Monastaries and Frescoes in Orthodox Churches
... The first group was churches with a central base- rotunda, trefoil, hexafoil, and octafoil. Churches with elongated bases like one-aisled and three-aisled basilicas, as well as temples with cross-bases belonged to the second group. ... Churches of hexafoilic and octafoilic plans are almost completely ruined. ... 8 The churches built by the Byzantine constructors in the Central Balkan were more advanced in all aspects than structures built by the Slavs. On the bases of the Byzantine basilicas, Serbian churches were later constructed. ... Other than these basilicas, the Byzantines also built smaller churches on the Serbian territories which showed their spiritual belief outside of religious centers. From these cross-based churches, Stara Pavlica from Brvenik, Djunis in Krusevac, and Markovo in Vranje were built. Some one-aisled churches with a cupola were Gornji Matejevac in Nis and Kacapun in Vranje.10 Many frescoes (paintings done using special techniques on walls) from that period were preserved. For Serbia, frescoes from the church of Petar are very valuable because they started an important period of fresco paintings. ... The author of these frescoes is unknown but he successfully composed and organized details in the interior and achieved an interesting ensemble. ... The architecture of Zica defines and symbolizes the Raska style of churches: simple, harmonious, and without too many ornaments or relief. The frescoes of Zica were created by artists that St. ... 12 Nemanja’s sucessors continued building churches in the Raska style. ... 14 Other churches in the 13th century, which were not built by rulers, also started adopting the Raska plan and construction style. ... One of the characteristics of their temples was a bell tower on the west side of the structure, which became the symbol of the Orthodox cathedrals. ... What helped to make the churches and monasteries into artistic successes were the frescoes, which were created immediately or soon after the foundation of the temples. The first in the chronological order of the magnificent artistic pieces is the ensemble of frescoes in the Milesevo monastery. Inspired by the beauty of the Byzantium mosaics of Salonica, the painters of the Milosevo frescoes have created the combination of the Hellenistic spirit and the virtuous visual expression. ... In the mausoleum of Serbian bishops, in Pec, in about 1260, frescoes, inspired by the ideas by St. ... They were of uneven quality, but iconographically, thematically, and stylistically viewed, they differed greatly from the frescoes to that date.20 The artistic values of the frescoes of the Holy Trinity Church in Sopocani were highly regarded in the second half of 13th century as some of the most picturesque and vivid in Byzantium and Europe. ... While not strictly religious, these frescoes have a great epic power and depict artistic and philosophical essence of universality and spiritual elevation. ... 21 Authors of the frescoes of Gradac, in 1275, tried, but not too successfully, to copy the pitoresqueness and vividness, as well as the thematic and stylistic themes of the frescoes in Sopocani.22 Towards the end of the 13th century, unknown artists tried imitating the Sopocani frescoes while refurbishing the inside of the dome of Peter’s Church in Ras. ... One of them is the church in the monastery of Decani, built in 1335 as an endowment, which is a five-isled basilica with a cupola, which is unusual for the churches of that time. ... In this architectural style, a few churches have been built until the middle of the 14th century. ... In Prizren, Dragoslav Tutic and Mladen Vladojevic founded the churches of St. ... It was characteristic of the 14th century to include the nobles in the founding of churches, due to their acceptance of Christianity and their financial status. ... This century is also the period of birth of most significant Serbian frescoes and interest in the antique literature. Literature consists of new texts of church prose and poetry, while the changes in the Byzantine art affect the Serbian frescoes. Frescoes illustrated images and scenes from the New and Old Testament, as they became more and more narrative. ... Frescoes portrayed scenes from the everyday lives, as well as idealistic scenes, while painters used lively colors, as they contrasted light and dark images. ... Gracanica, whose frescoes portray the power of King Milutin and the Nemanjic dynasty. This gallery of frescoes is included into the biggest treasury of the Serbian art of the 14th century. ... In the church of Nikola Debarski, frescoes from 1330 were found, underneath the frescoes of the 16th century. These frescoes depict the departure of classicism and the return of more monumental shapes. In the period from 1335 until the 1350, the largest gallery of frescoes was created in the monastery of Decani. ... Up until that date, there has never been a more grandiose ensemble of frescoes and the combination of the artists’ talents with the power of a Serbian dynasty, which has made fresco painting from Decani, special in Serbian and in the Byzantine art.37 The frescoes in the Churches of Pecka Patriarsija (1330), St. ... Raska has stopped being the centre of artistic happenings which is proved by the unkempt frescoes from Dobrun, as well as ones from Bela Crkva Karanska (1340-1342), whose form was simplified and which were painted by local, not too talented artists. The obvious absence of artistic values in these frescoes shows us the “dying of art” in Raska. ... Anathema of the Byzantine church towards the Serbian Orthodox Church has only increased this disturbance and art in the northern parts of Serbia seemed to be dying out.