The Art of Gracanica Monastery
In
the last year of his long reign, 1321, King Milutin issued a chrysobull
granting estates to the monastery of Gracanica, the seat of the bishops
of Lipljan, after he had built a church there and was about to finish
painting its walls. A copy of the document has survived, spelled out
in fresco technique on the wall in the southern chapel, most probably
functioning as a diakonicon here storing precious liturgical vessels
and important manuscripts, especially foundation and gift granting charters.
In addition to a list of assets enhanced by the king with his own contributions,
the charter discloses that here in the fertile plain of Kosovo he had
completely rebuilt the earlier cathedral of the Bishopric of Lipljan.
Excavations of the church interior suggest as much They reveal not only
the remains of an early Byzantine basilica with a narthex and lateral
wings, but also foundations of a smaller, elongated religious building
above its central nave. It is not certain whether the lower structure
was the old episcopal seat of Ulpiana, a nearby ancient town whose tradition
was continued by subsequent spiritual dignitaries. The ground plan of
the upper edifice, however, certainly was the seat of the Bishop of
Lipljan, one of the first archpriests ordained by St. Sava in the autonomous
Serbian church. It was a modest single-aisled building with pilasters
suggesting that it was domed (the excavated fragments of murals show
that the frescoes were painted in the decades around the mid-13th century).
Apparently it was demolished when King Milutin had the new, monumental
edifice built. Nowadays, the king's charter is all the evidence that
remains of a formerly grand, still uninvestigated monastic complex of
which only a few buildings can be reconstructed on the basis of preserved
foundations.
The church of the Virgin in Gracanica - the last in a series built in
the second decade of the 14th century by the greatest patron in medieval
Serbian art - represents the most significant achievement of the Byzantine
architectural tradition he embraced. With its complex and gracious forms
it deeply impressed writers of travel accounts and was sung by folk
epics. Experts, for their part, early saw in it a creation of outstanding
artistic skill. The focus of their research has, naturally, shifted
from the analysis of forms and the outer appearance, whose beauty is
captivating, to consideration of spatial structure, its elements and
origin.

Gracanica Monastery near Pristina
The church's floor plan is rectangular, while further
up it develops into forms which articulate into sloping masses, ascending
towards the main dome. Basically simple and easy to comprehend, the
composition of these masses reveals to a great extent the intricate
internal plan, although the character and disposition of all spatial
and constructive elements do not have corresponding counterparts in
the exterior. In the core of the building is a cross-in-square form
with four freestanding piers crowned by the dome which springs from
a square base. It is supported by lofty barrel vaults spanning the arms
of the cross, dominating the enitre entity. Spatial elements encompassing
the central section play a special role in the external composition.
Of diverse forms and height, they create with their harmonious relations
and characteristic rhythm an entity of unique compositional value: in
the extension of the arms of the cross, bays maintaining the same width
are covered by barrel vaults placed at a lower height, while the corners
are topped by domes of appearance and structure identical to the main
dome. It has been emphasized in scholarly literature that this simplified
scheme is formed "by placing one cross-in-square onto another";
the whole is assembled in a fashion aiming to achieve a perfect outer
appearance.
"Double, two-level intersected vaults" with the dome in the
center and four elevated cupolas at the ends as counterparts, certainly
represent the skeleton of the structure. Symmetrically placed as the
vaults rising above the outer bays, they cover different elements of
space invested with articulated meaning and function.
The real character of the whole and parts in the intricately designed
space can be established only by observing the structure and all its
components, the easiest approach being their analysis on diverse levels.
As a matter of fact because it is divided by a multitude of supports
which block the view of some of the sections, the interior does not
readily expose itself to the observer, though impressing profoundly
with the richness of forms and interplay of light. The spaces on all
sides are open to view below the dome, depending on the height and manner
in which the respective bays are vaulted. Through the arched apertures
placed between piers and pillars in the east there is a large altar,
the width of which is equal to the naos whose central bay carries a
blind calotte. The broadest, unrestricted views from the center towards
the exterior sides of the church opens to the north and south where
the last segments, somewhat lower, originally had direct lateral entrances,
while in the west the round-arched passage allows a view of the space
of the esonarthex with the groin-vaulted central section. On the upper
floor above it there is a middle-sized chamber which in other episcopal
churches had the function of a catichumenon. It was reached by a stone
staircase through the southern part of the wide wall between the narthex
and the nags, lit by a window on the western side.
To the north and south of the naos and the altar the church had special
ambulatory wings terminating in the east with the enclosed parekklesia
with semi-circular apses. In the interior these spaces were of uneven
height, vaulted in a different manner, and the domes at their corners
were not placed at the height of the neighbouring bays. With their square
bases resting on relatively narrow rectangular spaces they rose to a
height at which they established a remarkable harmony with the central
section, thus constituting an entity whose forms rank among the noblest
in Late Byzantine architecture. The effort to repeat particular forms
consistently and preserve their sophisticated rhythm also contributed
to this. Thus, the roof over the low blind dome of the sanctuary was
turned into a barrel-vault in order to correspond to the forms of the
vaults on the other sides. It is evident that the gifted architect concentrated
his attention on the plastic articulation of the edifice, not completely
fulfilling the well-known tenet regarding the relationship between the
interior structure and the outer appearance of the building, so that
the spatial forms and construction elements in it became easily distinguishable
from the outside. In Gracanica, the wide wall areas of the lower portion
thus had shallow pilasters dividing them into well-proportioned, harmonious
surfaces, but the space behind them was designed in an utterly different
manner.

Gracanica church with its nartex
The building material and construction techniques were
typical of widespread building practices used for shrines in towns and
the western provinces of the restored Byzantine Empire, chiefly in the
closing decades of the 13th, and the beginning of the 14th centuries.
The standard use of stone, bricks and mortar reached a high degree of
sophistication here, manifested in the choice of material and its adaptation
to the proportions and structure of particular parts. The face of the
dome, the sides of the arms of the cross and the surfaces of the base
of the dome were executed in tiers of large blocks of sandstone and
limestone of different hues, interpolated by of two rows of brick with
layers of mortar. Stone blocks were mostly framed by mortar joints and
vertically placed bricks - thicker in the lower zones - in the so-called
closonne technique. However, the cornices below the eaves, the frames
of openings, the archivolts closing the gables of the particular sections
of the facades and the cubical base of the drum, and the entire dome
as well were carried out in brick whose rows, in color and fabric, stood
apart from the level surfaces made in stone. The lunettes above the
windows, as was customary, were an opportunity for ornamentation: the
bricks, in fairly simple, mainly semi-circular rows, formed several
motifs there. The manner of their arrangement and construction was neither
rigid or strict. The best sample of masonry workmanship is the eastern
facade of the church, its silhouette slender; adorned areas clustered
more closely together than on the other sides. The relatively tall surfaces
of the externally three-sided apses broken by elongated windows topped
with fields of ornamentation also contribute to the density of the facade.
With regard to this angle, the builder enlarged the height of the upper
portions in order to convey full proportional harmony.
The interior, subdivided by piers, received unequal amounts of light
not only because of the diversely proportioned sections of the structure,
but also because of unequal light sources. As in other domed churches,
the greatest amount of light, chiefly admitted by the tall windows piercing
the drum, spread over the surfaces of the subdomical area and the neighbouring
bays; it penetrated into the arms of the cross through three-light mullioned
windows placed on the gables of their lower segments. But the smaller
domes, raised high over the relatively narrow spaces in the corners,
could not provide light of the same intensity to the lower parts, nor
could light directly spread from them and illuminate the bays next to
them to the same degree. In such an interior the lighting of the upper
sections - a celestial residence in the cosmic understanding of God's
abode - was replaced in the lower zones by deep shadows, enhanced by
dark fumes of candles and incense in which holy paintings lost their
contours during most of the day.

The fresco of King Milutin
As work on the wall-paintings
was drawing to an end - probably in the summer or at the beginning of
the autumn of 1321 - King Milutin and Queen Simonis were painted on
the lateral sides of the passage leading from the narthex into the nags,
dresssed in solemn vestements echoing Byzantine imperial garb. High
above, accommodated at the apex of the arch, Chirst pronounces a blessing
on them, while the angels, expressing God's will, are offering crowns
to them.
The king on the left side holds a vividly articulated model of the church
in both hands. This depiction, however, does not show the exonarthex,
today forming a well-balanced, inseparable and, it seems, logical part
of the whole. The confidence with which all the details of the sprawling,
compelling building model were executed leaves no doubt that at the
time when the fresco painting of the church was about to be completed
the exonarthex still did not exist. In all probability, it was added
soon thereafter. Excavations have revealed that it was of the same volume,
but with a different spatial disposition: massive piers subdivide it
into six bays above which a belfry formerly rose at the west end.
A large part of the original exonarthex appears to have been destroyed
in the first Turkish raids and in a fire in the monastery before the
battle of Kosovo (1389). It is difficult, however, to say what was retained
from its original plan in the reconstruction undertaken soon afterwards.
Having gained experience in the erection of open narthexes in the second
and third quarters of the 14th century, the master-masons raised a serene
structure whose height, forms and construction were a fortunate addition
to Milutin's endowment. The lateral sides were composed of sturdy piers
with arches resting on the pillars between them, while the western facade
featured narrower piers between the corresponding supports, also linked
by arches - two on each side and three in the central section providing
access to the church. In that, the narthex successully adopted the rhythm
of the upper portions of the church which was of tremendous importance
for the entire structure: the apex of the blind dome above it was placed
in continuation of the slanting plane, whose angle was determined by
the height of the main and subsidiary domes.

The fresco of Queen Symonida
Light and transparent, the narthex remained open in the
course of almost two ensuing centuries. It was blocked up afterwards
before being furnished with new wall-paintings after the renewal of
the Patriarchate of Pec (1557). Prior to this time, in a wood-cut showing
the contemporary appearance of the church in a book printed in Gracanica
(1539), a belfry was depicted above the narthex. This belfry may have
been demolished after that because of stricter measures imposed by the
Turkish authorities regarding the use of bells.
The full extent of the remodelling of the exonarthex carried out in
the 16th century has not yet been ascertained. It is therefore difficult
to perceive the character and all the merits of the former structure.
Its present-day appearance does not display the same polished, refined
masonry as the church itself does.
In searching for the origin of the master-masons employed by King Milutin
and the place they were trained we cannot name any single workshop.
The analogies regarding the articulation and conception of space open
up a series of possibilities in the northern regions of Byzantium, especially
Thessalonica, while similar designs occur primarily in Epirus and Thessaly.
The masters from these regions readily joined building projects undertaken
by the Serbian ruler and having brought in by local associates, developed
ideas and experiences with them.
Now that the building has been cleaned the details are more visible;
the wall surfaces in the interior of the church of the Virgin accommodate
numerous representations, comprising the culmination of wall-painting
in Serbia during King Milutin's epoch with their profusion and i selection.
It can be claimed with considerable certainty that until the very end
artists from
Thessalonica were exponents of the new style which matured before the
eyes of the Serbian founders and the clergy. Architecturally preceded
by the five-domed churches of the Virgin of Ljevisa at Prizren and St.
George in Staro Nagoricino, created some years before in the restoration
of earlier structures erected in the Byzantine tradition, the Gracanica
wall-paintings grow out of this tradition in a confident manner. The
underlying ideas and forms of expression neither fluctuated nor flagged
in further elaboration of the program and the refined interpretation
of messages which the earlier seat of the bishopric had striven to transmit
to its congregation. Finding a place for the entire subject matter in
such a complex space necessitated experience and skill. We are not sure,
however, that this was done in a manner befitting the abilities of the
faithful. Aside from those thematic segments which, despite noticeable
differences in the shape of the building, were common to all, only with
considerable effort could great connoisseurs of ecclesiastical history
and doctrine follow the painted thought of the man who commissioned
the building and the artist. Representations were frequently placed
at a large distance from the observer on surfaces difficult to be seen
due to the angle. The question at issue, understandably, was not merely
recognition of the subject matter, although this in itself was not always
simple. Scenes which were iconographically similar or even identical
were interpreted by, and occasionally differed from each other only
through Biblical quotations or verses from ecclesiastical poetry the
texts of which, situated far from the observer, could only be read with
great difficulty. It is possible, however, to single out certain larger
cycles, although their sequence is not always easy to grasp.
The sanctuary posed the least problems though it does include representations
invested with various meanings. In the spherical area of the wide apse
beneath Christ Emmanuel, the Virgin is painted with archangels Michael
and Gabriel in a circular segment of light surrounded by cherubs. With
her appearance and outstretched arms, the Mother of God corresponds
to her frequent epithet Wider than the Heavens because she carries in
her the Lord himself. Liturgical themes - the Communion of the Apostles
and the Service of the Hierarchs are below it. The last composition
features the fathers of the church preceded by John Chrysostom and Basil
the Great whose mystical action evokes Christ's sacrifice. It repeats
an oft-used iconographic formula formed at the end of the 12th century.
In accordance with the character of the space, several individual images
of the holy fathers were painted on the other sides as well, while the
Resurrection was placed over the central section in the blind calotte.
The neighbouring vaults and areas below them display a series of events
from the Virgin's cycle (The Refusal of Gifts by Joakim and Anna, the
Return of Joakim and Anna from the Temple, the Annunciation, the Presentation
of the Virgin at the Temple, etc.). The second significant group includes
the Sacrifice of Abraham, the Invitation of the Three Angels into the
Home, Abraham Giving Hospitality to the Three Angels, Gideon's Fleece,
the Tabernacle, Divine Wisdom Which Hath Built Her House, etc. Several
scenes evoked the Eucharist, but in accordance with the Old and New
Testaments they represent at the same time protoptypes (prefigurations)
of the Mother of God and the embodiment of the Logos. More recent studies
dealing with the complex meanings and stock iconographic content typical,
for instance, of the Old Testament Tabernacle, disclose not only an
early established dogmatic foundation, but also expresssions in religious
poetry which disseminated certain ideas that prompted painters to include
them in their wall-paintings.
Certain scenes linked with the Virgin's life are painted in her parekklesion,
i.e. the southern one, while the northern contains illustrations recounting
the life of St. Nicholas to whom this space is dedicated. The chapel's
apse, however, also received St. John the Forerunner. His impresive
image with its vigorous features became widely known and contributed
greatly to a proper understanding of the values of the Gracanica frescoes.

A fresco from Gracanica Monastery
The subject matter
of the main dome is similar to that of many such churches: at its apex
personifying the celestial heights in the notion of church as universe,
Christ All-Sovereign (Pantocrator) is customarily represented; below
him is the Divine Liturgy painted after the model of the liturgical
service on this earth, itself invoking the participation of the heavenly
powers with the small Christ - the Lamb on the communion table (hagia
trapeza) and rows of angels dressed as deacons in stycharia with oraria,
holding liturgical vessels.
The Great Feasts are in a fresco on the tall vaults of the nags, while
the emphasis on narration typical of the epoch has come into full play
on the lower sections of the corresponding areas. This was an important
feature, by which the new current in the Palaeologian painting was simply
called narrative . Numerous passages relating to Christ's teaching are
portrayed from the Gospels, while his parables are vividly illustrated.
Christ's Passion, in the main position beneath them, is represented
in as many as twenty compositions, from the Last Supper to the Resurrection,
in which the Crucifixion, although painted within the Great Feasts,
appears as well. The significance given to Christ's suffering renders
its illustration essential to each sequence, though several decades
later it was considerably shortened. They had soteriologic significance
- the suffering and death of the Son of God were a pledge to the salvation
of mankind.Christ's appearances after his death form a special cycle.
They were embodied in the liturgy itself with the appearance of the
priest at the Royal Door blessing the believers and retreating afterwards
like Christ, while the selection and order of representations corresponded
to the order in which the appropriate passages from the gospels were
read in liturgical services during Lent before Easter - Three Women
and the Virgin at Christ's Tomb, the Myrrophoroi, Do Not Touch Me (Noli
me tangere), the Myrrophoroi Informing the Apostles, etc.
The painters, inspired by a wealth of religious literature, depicted
in the west part of the naos the end of the Virgin's life, illustrating
it in a series of episodes: the prayers before her death announced to
her by the angels; trees, bending, bow to her, her farewell to the Apostles
who when they are summoned, arrive on clouds, and the Dormition featuring
numerous participants and Christ with the accepted soul which the angel
is to carry through the opened door of paradise. In the continuation,
one can see the passing of the Virgin into heaven with the apostle Thomas
who is given a belt from her; the Apostles find the empty tomb with
Thomas behind them confirming that he encountered the Virgin by showing
her belt. Evolving this theme in great detail, painters produced various
versions of it in the second decade of the 14th century, obviously well
acquainted not only with the writings attributed to St. John the Theologian
and his contemporaries, but also with several more recent works which
relied on them, ranging from synaxaria to various poetic creations.
In the outlined themes with to the idea of incarnation, while "historical"
representations derived inspiration and motifs from various apocryphal
texts. They also altered the character of painting. Their profusion
and arrangement on relatively small surfaces, frequently only on the
sides of piers, had as a consequence the reduction of scenes, especially
the number of participants recounting the events Only by such reduction
was it possible to depict the calendar with representations of holy
events and personalities for each day of the year. Several centuries
before that, the Menologion had been illustrated in codices. Apparently
it made its first appearance in wall-painting in the 13th century. Locally,
however, it had been represented in a similar vein in Staro Nagoricino
two or three years preceding Gracanica. The masters from the same region
must have been using the same source the calendar of the Constantinopolitan
church for both churches. It is certainly interesting that except in
Serbia, the Menologion appears only in Thessalonica whence the masters
must have come, in the church of St. Nicholas Orphanos, quite a well-known
structure which King Milutin had built and dedicated to this saint in
the second town of the Empire.
The reasons why the cycle of the Calendar occupied a different position
in this church than it had in the others lies in the spatial scheme
and the general disposition of ornaments. As a matter of fact, their
entire repertoire and exact arrangement cannot be established on account
of considerable damage to particular surfaces, and we therefore cannot
be sure whether the Menologion - analogies for this exist as well -
was illustrated here in its entirety. However, large sections, sometimes
in bands, can be followed on different sides - on the piers and passages,
below the small domes on the western side of the church and in the narthex.
With their appearance and disposition, they correspond in many aspects
to individual images of saints, most frequently martyrs, predominantly
encountered here in the lower zones.

The icon of Theotokos, the main iconostasis of Gracanica
Monastery
In a series of themes the subject-matter of which has
eschatological connotations or bears a message associated with salvation,
the representation of the Last Judgment in the western part of the church
was customarily given the central place. At the entrance to the narthex
the faithful were encountered by a complex vision of the Apocalypse
- Christ, the Virgin and John the Forerunner, the apostles, the angels
rolling up the heavens, sounding the trumpet and weighing souls, the
lake of fire from which fish, beasts and birds on its banks are returning
parts of human bodies at the last hour, the personification of the Sea
and the Earth from which the dead emerge, and terrible suffering awaiting
the sinful (cold, fire, worms and gnashing of teeth); on the other side
is the fenced garden in Paradise with Abraham, the righteous in his
lap, the Virgin and the Righteous Criminal, while the choirs of the
heavenly powers and the righteous (holy women, martyrs, prophets, monks,
etc.) are represented separately. The picturesque scene, primarily based
on the narration of John the Theologian, had its pendant in theological
literature which the artist used with endless open or implied references
to the end of human life and the road of salvation which can save a
man from a terrible sentence.
In the same space, in the passage leading towards the naos stand King
Milutin and Queen Simonis in a scene of the ruler's investiture, wearing
Byzantine imperial garb with angels offering them crowns. The close
tie with the Constantinopolitan court is especially emphasized by the
inscription next to the young queen designated as "Palaeologina,
daughter of the Emperor Andronikos Palaeologos".
In a more ornate manner the divine origin of rule is stressed in the
depiction of the holy dynasty of which King Milutin is a descendent.
The elaborate genealogical composition of the ruling house over a century
and a half on the Serbian throne repeats the imagery of Christ's family
tree branching out of Jesse's root in the shape of foliage. The bottom
of the Serbian rulers' tree is taken by Nemanja, while his descendants
are placed in four rows above him, in tendrils.The most distinguished
members of the dynasty have been selected from this lineage teeming
with offspring, including, understandably, those who, following St.
Sava, belong to his spiritual branch. In the vertical, direct line,
kings Stefan the First-Crowned, Uros and Milutin are represented as
the most significant upholders of Nemanja's work. At the top, Christ
is blessing the entire Tree with outstretched arms while angels on the
lateral sides, flying, repeat the symbolic investiture, handing his
regalia - the crown and the loros - to the king in power.
After several changes in the manner in which the Serbian sovereigns
were painted and the emphasis on the divine origin of power invested
upon them, the house of the Nemanjics in Gracanica for the first time
was represented in a meticulously designed, visually clear iconographic
formula. The number of its members displayed on the joint picture is
considerably larger than on other compositions of this kind. In a broader
aspect such a representation, understandably, was not new and it could
be traced back to antiquity, from which the Tree of Jesse also originates;
the Arabians and dynasties in the West were also familiar with it. However,
it is not encountered in Byzantine art from which Serbia, as a rule,
derived all iconographic patterns. The very position of these Nemanjices
in relation to the position of the Second Coming of Christ, opposite
Paradise - that "fortunate" segment of the apocalyptic vision
which threatened other sinners on earth - was certainly selected by
the master himself or his spiritual counselor from the ranks of the
local clergy, in charge of such undertakings.

An old icon in Gracanica
The wall decoration at Gracanica, the work of Thessalonica
masters commissioned by King Milutin, concluded the maturation of painting
during his reign. The numerous frescoes, considerably damaged, yield
no information about their painters, as was true with the frescoes in
several other shrines. There is no reason, however, why they should
not be associated with the reputable artists Michael Astrapas and Euthychios.
The frescoes in Gracanica are closely aligned to their perception of
art and style, the development of which can be followed on signed and
dated frescoes over a quarter of a century preceding Gracanica. It seems
unlikely, therefore, that as early as 1319-1321, after Staro Nagoricino
was completed (1317/18), entirely new artists came along, fully mature
and sophisticated, who belonged to the same stylistic circle and produced
works indistinguishable from those of their predecessors. These brilliant
artists introduced new styles from the major Byzantine centers, while
also participating creatively in their adaptation to the environment
where they were engaged for many years on grand churches under obviously
favorable conditions. Their work secured for them in scholarly literature
the name of the "school of King Milutin's court." Their sojourn
in Serbia concided with his reign and ended in about the same month,
after they had completed the last in a series of the king's portraits
when he was already of an advanced age with a long, grey beard, and
"seemed to have been touched by death."
Under well-protected vaults roofed with lead the fresco-paintings remained
undamaged for many years and did not require renovation, as otherwise
was frequently the case. There are only two frescoes created at a later
date, linked with events which came about in the meantime. In the southern
chapel dedicated to the Virgin Intercession (Parakklesis) under the
arcosolium where the tomb was originally situated of Bishop Ignjatije
who supervised construction of the church stands a depiction of the
Death of the Bishop of Lipljan Teodor: over his body lying in state
is a monkpriest a prayer and swinging incense, accompanied by singers
with pointed caps and a reader with an open book which is being read
by all of them.

The plan of Gracanica church
In close proximity,
on the surface of the former entrance to the same parekklesion, young
Theodor, the eldest son of the Despot George Brankovic (1427-1456) was
painted after his death, some time before 1429. The confidently and
meticulously drawn portrait features and the nobility and beauty of
the painted subject-matter attest to the value of the painting of this
epoch, only known, in fact, in a small number of surviving works of
art.
In the hardships that befell Gracanica and other monuments following
the first attacks of the Turks, the original outer narthex with its
entire fresco decoration was devastated, and subsequently, after its
restoration, a greater part of the frescoes dating from a later time
were destroyed as well. Several representations have survived in it,
of which the depiction of the Second Ecumenical Council and the illustration
of the poem "In the grave bodily..." are especially interesting
in thematic terms. The Baptism in the southern portion of the east wall,
however, is the most telling example of the character of the style:
of a very complex iconographic pattern, it features the troubled and
wide course of the Jordan River cutting across the scene, and several
episodes accompanying the event. Superbly painted and of glowing harmonies
of colours, almost all the figures of the participants and the antique
personifications have, unfortunately, lost their facial features, so
that opinions concerning the exact date of their creation differ considerably.
In all probability, they can be dated to the second quarter of the 16th
century, during the time of the educated and energetic Metropolitan
of Gracanica Nikanor who took an active part in spiritual life, renovated
the library which had burned down, and even established a printing press
in the monastery. The large icon of Christ the Merciful (139x269 cm)
with the Ancient of Days and the apostles, offers a more direct testimony
to the painting of this period, very poorly known in the Balkans. On
the lower part of the frame, between the ancient sages and the prophets,
the
Metropolitan Nikanor comissioned his portrait, outstandingly painted
in the proskynesis, with a poetically composed prayer written on a long
scroll, and an angel offering him in Christ's name the Archbishop's
mytra in the act of investiture.
The icon of the Virgin, of smaller dimensions with prophets holding
scrolls and the objects of their visions in their hands probably dates
to the same period. Nowadays, the iconostasis of the church and its
parekklesia do not contain earlier works; neither does the treasury,
which must have been very rich. However, several works created at a
later date have survived, of which the most significant is an icon from
1607/8 depicting the life of St. Feuronia, who rarely appears on her
own with a portrait of Viktor, the Metropolitan of Novo Brdo (Gracanica)
in that epoch.
The restoration of the Patriarchate of Pec stirred up the spiritual
life in the state, having left a visible trace primarily in the large
centers of ecclesiastical administration. At that time, the character
of the Gracanica exonarthex was significantly altered by blocking up
the space between the columns on its open sides, although with their
light structure and the form of the vaults they had been excellently
adapted to the plastic values of Milutin's temple. In the most recent
conservation works it regained some of its former value, but all elements
of its original appearance have not been established with certainty,
neither was it possible to remove all sections subsequently added because
of the fresco-paintings these later additions contain.
Newer murals which were completed in September 1570 exhibit a genuine
profusion of themes and even iconographic rarities. Most of the paintings
relate to the Virgin to whom the church was dedicated: episodes from
her life previously depicted in the church, scenes from the Old Testament
which have the meaning of her prototype, and illustrations of the Akathistos
in which she had been venerated from the 14th century. Special stress
was laid on the role of the Virgin as the mediator of mankind addressing
the Son, on her own or with John the Forerunner in the developed Deisis
with the apostles. In the last scene she is humbly approached by the
founders, the Patriarch Makarije, the first head of the restored Serbian
Church, with the Metropolitans Anthony and Dionisius. In all probability,
the latter archpriest passed away some time before the work on the fresco-painting
was done, so his death was depicted here. Because of the moment at which
Metropolitan Dionisius died and undoubtedly because of his merits, in
the depiction of his funeral dozens of spiritual and secular dignitaries
have gathered in groups with their arrangement and expanse forming one
of the most beautiful compositions of its kind. At the same time, with
emphasis on the long tradition of the Serbian Church as confirmation
of its autonomy, its heads were depicted in the lowest zone, starting
from the first Archbishop, St. Sava, to the last, Patriarch Macarius,
whose image has been damaged.
In comparison with
painting dating from King Milutin's time, whose masters produced works
which resonated with tension even in their later years, always creatively
modulating their visions, the decoration of the exonarthex was duller
and more schematic, evolving from extinguished artistic centers which
were being brought back to life, repeating the traditional features
of earlier art. Nonetheless these paintings can be counted among the
fine work by masters who had, before that, left their art in the earlier
shrines of Pec and Studenica.
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Serbian Army in front of Gracanica Monastery 1878 - During the Serb-Turkish
war 1876-1878
Serbian Army libarated parts of Kosovo and reached Gracanica Monastery
first time after the 15th c.
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