serbian emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan donated the church of the Virgin Hodegetria near the village of Mušutišta to the to the Monastery of the Holy Archangels in Prizren (Selo M’šutišta i sь crьkvami Svetomь Bogorodicomь i Svetymь Symeōnomь, sь zemlomь, i s vinogrady, i sь vokijemь, i črьnicami, i sь mliny).
It was a Church of a developed cross-in-square plan with a dome built in alternating rows of stone and brick (with the recognizable features of the ecclesiastical architecture of Thessaloniki), and was fresco decorated. Unfortunately, the Church was completely ruined by Albanian extremists in 1999.
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Nagoričino, Church of Saint George
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According to the Life of Saint Prohor Pčinjski (11th c.) Prohor settled in a small cave in the deserted area of Nagoričino in Žegligovo as a hermit (vь glubokuju pustynnju Nagoričeskuju). In Nagoričino also his hermitage (cave) is to be found. The original construction of the Church of Saint George in Nagoričino is dated to the 11th century and associated with Saint Prohor Pčinjski or the Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes (reigned 1068-1071). The Life of Saint Joakim Osogovski from the 12th century gives an account on the building activity of an anonymous Emperor (hram prpodbnomu vъ ime svjatogo velikomčenika Hristvo Gjeōrgia). The church fell without doubt into disrepair in the last quarter of the 13th century. According to the Slavonic inscription at the Western entrance to the narthex, the church was renewed by the Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin (reigned 1282-1321) in the year 1313. In this inscription a certain abbot called Andonij is also mentioned. This hint suggests that a monastery existed at that time near the church itself (Izvoleniemь božiemь sьzda sja domь svetago i velikoslavnago mjačenika Hristova Geōrgijě vь dny svjatorodnago i prěvysokago kralě Uroša Milutina, bogomь samodrьžьcu vsei srbьskoi zemli i primorьskoi, pri bogočьstivěi kralici Simonidě, i pri igumeně Andony, v lěto 6821 [1313]). According to the Slavonic inscription from 1318 in the interior, the church was decorated with frescoes by order of the Serbian King Milutin under the abbot Benjamin (Božiemь izvoljenijemь sьzʼda se ōt osnovanie, i popisa se, čьstnii hramь podaijemь vsakiim prevysokago krala Stefana Uroša, vь lěto 6826, pri igumeně Beniamine). Another inscription in the interior above the Western entrance has not been preserved. Between 1300 and 1318/21 a certain anagnost Radin from Nagoričino in Žegligovo (anagnosta Radina Nagoričanina izь Žegligova) wrote a gospel for the priest Zagoranin in Sušica. The old Serbian Genealogies (rodoslovi) and Annals (letopisi) report that the Serbian King Milutin had founded or endowed numerous monasteries, amongst others also the Monastery of Saint George in Nagoričino (Nagoričino svetomu Geōrgiju; i vь Nagoričine svetago Gjeōrgija; i druguju vь Nagoričinu; i vь Nagoričine Georgia). In the same sources Žegligovo and Nagoričino are subsumed in one geographical unit (i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovo crьkov svetago velikomučenika Georgia; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovu crkovь svetago velikomučenika Georgia; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovu crkovь svetago mučenika Georgia; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovo crkovь svetago velikomučenika Georgia; i u Nagoričinu na Žegligovu crkovь svetago velikomučenika Georgija). The Lives of the Serbian Kings and Archbishops by Archbishop Danilo II and his successors confirm the renewal of the church under the Serbian King Milutin (i crkovь svetaago Georgьgija nagoričьskaago). The abbot Benjamin from Nagoričino is named in the list of abbots in two Serbian charters (1317 and one forgery from the 15th century, where he is referrred to as nagoričkii Beniaminь, respectively nagorički Beniaminь). According to the aforesaid Lives of the Serbian Kings and Archbishops, the Serbian King Stefan Uroš III Dečanski (reigned 1321-1331) gathered his army in the forefront of the Battle of Velbužd in the first half of 1330 on a field called Dobrič, located in today's South-Eastern Serbia at the confluence of the rivers Južna Morava and Toplica. He intended to confront the Bulgarian Tsar Michael III Šišman (reigned 1323-1330) at this place. When messengers informed him that the Bulgarian Tsar had intruded Serbian territory near the castle of Zemen on the upper reaches of the river Struma, where the then border of the Serbian Kingdom lay, he set his army in march and first moved to Nagoričino, where he prayed in the Church of Saint George (priide vь monastirь svoi kь svetomu mučeniku Hristovu Georьgiju Nagoričьskomu). The victory of King Stefan Dečanski at the Battle of Velbužd on 28 July 1330 is described by the Serbian annals and the aforesaid Lives of the Serbian Kings and Archbishops. According to the Serbian annals, King Stefan Dečanski captured Michael Šišman and brought him to Žegligovo (aduxere eum in Segligovo), where the Bulgarian Tsar died and was buried in the Church of Saint George in the village of Nagoričino (et sepulchro datus est in Ecclesia sancti Georgii in pago Gorichina). On the contrary, the Lives of the Serbian Kings and Archbishops describe that the Bulgarian ruler had already died in the battle. His corpse was brought to the Church of Saint George in the place called Nagoričino (prěnesenu Georьgija vь městě rekoměmь Nagoričьskaago) and entombed there. In a ledger containing a list of debtors and guarantors of the Ragusan merchant Mihailo Lukarević from Novo Brdo, dated to the period from 1432 to 1438, a certain Radiuoj Tatich from Nagoričino, who was born in Kokÿno (de Chochina in Nagorizno/Nagorzno) is mentioned. On his campaign against the town of Skutari (now Shkodra in Albania) in May 1474 the Ottoman Pasha of Rumeli stayed with his army in Nagoričino, which was three days of journey away from Kosovo Polje (Bassa Romanie cum numeroso et valido exercitu dimissus est in loco dicto Nagoricino, distanti a Cossovo itinere dierum trium). In the Pšinski pomenik (15th c.) Nagoričino is attested as Staro Nagoričino ("Old Nagoričino"), while the toponym of Nagoričino is obviously used for Mlado Nagoričino. Nagoričino is registered in the Defter for the Sanjak Köstendil from 1519 with the attribute "Staro" and from the years 1570 to 1572 as Gühne Nogoriç, Köhne-i Nagoriç and Köhne-yi Nogoriç (with the meaning of "Staro Nogorič"). The assumption that Edward Brown (1668-1669, published in 1673) saw the Church of Saint George in Nagoričino, while passing through Kumanovo, is probably incorrect ("near which [scil. Kumanovo] there is still a Greek Monastery, upon the side of the hills"). Rather he wrote about Sveta Bogorodica Črьnogorska in the Skopska Crna Gora, to the West of Kumanovo. In 1704 the Serbian scribe Jerotej Račanin refers to Nagoričino as 40 churches ("40 crkvy" or Turkish "krka klisa").
From the viewpoint of Art History, it should be emphasised that the Serbian King Milutin had the upper part of the Church of Saint George built on the destroyed walls of an older edifice in 1312/13 as evidenced by the aforesaid inscription above the Western entrance. The frescoes in the church were completed in 1317/18 according to the aforesaid inscription from 1318 in the interior and were executed by the painters Michael and Eutychius. The Church of Saint George is in the form of an inscribed cross with five domes, with barrel and groin vaults and a semicircular apse on the East (the altar space is relatively large and is continuing to the space of the nave), while the older edifice is clearly visible (especially on the Northern side of the church).
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Peć, Church of St. Demetrius (Patriarchate of Peć)
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The Church of St. Demetrius is situated in the city of Peć. It was built by Archbishop Nikodim, probably between 1320 and 1324, as is written in the Peć Chronicle.
It is a reduced cruciform edifice with a spacious dome and altar. Western bay is lower and dimmer than the rest of the Church (serving as a resting place of two Patriarchs - Jefrem and possibly Sava IV). It has a cross (groin) vault, which was, as some scholars believe, built later.
In 1614 some parts of the building (namely its Northern wall) have been reconstructed.
On the altar screen some sculpture can be seen. The Church was fresco painted in the middle of the 14th century, and renovated in the 17th century. The name of one painter (out of two who painted this Church) has remained inscribed in the apse in Greek lettering.
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Peć, Church of the Holy Apostles (The Patriarchate of Peć)
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The Church of the Holy Apostles is situated in the city of Peć. It was built by Archbishop Arsenije I in the middle of the 13th century (even though an inscription on one of the frescoes from the 14th century states that St. Sava initiated the construction). In time, as other buildings erected next to this Church, its shape changed so the original appearance of the Holy Apostles cannot be reliably reconstructed.
The Church belongs to the Raška style and was a seat of Archbishopric (after it was moved from the Žiča Monastery) and later raised to the rank of Patriarchate (1346-1766).
The Church was built on the grounds of an older three nave basilica which was reconstructed and modified to a single nave edifice with a dome and an apse with proskomidia and diakonikon. Side naves became chapels. Nave was elongated and suitable for liturgical purposes. Along its Western part there were once chapels (paracclesions) which were demolished in the 14th century. Today it is a space of rectangular base with a semicircular vault.
Similar solutions are to found in Pridvorica and Davidovica.
Along the South wall of the central bay is a sarcophagus which once housed the remains of Archbishop Arsenije I. Another sarcophagus in the South-West corner of the Church kept the relics of Joanikije II, the first patriarch of the Patriarchate in Peć. The tomb of Archbishop Sava II is located between these two sarcophagi, also placed along the South wall.
The Church was fresco decorated in the 13th century. Western part of the Church was decorated in the time of King Milutin, marking the beginning of a new style, that of the 14th century.
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Peć, Church of the Virgin Hodegetria (Patriarchate of Peć)
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The Church of the Virgin Hodegetria is situated in the city of Peć. It was built around 1330, South to the Church of the Holy Apostles (as a counterpart to the Church of St. Demetrius) by Archbishop Danilo II.
It is a developed cross-in-square edifice with octagonal dome. Gothic bifora on its Eastern side was probably added later and matches the same one on its Southern side. In North-Western part of the Church is a sarcophagus of Archbishop Danilo II.
The Church was fresco painted around 1337 (by the time Archbishop Danilo II died) and finished during Archbishop Joanikije.
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Studenica Monastery, Church of Joachim and Anne (the King's Church)
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The Church of the Saints Joachim and Anne, later renamed into the King's Church, is situated next to the monastery's katholikon in the Studenica Monastery. It was built in 1313 or 1314 by the Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin (reigned 1282-1321) (ZN 46, Danilo 138) as indicated in the inscription on the façade below the roof cornice. The church is constructed as a building with a reduced cruciform ground plan and a dome.
The Church was fresco decorated by Michael Astrapas, one of the leading painters of the epoch, in the spirit of Byzantine classicism of the Palaiologan era. It was fitted with white marble furnishings and reliefs.
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