The large complex of the Patriarchate of Peć was erected during the 13th and 14th centuries, close to the town of Peć in Kosovo and Metohija, where the river of Pećka Bistrica breaks through the narrow pass of the Rugovska Gorge only to run through the ravines of Metohija.
Text & Photo by Kosta Rakić |
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The monastery, a centuries-old meeting place of Serbian bishops and patriarchs, survived the Middle Age and Turkish rule and from the 13th century to 1776 played a key role as the spiritual centre of the Serbian people and Orthodoxy. It served as the centre of Church organization, first as the Serbian Archbishopric and from 1346 as the Patriarchate. |
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| The monastic complex, only a kilometre from Peć, is a group of buildings and artistic monuments comprising four churches: the main church of Saint Apostles (mid-13th century), the Church of St. Demetrius (1316-1320); in 1330 the walls of the Church of the Virgin and of the Church of St. Nicholas were added to the south façade of the main church. At the same time, by the Churches of Saint Apostles, of St. Demetrius and of Virgin Hodegitria a spacious and open parvis was built like a porch – a masterpiece of the time – which was later walled up. At the centre of the parvis there was a belfry tower, which was later destroyed. The current belfry was built some thirty years ago as an endowment of Patriarch German. In the heights above the river are the remnants of a fort which guarded the monastery for centuries, while in the caves on Mt. Prokletije’s slopes there lived ascetic monks, who abided by the severest monastic norms. |
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Parvis
In the 14th century Danilo ii established a spacious and common parvis and a tall tower in front of all the three churches – st. apostles’, st. Demetrius’ and the virgin’s. The parvis is a separate construction complex which cannot be compared to anything in Serbian or Byzantine architecture. Disproportionately great in size compared to each of the three churches, its purpose was to serve as the parvis for all the three churches for liturgy and other rituals. With its irregular rectangular shape, it relies on its eastern part on all three churches with open sides, which were built like porches with arcades. Open on all sides, it was once considered a masterpiece. It was built with combined materials.
The main characteristics of the construction are its frescoes, the belfry, marble porch, pillars and vault frescoes.
During its restoration in the mid-14th century the parvis’ arches were walled up. of original frescoes only certain details are preserved in the southeastern part. Among them is the Nemanjićs’ dynasty tree. Later adaptations ruined the frescoes so that it is impossible to conceive what the original frescoes were like. The preserved fresco dates from 1565 when the parvis was repainted. A group of painters worked under the guidance of zoographer Andrej.
The figures of Serbian archbishops and patriarchs were painted in the first zone. on the upper parts, beside the scenes from calendar and ecumenical synod , there are also standing figures – among them even six famous Balkan recluses. The painters who frescoed the parvis did not achieve the artistic quality of their predecessors from the 14th century. "The throne of st. Sava", from where Serbian dignitaries chaired church meetings, is also located in the parvis. | |
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The Church of Saint Apostles was founded in the third decade of the 13th century on the site of a former shrine. The church was founded by Archbishop Arsenije I with significant help from St. Sava. A cruciform building with a dome and transept was built with the Žiča monastery as its model. It did not totally retain its original shape. The shrine’s eastern side and central part remain unchanged. It belongs to the style of the School of Raška. The façade was once mortared and painted red. Stones and fluid mortar were used as building materials while the vaults were made of siga (crystalline calcium carbonated stone). The church’s walls were fresco painted for the first time around 1250, and in several phases until the 18th century. The two main motiffs of the Patriarchate’s frescoes – the purpose of the church and the role of apostles – are also painted in the Church of Saint Apostles. |
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The artistic value of most of the frescoes in this church ranks them among the most distinguished in 13th century Serbian art, and together with the fresco paintings from the monasteries of Studenica, Žiča, Mileševa, Morača and Sopoćani, they mark the peak of monumental and artistic creations of that century. It is almost impossible to find frescoes that can be compared to the frescoes of these shrines in the Orthodox world.
The original frescoes were kept in the altar, on the dome, in the old narthex and in the upper parts of the sub-dome space. The painters, whose styles differ, are unknown. Richly painted compositions with freely placed characters in space are subdued to the relation of figures towards architecture and landscape. For the first time, still nature objects, space and architecture become equal to human figures, what’s more – still nature objects in the middle of the composition dominate human characters. In the altar there are the Deisis and Sacrifice and above the latter is the presentation of the Communion of the Apostles; in the sub-dome space there is a scene from Christ’s life and in the dome there is the magnificent fresco of Christ’s Assumption. The details of Christ’s suffering in the western part of the church were frescoed by the end of the 13th century while standing figures and church holidays in the choir’s space were painted in the second half of the 15th century. |
Deisis, the fresco (circa 1260), Church of the Holy Apostles |
The Virgin with Christ and St. Nicholas, the Church of the Holy Apostles (circa 1300) |
| Peć’s Deisis in the altar, of extraordinary proportion with unnaturally large figures, speaks of the purpose of the church, of resurrection of men and of the Last Judgment. The big fresco of Christ’s Assumption in the dome is a grandiose composition in which Christ, radiant in golddecorated clothing, dominates due to his supernatural size while the Virgin in her humble pose distinguishes herself with mild facial contours. This fresco is not highlighted with colours, but possesses outstanding hue values and the contrast of dark and light hues are an answer to Sopoćani monastery’s luxurious and bright colours. The Assumption is a capital work of fresco painting of the time. |
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Treasury
The monastery’s treasury houses icons, manuscripts and works of applied art from the mid-12th century to the end of the 19th century. The most valuable remainders of the patriarchate’s library are 113 manuscripts, including Romil’s gospel from the end of the 14th century, the Dioptra from the first half of the 15th century and the famous copy of the Octoichos printed at Cetinje in 1494. Certain manuscripts are richly decorated with ornaments. In addition to collections of gold works – gilded crosses, gospels’ cover pages, belts – the big bell from 1432 is also kept in the treasury. The decorations on the sarcophagi and carved doors can be singled out for their artistic value. These items were fortunately secured and are kept under special protection as a result of the recent pogroms in Kosovo and Metohija. | |
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A new narrative style is noticeable in compositions in the western part of the church, a style characterised by a large number of personages and detailed ambience coloured by artists of modest capabilities. In mid-13th century medallions of the martyrs were painted and shortly thereafter a fresco with a rare motif – the funeral of Patriarch Joanikije in which the Patriarchate of Peć is visible. The frescoes dating from the third quarter of the 14th century attract the attention of viewers – the frescoes of holy warriors in bright-coloured clothes as well as frescoes of St. Sava, St. Stefan Nemanja and the scenes of the Holy Feasts. These frescoes with their extended figures and warmth of colour announced the appearance of the Morava School’s fresco painting style. During the 16th and 17th centuries the church was painted twice.
The sarcophagi of archbishops Arsenije I, Sava II and Joanikije II are in the shrine.
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Two Maids, a detail from the fresco "Birth of the Virgin", (circa 1345), Church of the Virgin Hodigitrie | |
Seven decades after the Church of Saint Apostles was built, Archbishop Nikodim added the Church of St. Demetrius on the northern side of the shrine (sometime around 1320). The form of one cruciform building with a big dome and altar space was built in such a manner as to be similar to the main church. The shrine was successfully adapted in the 17th century so that it retained its former shape with minor exceptions. The facades were built by layers of bricks and siga while the exterior of the dome was decorated with rows of columns and wreathes.
The altar byphora in the arch has gothic elements. A part before the entrance of the Church is vaulted with a cross-like arch. This shrine differs from the typical style of the Raška School due to the fact that the altar space is not divided into three parts and lacks choirs. The tradition of Serbian architecture was continued in all other elements. |
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The church is also interesting due to its well preserved medieval sculptural elements – byphoras in the apse, a stone portal and well preserved iconostasis, panels with crafted and painted ornaments as well as three sarcophagi: of Archbishop Nikodim, Patriarch Jeffrey and the third one from the second half of the 14th century with three-branched eights. |
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| Subject tendencies of the frescoes are adjusted to the needs of the highly ranked church circles. The church was painted in 1345 under the order of then Archbishop Joanikije. The chief master Jovan was probably of Greek origin because he left a note in the apse in the Greek language: "A gift to God from Jovan’s hand". The second builder is unknown. Just as in the Church of Saint Apostles here in the dome, too, a big composition of the Assumption was painted. In the apse’s conch the presentation of Virgin with angels is well preserved. Vaults and walls are painted with scenes from the Holy Feasts cycles. The frescoes also present the cycle of St. Demetrius’ life with a series of lively details. It is interesting to note that, in addition to the two ecumenical communions, two communions of the Serbian saints are also presented. Also, the founder’s composition is interesting with Patriarch Joanikije, Tsar Dušan, his son and the future King Uri and St. Sava. |
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Fresco painter Jovan introduced extended and slim bodies into Serbian painting, and figures with elongated faces with utterly new colour accents. Figures are light in pose and movement, and have a feeling for measure and fine proportion which would later become typical in the Morava School’s style.
Restoration of the ruined frescoes was carried out in the period from 1619 to 1620, during the rule of Patriarch Passive, by the then known Highlander’s master Geordie Mitrofanović.
In the treasury, among numerous valuables, the icon of the saints Cosmas and Damian with their hagiography – the work of the master Radul (1647) – is outstanding.
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Romil’s Four Gospels, late 14th century | |
To the south wall of the Church of Saint Apostles, Archbishop of Peć and medieval writer Danilo II added the Church of Virgin Hodigitrie (1330 – 1337) – one dome shrine with the ground plan of a concise cross and with partitions which divide the church into three parts: the Church of the Virgin, the Chapel of St. Arsenije the Serbian and the Chapel of John the Forerunner. This church was also built with bricks and siga.
The frescoes were painted in approximately 1337, prior to the death of Danilo II. Only certain parts of frescoes are preserved from that time. Their theme is well conceived and arranged. The Pantocrator dominates the dome though frescoes of Holy Feasts, scenes from the Virgin’s life and standing figures are also interesting. The fresco on the western wall presents the founder’s composition showing how prophet Danilo brings Archbishop Danilo II, with a model of the church in his hands, before the Virigin. The chapels of St. Arsenije and St. John the Forerunner comprise details from their lives. |
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The frescoes distinguish themselves by a different but not special quality. A group of painters who painted the main part of the church did firm drawings, used bright colours and sudden contrasts of light and shade. Over the spacious walls compositions are often rare and with small figures as a result of the painters’ cartons having been prepared for smaller churches and which, among the rest, are of the unequal quality.
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"The Assumption of the Virgin", Church of St. Demetrius (circa 1345) | |
Still, the fresco of Christ’s Nativity in the vault of the south branch of the cross ranks among the most wonderful frescoes in Serbian art of the 14th century owing to its beauty of composition, clear arrangement of figures and the fresh force of expression. From the frescoes can be captured the outlines of charming beauties, the most beautiful painted in the century. The sarcophagus with the relics of Archbishop Danilo II – made of red marble with a flat relief depicting symbols of the Assumption, the Last Judgment and the blossomed cross – is laid in the church.
In addition to the Church of the Virgin Hodegitria and spacious parvis, Danilo II is also the founder of the little Church of St. Nicholas, one nave building of stone and brick, which relies on the eastern part of the Church of the Virgin’s south wall. It is small in size. Of the two windows, one on the south wall is designed in the Byzantine style architecture while the other on the eastern side is of Roman origin.
The church was most probably painted in the 14th century. Its old frescoes are ruined. The fresco painter Radul, under the order of the then Patriarch Maksim, painted the church again in 1673-74. The frescoes comprise 24 scenes and present the life of St. Nicholas. There are also figures of Stefan Nemanja and Archbishop Sava I, Arsenije I and Danilo II. The paintings in the little Church of St. Nicholas do not belong to the supreme art achievement. | |
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