Books by Aneta Serafimova
МONASTERY/CHURCH: Holy Archangels
LOCATION: village of Kučevište, nr. Skopje
According to popu... more МONASTERY/CHURCH: Holy Archangels
LOCATION: village of Kučevište, nr. Skopje
According to popular accounts, the monastery's church was built in the times of King Mark on the banks of the miracle working river Kučeviška on Mount Skopska Crna Gora, whose water brought progeny and family joy. The facts of science suggest that it was erected in the period between the battles at Marica (1371) and of Kosovo (1389). Its three-conch shape and dominant dome are reminiscent of the Mount Athos churches. The church was built in the cloisonne technique, which was characteristic of only the most elite of donations. It was first frescoed in 1591. The donor, Nicholas, a cleric with the title of presbyter, also donated for the creation of the first iconostasis, in testimony of which is the inscription on the architrave basis of the elaborate gilt iconostasis cross. This was also when the first icons were produced, the only remaining of which is that showing archangels Michael and Gabriel, exceptional for its dark incarnate. The same colouring dominates the frescoes in the altar space and the naos. The rich programme in this space includes rare topics unusual for the central Balkans, such as scenes depicting the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the Establishment of the Cult of the Holy Icons in Byzantium. The traditional programme has been extended with post-Byzantine scenes and themes and with iconographic innovations. Such an example is the representation of Judas vomitting the Eucharist in a gush, depicted in the altar scene of the Communion of the Apostles; in addition, in a dark corner of the naos, he is depicted as rotting in the pit of hell. In the scene of the Baptism, St. John the Forerunner speaks to the people about the birth of Christ, and the children throw themselves into the holy river, while God the Father bestows blessings from the heavens. The painter's meditative and erudite expression is also reflected in the design of the thematic unities. The dome contains a complex programme, extended with a number of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the righteous sons of Jacob from the Old Testament. In the spirit of the 14th century erudite painting, the painter combined scenes from three cycles into a single thematic unit whose common denominator are the quotes read at the liturgies between Easter and All Souls Day. Located in the second zone of the altar space and the naos, these scenes resemble still frames from a film with the liturgical protocol of the Pentecost for its script. The depictions of the holy warriors attired as noblemen, almost two meters tall, with their elegance and dignity, clearly illustrate the mannerisation of the 14th century monumental style that was creatively recycled in the naos in a distinctly representative way. The painting ensemble in the naos is a work of three fresco-painters, creative compilers/eclectics, who are supposed to have been educated in Kastoria. Analyses show that they visualised the scenes by applying the patterns of the older painting style from the area of the Ohrid Archbishopric, combining them with the contemporary solutions of the so-called Linotopi painters, yet borrowing also from those who painted the most representative Epirean ensembles in Joannina.
Some time later, due to the monastery's increasing needs, the church was extended to the west with a narthex, which was decorated in 1631. There are scientific indications that the new donor at that time was the Skopje Metropolitan Simon who attended to the monastery with great enthusiasm. His patronage in the Skopje Eparchy is also attested by the inscription in the monastery of Šiševo. He summoned prominent painters to work on these two monasteries almost simultaneously, and as they finished their job, they were commissioned to do more work in southwest Serbia. The painters devised in the narthex of the Kučevište church a complex theological content that is reminiscent of the programme of the wall paintings in the refectories on Mount Athos. The uppermost part of the narthex is dominated by the depictions of God the Father, Mother of God and Christ, who is shown as an angel, as well as the scenes showing the miracles of the patrons, the holy Archangels. Looking downwards, one can observe the sequence of the zones representing the Chant to the Mother of God and the Ecumenical Councils. The entire east wall is dedicated to the Last Judgement, where Alexander the Great appears among the sinners, seated on a bench along with other pagan rulers, as well as a group of Ottoman notables with fezzes on their heads. At the bottom of the impressive depiction of the inferno as a fiery river there is black Satan who clasps the sinner Judas. The entire surface of the west wall accommodates the painting showing Christ's parentage. Painted across 25 m2, this genealogy contains 110 scenes and figures, including the ancient philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch, whose wisdom was interpreted as heralding the thought of the prophets from Christ's lineage. With its spectacular volume, the Tree of Jesse is unique in the central Balkans. The traditional belief that the monastery was a health centre finds support in the depiction of the eight holy healers, as it is the most populous grouping of its kind known in late mediaeval fresco painting. The monastery saw its revival in the 19th century: it became a theological centre of scholarship with a rich library and valuable liturgical articles. It also got a new iconostasis (1843) and icons (1846) and it was at that time that the south hospice was erected to match the older one. The activities in the monastery have mostly been credited to the abbot of the time - the hieromonk Misail from Kopanica near Tetovo. A true rarity making the church's interior so particularly exclusive are the authentic furnishings executed in fine mosaic marqueterie with horn ornaments. This monastery, which was unquestionably a centre of pan-Balkan significance, stands in evidence of the plentiful cultural and artistic sap in the Balkans throughout the post-Byzantine centuries.
Оваа книга е публикувана во рамките на Проектот на УНЕСКО за презентација и популаризација на кул... more Оваа книга е публикувана во рамките на Проектот на УНЕСКО за презентација и популаризација на културното наследство во Југоисточна Европа и со финансиска поддршка на Регионалното биро за наука и култура во Европа (UNESCO-BRESCE) со седиште во Венеција и на Cooperazione Italiana. Книгата е дел од четиритомната едиција „Македонско културно наследтсво“ во која се вклучени следните наслови/книги: (1) Христијански споменици, (2) Охрид - светско наследтсво, (3) Археолошки локалитети и (4) Османлиски споменици.
MEDIAEVAL PAINTING IN MACEDONIA (9th - 18th CENTURIES)
- Diversity of Exposed Spirituality -
... more MEDIAEVAL PAINTING IN MACEDONIA (9th - 18th CENTURIES)
- Diversity of Exposed Spirituality -
“Looking back in the Middle Ages,
we look back at the childhood of ours...
at our lux et scaena prima.”
Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality, London 1987
Introduction
The Slavic-Byzantine environment is an important factor in the study of international relations in the European East in the Middle Ages. Its principal characteristic is not politics but culture and the arts, or using the language of socio-anthropologists its principal characteristic is based on the process of so called acculturation. The different cultures - of both the Romaioi and Slavs - met with each other here, while losing none of their individuality. A complex process took place of i9ntegration of the ethnically heterogeneous environment into a single cultural milieu. Its common denominator was to be Eastern Christianity, Scholarship has come to the conclusion that the crucial element in the association between the Slavic and Byzantine cultures was the Slavonic language via the tradition of Ss Cyril and Methodius. The educational basis (the language) and the independent church (the Archbishopric of Ohrid) were to direct the course of development of mediaeval art in the northern, central and south-western part of Macedonia in a unique way. The theology and aesthetics of Byzantium were only the framework of an authentic exposition of spirituality in paints.
Contents
Illuminated Manuscripts .......................................................
The Ancient Establishment of Books ..........................
Frescoes and Icons .............................................................
9th - 10th Centuries: The Spring of Spirituality ...........
11th Century: Monastic Spirituality .............................
12th Century: Secular Spirituality .................................
13th Century: Between the Old and New Spirituality.....
14th Century: Renaissance(s) in/of Spirituality ............
15th-18th Centuries: Spiritual Continuity
in between Tradition and Revival ...............................
Glossary ..............................................................................
Select Bibliography ...........................................................
This CD-ROM is dedicated to the masterpieces of Byzantine art on the territory of the Republic of... more This CD-ROM is dedicated to the masterpieces of Byzantine art on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia. The text deals with the iconographic and the stylistic features of artworks executed in the period between the 11th and 15th centuries. Using this text one can browse the CD-ROM with direct access to the following options: Church Architecture, Frescoes (Wall Paintings), Icons, Historical Maps, Chronology (Timeline) and Road Map of Macedonia.
The book is published within the UNESCO Project on Presentation and Popularization of the Cultura... more The book is published within the UNESCO Project on Presentation and Popularization of the Cultural Heritage in Southeast Europe and with the financial support of the Venice Office - Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (UNESCO-BRESCE) and Cooperazione Italiana. It is a part of four-book set/edition on Macedonian Cultural Heritage which includes the following book titles: (1) Christian Monuments, (2) Ohrid - World Heritage Site, (3) Archaeological Sites and (4) Ottoman Monuments.
The book is published within the UNESCO Project on Presentation and Popularization of the Cultura... more The book is published within the UNESCO Project on Presentation and Popularization of the Cultural Heritage in Southeast Europe and with the financial support of the Venice Office - Regional Bureau for Science and Culture in Europe (UNESCO - BRESCE) and Cooperazione Italiana. It is a part of four-book set/edition on Macedonian Cultural Heritage which includes the following book titles: (1) Christian Monuments, (2) Ohrid - World Heritage Site, (3) Archaeological Sites and (4) Ottoman Monuments.
"The Manual proposes classroom and extra-curricular activities as well as student activity sheets... more "The Manual proposes classroom and extra-curricular activities as well as student activity sheets, and provides a series of enlarged photographs of World Heritage sites, a poster, a World Heritage map and stickers to be used for classroom discussions. It guides to sharing knowledge about heritage conservation with young people in the form of a journey through the world's magnificent cultural and natural heritage.
Contents
- Preface by Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
- Intro of the UNESCO’s WHYH Kit (eds. C. Quin & V. Vujicic-Lugassy) by Kishore Rao, Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre
- Forward of the National Version in Macedonian by Aneta Serafimova, PhD, full professor at the Faculty of Philosophy (Ss Cyril and Methodius University) in Skopje
Educational approaches to World Heritage
The World Heritage Convention
World Heritage and identity
World Heritage and tourism
World Heritage and the environment
World Heritage and a Culture of Peace
Resource materials"
Collaborators: UNESCO’s Office in Venice (BRESCE) and University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”at Skopje. Advisor: J. Trichkovska, PhD, Sr. Specialist on cultural heritage at Council of Europe; professional and technical ass.: J. Spahiu, PhD Candidate in post-Byzantine Art.
Papers by Aneta Serafimova
Annuaire de la Faculté de Philosophie de l'Université „St. Cyrille et Methode“ de Skopje, vol. 27 (53), 2000
The Tree of Jesse in narthex of the Kuceviste Monastery (1630/31) is the unique representations o... more The Tree of Jesse in narthex of the Kuceviste Monastery (1630/31) is the unique representations of the genealogy of Crist in the the Late Middle Ages in Macedonia, in which 88 individual figures and 22 scenes are included. According to our comparative analyses we recognize several scenes with distinctive thematic and iconographic feature: Presentation of Christ with the praying posture of Simeon the Receiver of God, Ascension as an allusion of the Second Advent of Christ, Cursing of Jerusalem, Vision of the Queen of Saba, Vision of Sophonius, and Moses receiving the celestial manna. Eleven distinguished persons of
Antiquity, five identified among them (Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Galen(us), Sibyl and Plutarch), are also depicted inside the basic genealogical row at the bottom of the Tree.
The conclusion of analysis follows that: (1) the first row is completely the same as that of Lavra, and (2) the vertical line right to the central, is identical to the one in Voroneç.
Сергий Радонежский и русское искусство второй половины XIV – первой половины XV века в контексте ... more Сергий Радонежский и русское искусство второй половины XIV – первой половины XV века в контексте византийской культуры. Тезисы докладов международного научного симпозиума. Москва,10–12 ноября 2014 года. – М.: Государственный институт искусствознания, 2014. – 54 с.
ZSUMM, No 3, 2001
The illustration of the Akathist Hymn in the narthex of the Kučevište Monastery nearby Skopje, wh... more The illustration of the Akathist Hymn in the narthex of the Kučevište Monastery nearby Skopje, which is the focal point of the analyses, is added to the rich thematic collection executed during the post-Byzantine period throughout Balkans and Mount Athos. Comparative expertise on the iconographic features of each of the scenes with distinctive rendition of the stanzas indicates the similarities with the Mount Athos’ editions of the Akathistos, especially with the Docheiariou's one as a potential place/direction of imported patterns disseminated in the Balkans.
Δέκατο Όγδοο Συμπόσιο βυζαντινής και μεταβυζαντινής αρχαιολογίας και τέχνης. Πρόγρμμα κια περιλήψις εισηγήσεως και ανακοινώσεως, ΧΑΕ, (8, 9 και 10 Μαΐου) Αθήνα, 1998
Bulletin of Medieval Art, Museum of Macedonia, n.s. 2, 1996
The paper presents the research of the scenes painted on the entire length of the second zone in ... more The paper presents the research of the scenes painted on the entire length of the second zone in the naos and the altar space of the Monastery of Kučevište located nearby Skopje which contains one of the most comprehensive fresco ensembles in the Central Balkan. The arrangement is made up of five illustrations which sequentially follow the events/weeks according to the Flowery Triodion /Pentēkostarion/ (Incredulity of St Thomas, Healing of a Paralytic at Capernaum, Mid-Pentecost, Christ and a Samaritan Woman, Healing of a Man Born Blind), of five scenes of the Christ’s Ministry activities (Wedding at Cana, Healing of Lepers, Healing of Devil- Possessed, Healing a Man with Dropsy and Expulsion of Merchants from a Temple), as well as two scenes depicting the Post Resurrection appearances (Emmaus Supper and Christ before the Myrrhbearers).
The common denominator of this packet of scenes is their single conceptual and thematic whole, i.e., their creation under the influence of the liturgical rite/texts from the gospels read during Sunday and/or the feast services.
Based on our comparative analyses, to the frequency of this thematic unity in the fresco ensembles on Mt Athos, continental Greece, Bulgaria and in the region of the Patriarchate of Peć, we can add the ensembles of Kučevište (1591), Slivnica (1607) and Šiševo (1630), where the scenes of three cycles (Pentēkostarion, Christ’s Public Ministry and Appearances) are designed in a conceptual whole.
The wall paintings attributed to Nikola Mihailov, who is considered to be one of the most prolifi... more The wall paintings attributed to Nikola Mihailov, who is considered to be one of the most prolific and talented painters in RM during the second half of the 19th century, are placed in the four calottes with the separate thematic devotions (from eastern to western: Holy Trinity, Pantocrator and the Divine Liturgy, Holy Theotokos and the hymn “All Creation Rejoices in Thee” and St. Nicholas and his life-scenes) and on the walls in the central nave above the colonnades (the Great Feasts scenes) in the St. Nicholas church in Kumanovo.
A large contribution to the assessment of the influence, education and creative capacity of the painter has a rich inscription material that tracks the figures, scenes and program units that are first announced in this paper.
Surveying the programme entity, we focus ourselves on the specific iconographic, stylistic and epigraphic features influenced by the so called Levantine Baroque tendencies as well as by tendencies with Russian-Ukrainian origin within the contemporary Mediterranean art.
Saint Nicholas’ cycle depicted in the narthex of the Monastery of Šiševo (1630) consists of 17 sh... more Saint Nicholas’ cycle depicted in the narthex of the Monastery of Šiševo (1630) consists of 17 shots shaped in the 15 framed scenes which make it the most narrative one among the preserved examples in the Republic of Macedonia. The presentation of the saint’s life traditionally begins with the biographical scenes (birth with bath miracle, baptism and schooling), continuing with the rites of chirotony (consecration of deacon, priest and of bishop), which are followed by three appearances of the saint (to Ablabius, Constantine and to the three generals in prison), and six miracle rescues (of three maidens from prostitution, three men from execution, Demetrius from drowning, Christopher from death, Basil from Saracens and ship from sinking), ending with the burial of St. Nicholas and the Stefan Dečanski recovery from blindness...
In summary, we may conclude that the rise of the new cults during
the Post-byzantine period (espe... more In summary, we may conclude that the rise of the new cults during
the Post-byzantine period (especially of the new anachorites and of
St Dionysius of Olympus among them) and the penetration of their
holy images in the diocese of Ohrid happened during the 18th century
and are mainly associated with the Moscopole-Korçë-Ohrid region
and with the authorship associated with the Zograph painting family
of Korçë. All such tendencies are the result of the new course of the
Ohrid Church Chair, promoted by the wise and well-educated Archbishop
Joasaph. His period saw the association of St Dionysius’ cult
with that of St Nahum of Ohrid.
The small number of illustrations of St Dionysius of Olympus in the
area of the Ohrid diocese at the end of the 18th and throughout the
19th century can be explained by the Greek origin of the saint which
did not fi t its deliberate strategy of Revival, aiming to restore the old
Slavic cults of the Ohrid Archbishopric as well as to promote and to
enhance new ones, mostly with a Slavic background.
In this paper, we examine the conceptual essence of the iconographic arrangement of the Seven Sla... more In this paper, we examine the conceptual essence of the iconographic arrangement of the Seven Slavic Saints (Holy Heptarithmoi). By analyzing the Apostolic Council scene as a conceptual basis for the so-called centric representation of the Seven Saints, we come to a conclusion that the creator has deliberately shaped the central theme in a way that alludes to the apostolic theme, and therefore a more suitable title for it would be the Council of the Seven Saints, which can be found in extended and reduced variants. The 19th century Revival has resulted in the creation of the so-called Dičo’s edition of the scene, depicted in several variants, as well as of the new arrangement of the scene, which represents the Liturgy of the Seven Saints in Slavic. Our analysis of the scene of the Dormition of St. Nahum reveals that its iconography has been transformed into a requiem scene, with a marked tendency to depict the funeral of the late saint. In its extended scheme, the memorial service is conducted by the three Holy Slavic archpriests in the presence of the other members of the Seven Saints and of some laymen. According to the few representations of the scene of the Dormition of S.S. Gorazd and Angelarius that have been found, it can be concluded that the last resting place of both saints is the town of Berat. All of these arrangements represent historic fictions with a clear-cut message. Having in mind their allegoric aspects, we can attribute them to the phenomenology of (post)Byzantine artistic imagery.
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Books by Aneta Serafimova
LOCATION: village of Kučevište, nr. Skopje
According to popular accounts, the monastery's church was built in the times of King Mark on the banks of the miracle working river Kučeviška on Mount Skopska Crna Gora, whose water brought progeny and family joy. The facts of science suggest that it was erected in the period between the battles at Marica (1371) and of Kosovo (1389). Its three-conch shape and dominant dome are reminiscent of the Mount Athos churches. The church was built in the cloisonne technique, which was characteristic of only the most elite of donations. It was first frescoed in 1591. The donor, Nicholas, a cleric with the title of presbyter, also donated for the creation of the first iconostasis, in testimony of which is the inscription on the architrave basis of the elaborate gilt iconostasis cross. This was also when the first icons were produced, the only remaining of which is that showing archangels Michael and Gabriel, exceptional for its dark incarnate. The same colouring dominates the frescoes in the altar space and the naos. The rich programme in this space includes rare topics unusual for the central Balkans, such as scenes depicting the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the Establishment of the Cult of the Holy Icons in Byzantium. The traditional programme has been extended with post-Byzantine scenes and themes and with iconographic innovations. Such an example is the representation of Judas vomitting the Eucharist in a gush, depicted in the altar scene of the Communion of the Apostles; in addition, in a dark corner of the naos, he is depicted as rotting in the pit of hell. In the scene of the Baptism, St. John the Forerunner speaks to the people about the birth of Christ, and the children throw themselves into the holy river, while God the Father bestows blessings from the heavens. The painter's meditative and erudite expression is also reflected in the design of the thematic unities. The dome contains a complex programme, extended with a number of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the righteous sons of Jacob from the Old Testament. In the spirit of the 14th century erudite painting, the painter combined scenes from three cycles into a single thematic unit whose common denominator are the quotes read at the liturgies between Easter and All Souls Day. Located in the second zone of the altar space and the naos, these scenes resemble still frames from a film with the liturgical protocol of the Pentecost for its script. The depictions of the holy warriors attired as noblemen, almost two meters tall, with their elegance and dignity, clearly illustrate the mannerisation of the 14th century monumental style that was creatively recycled in the naos in a distinctly representative way. The painting ensemble in the naos is a work of three fresco-painters, creative compilers/eclectics, who are supposed to have been educated in Kastoria. Analyses show that they visualised the scenes by applying the patterns of the older painting style from the area of the Ohrid Archbishopric, combining them with the contemporary solutions of the so-called Linotopi painters, yet borrowing also from those who painted the most representative Epirean ensembles in Joannina.
Some time later, due to the monastery's increasing needs, the church was extended to the west with a narthex, which was decorated in 1631. There are scientific indications that the new donor at that time was the Skopje Metropolitan Simon who attended to the monastery with great enthusiasm. His patronage in the Skopje Eparchy is also attested by the inscription in the monastery of Šiševo. He summoned prominent painters to work on these two monasteries almost simultaneously, and as they finished their job, they were commissioned to do more work in southwest Serbia. The painters devised in the narthex of the Kučevište church a complex theological content that is reminiscent of the programme of the wall paintings in the refectories on Mount Athos. The uppermost part of the narthex is dominated by the depictions of God the Father, Mother of God and Christ, who is shown as an angel, as well as the scenes showing the miracles of the patrons, the holy Archangels. Looking downwards, one can observe the sequence of the zones representing the Chant to the Mother of God and the Ecumenical Councils. The entire east wall is dedicated to the Last Judgement, where Alexander the Great appears among the sinners, seated on a bench along with other pagan rulers, as well as a group of Ottoman notables with fezzes on their heads. At the bottom of the impressive depiction of the inferno as a fiery river there is black Satan who clasps the sinner Judas. The entire surface of the west wall accommodates the painting showing Christ's parentage. Painted across 25 m2, this genealogy contains 110 scenes and figures, including the ancient philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch, whose wisdom was interpreted as heralding the thought of the prophets from Christ's lineage. With its spectacular volume, the Tree of Jesse is unique in the central Balkans. The traditional belief that the monastery was a health centre finds support in the depiction of the eight holy healers, as it is the most populous grouping of its kind known in late mediaeval fresco painting. The monastery saw its revival in the 19th century: it became a theological centre of scholarship with a rich library and valuable liturgical articles. It also got a new iconostasis (1843) and icons (1846) and it was at that time that the south hospice was erected to match the older one. The activities in the monastery have mostly been credited to the abbot of the time - the hieromonk Misail from Kopanica near Tetovo. A true rarity making the church's interior so particularly exclusive are the authentic furnishings executed in fine mosaic marqueterie with horn ornaments. This monastery, which was unquestionably a centre of pan-Balkan significance, stands in evidence of the plentiful cultural and artistic sap in the Balkans throughout the post-Byzantine centuries.
- Diversity of Exposed Spirituality -
“Looking back in the Middle Ages,
we look back at the childhood of ours...
at our lux et scaena prima.”
Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality, London 1987
Introduction
The Slavic-Byzantine environment is an important factor in the study of international relations in the European East in the Middle Ages. Its principal characteristic is not politics but culture and the arts, or using the language of socio-anthropologists its principal characteristic is based on the process of so called acculturation. The different cultures - of both the Romaioi and Slavs - met with each other here, while losing none of their individuality. A complex process took place of i9ntegration of the ethnically heterogeneous environment into a single cultural milieu. Its common denominator was to be Eastern Christianity, Scholarship has come to the conclusion that the crucial element in the association between the Slavic and Byzantine cultures was the Slavonic language via the tradition of Ss Cyril and Methodius. The educational basis (the language) and the independent church (the Archbishopric of Ohrid) were to direct the course of development of mediaeval art in the northern, central and south-western part of Macedonia in a unique way. The theology and aesthetics of Byzantium were only the framework of an authentic exposition of spirituality in paints.
Contents
Illuminated Manuscripts .......................................................
The Ancient Establishment of Books ..........................
Frescoes and Icons .............................................................
9th - 10th Centuries: The Spring of Spirituality ...........
11th Century: Monastic Spirituality .............................
12th Century: Secular Spirituality .................................
13th Century: Between the Old and New Spirituality.....
14th Century: Renaissance(s) in/of Spirituality ............
15th-18th Centuries: Spiritual Continuity
in between Tradition and Revival ...............................
Glossary ..............................................................................
Select Bibliography ...........................................................
Contents
- Preface by Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
- Intro of the UNESCO’s WHYH Kit (eds. C. Quin & V. Vujicic-Lugassy) by Kishore Rao, Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre
- Forward of the National Version in Macedonian by Aneta Serafimova, PhD, full professor at the Faculty of Philosophy (Ss Cyril and Methodius University) in Skopje
Educational approaches to World Heritage
The World Heritage Convention
World Heritage and identity
World Heritage and tourism
World Heritage and the environment
World Heritage and a Culture of Peace
Resource materials"
Collaborators: UNESCO’s Office in Venice (BRESCE) and University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”at Skopje. Advisor: J. Trichkovska, PhD, Sr. Specialist on cultural heritage at Council of Europe; professional and technical ass.: J. Spahiu, PhD Candidate in post-Byzantine Art.
Papers by Aneta Serafimova
Antiquity, five identified among them (Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Galen(us), Sibyl and Plutarch), are also depicted inside the basic genealogical row at the bottom of the Tree.
The conclusion of analysis follows that: (1) the first row is completely the same as that of Lavra, and (2) the vertical line right to the central, is identical to the one in Voroneç.
The common denominator of this packet of scenes is their single conceptual and thematic whole, i.e., their creation under the influence of the liturgical rite/texts from the gospels read during Sunday and/or the feast services.
Based on our comparative analyses, to the frequency of this thematic unity in the fresco ensembles on Mt Athos, continental Greece, Bulgaria and in the region of the Patriarchate of Peć, we can add the ensembles of Kučevište (1591), Slivnica (1607) and Šiševo (1630), where the scenes of three cycles (Pentēkostarion, Christ’s Public Ministry and Appearances) are designed in a conceptual whole.
A large contribution to the assessment of the influence, education and creative capacity of the painter has a rich inscription material that tracks the figures, scenes and program units that are first announced in this paper.
Surveying the programme entity, we focus ourselves on the specific iconographic, stylistic and epigraphic features influenced by the so called Levantine Baroque tendencies as well as by tendencies with Russian-Ukrainian origin within the contemporary Mediterranean art.
the Post-byzantine period (especially of the new anachorites and of
St Dionysius of Olympus among them) and the penetration of their
holy images in the diocese of Ohrid happened during the 18th century
and are mainly associated with the Moscopole-Korçë-Ohrid region
and with the authorship associated with the Zograph painting family
of Korçë. All such tendencies are the result of the new course of the
Ohrid Church Chair, promoted by the wise and well-educated Archbishop
Joasaph. His period saw the association of St Dionysius’ cult
with that of St Nahum of Ohrid.
The small number of illustrations of St Dionysius of Olympus in the
area of the Ohrid diocese at the end of the 18th and throughout the
19th century can be explained by the Greek origin of the saint which
did not fi t its deliberate strategy of Revival, aiming to restore the old
Slavic cults of the Ohrid Archbishopric as well as to promote and to
enhance new ones, mostly with a Slavic background.
LOCATION: village of Kučevište, nr. Skopje
According to popular accounts, the monastery's church was built in the times of King Mark on the banks of the miracle working river Kučeviška on Mount Skopska Crna Gora, whose water brought progeny and family joy. The facts of science suggest that it was erected in the period between the battles at Marica (1371) and of Kosovo (1389). Its three-conch shape and dominant dome are reminiscent of the Mount Athos churches. The church was built in the cloisonne technique, which was characteristic of only the most elite of donations. It was first frescoed in 1591. The donor, Nicholas, a cleric with the title of presbyter, also donated for the creation of the first iconostasis, in testimony of which is the inscription on the architrave basis of the elaborate gilt iconostasis cross. This was also when the first icons were produced, the only remaining of which is that showing archangels Michael and Gabriel, exceptional for its dark incarnate. The same colouring dominates the frescoes in the altar space and the naos. The rich programme in this space includes rare topics unusual for the central Balkans, such as scenes depicting the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and the Establishment of the Cult of the Holy Icons in Byzantium. The traditional programme has been extended with post-Byzantine scenes and themes and with iconographic innovations. Such an example is the representation of Judas vomitting the Eucharist in a gush, depicted in the altar scene of the Communion of the Apostles; in addition, in a dark corner of the naos, he is depicted as rotting in the pit of hell. In the scene of the Baptism, St. John the Forerunner speaks to the people about the birth of Christ, and the children throw themselves into the holy river, while God the Father bestows blessings from the heavens. The painter's meditative and erudite expression is also reflected in the design of the thematic unities. The dome contains a complex programme, extended with a number of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and the righteous sons of Jacob from the Old Testament. In the spirit of the 14th century erudite painting, the painter combined scenes from three cycles into a single thematic unit whose common denominator are the quotes read at the liturgies between Easter and All Souls Day. Located in the second zone of the altar space and the naos, these scenes resemble still frames from a film with the liturgical protocol of the Pentecost for its script. The depictions of the holy warriors attired as noblemen, almost two meters tall, with their elegance and dignity, clearly illustrate the mannerisation of the 14th century monumental style that was creatively recycled in the naos in a distinctly representative way. The painting ensemble in the naos is a work of three fresco-painters, creative compilers/eclectics, who are supposed to have been educated in Kastoria. Analyses show that they visualised the scenes by applying the patterns of the older painting style from the area of the Ohrid Archbishopric, combining them with the contemporary solutions of the so-called Linotopi painters, yet borrowing also from those who painted the most representative Epirean ensembles in Joannina.
Some time later, due to the monastery's increasing needs, the church was extended to the west with a narthex, which was decorated in 1631. There are scientific indications that the new donor at that time was the Skopje Metropolitan Simon who attended to the monastery with great enthusiasm. His patronage in the Skopje Eparchy is also attested by the inscription in the monastery of Šiševo. He summoned prominent painters to work on these two monasteries almost simultaneously, and as they finished their job, they were commissioned to do more work in southwest Serbia. The painters devised in the narthex of the Kučevište church a complex theological content that is reminiscent of the programme of the wall paintings in the refectories on Mount Athos. The uppermost part of the narthex is dominated by the depictions of God the Father, Mother of God and Christ, who is shown as an angel, as well as the scenes showing the miracles of the patrons, the holy Archangels. Looking downwards, one can observe the sequence of the zones representing the Chant to the Mother of God and the Ecumenical Councils. The entire east wall is dedicated to the Last Judgement, where Alexander the Great appears among the sinners, seated on a bench along with other pagan rulers, as well as a group of Ottoman notables with fezzes on their heads. At the bottom of the impressive depiction of the inferno as a fiery river there is black Satan who clasps the sinner Judas. The entire surface of the west wall accommodates the painting showing Christ's parentage. Painted across 25 m2, this genealogy contains 110 scenes and figures, including the ancient philosophers Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and Plutarch, whose wisdom was interpreted as heralding the thought of the prophets from Christ's lineage. With its spectacular volume, the Tree of Jesse is unique in the central Balkans. The traditional belief that the monastery was a health centre finds support in the depiction of the eight holy healers, as it is the most populous grouping of its kind known in late mediaeval fresco painting. The monastery saw its revival in the 19th century: it became a theological centre of scholarship with a rich library and valuable liturgical articles. It also got a new iconostasis (1843) and icons (1846) and it was at that time that the south hospice was erected to match the older one. The activities in the monastery have mostly been credited to the abbot of the time - the hieromonk Misail from Kopanica near Tetovo. A true rarity making the church's interior so particularly exclusive are the authentic furnishings executed in fine mosaic marqueterie with horn ornaments. This monastery, which was unquestionably a centre of pan-Balkan significance, stands in evidence of the plentiful cultural and artistic sap in the Balkans throughout the post-Byzantine centuries.
- Diversity of Exposed Spirituality -
“Looking back in the Middle Ages,
we look back at the childhood of ours...
at our lux et scaena prima.”
Umberto Eco, Travels in Hyperreality, London 1987
Introduction
The Slavic-Byzantine environment is an important factor in the study of international relations in the European East in the Middle Ages. Its principal characteristic is not politics but culture and the arts, or using the language of socio-anthropologists its principal characteristic is based on the process of so called acculturation. The different cultures - of both the Romaioi and Slavs - met with each other here, while losing none of their individuality. A complex process took place of i9ntegration of the ethnically heterogeneous environment into a single cultural milieu. Its common denominator was to be Eastern Christianity, Scholarship has come to the conclusion that the crucial element in the association between the Slavic and Byzantine cultures was the Slavonic language via the tradition of Ss Cyril and Methodius. The educational basis (the language) and the independent church (the Archbishopric of Ohrid) were to direct the course of development of mediaeval art in the northern, central and south-western part of Macedonia in a unique way. The theology and aesthetics of Byzantium were only the framework of an authentic exposition of spirituality in paints.
Contents
Illuminated Manuscripts .......................................................
The Ancient Establishment of Books ..........................
Frescoes and Icons .............................................................
9th - 10th Centuries: The Spring of Spirituality ...........
11th Century: Monastic Spirituality .............................
12th Century: Secular Spirituality .................................
13th Century: Between the Old and New Spirituality.....
14th Century: Renaissance(s) in/of Spirituality ............
15th-18th Centuries: Spiritual Continuity
in between Tradition and Revival ...............................
Glossary ..............................................................................
Select Bibliography ...........................................................
Contents
- Preface by Ms. Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO
- Intro of the UNESCO’s WHYH Kit (eds. C. Quin & V. Vujicic-Lugassy) by Kishore Rao, Director of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre
- Forward of the National Version in Macedonian by Aneta Serafimova, PhD, full professor at the Faculty of Philosophy (Ss Cyril and Methodius University) in Skopje
Educational approaches to World Heritage
The World Heritage Convention
World Heritage and identity
World Heritage and tourism
World Heritage and the environment
World Heritage and a Culture of Peace
Resource materials"
Collaborators: UNESCO’s Office in Venice (BRESCE) and University “Ss Cyril and Methodius”at Skopje. Advisor: J. Trichkovska, PhD, Sr. Specialist on cultural heritage at Council of Europe; professional and technical ass.: J. Spahiu, PhD Candidate in post-Byzantine Art.
Antiquity, five identified among them (Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Galen(us), Sibyl and Plutarch), are also depicted inside the basic genealogical row at the bottom of the Tree.
The conclusion of analysis follows that: (1) the first row is completely the same as that of Lavra, and (2) the vertical line right to the central, is identical to the one in Voroneç.
The common denominator of this packet of scenes is their single conceptual and thematic whole, i.e., their creation under the influence of the liturgical rite/texts from the gospels read during Sunday and/or the feast services.
Based on our comparative analyses, to the frequency of this thematic unity in the fresco ensembles on Mt Athos, continental Greece, Bulgaria and in the region of the Patriarchate of Peć, we can add the ensembles of Kučevište (1591), Slivnica (1607) and Šiševo (1630), where the scenes of three cycles (Pentēkostarion, Christ’s Public Ministry and Appearances) are designed in a conceptual whole.
A large contribution to the assessment of the influence, education and creative capacity of the painter has a rich inscription material that tracks the figures, scenes and program units that are first announced in this paper.
Surveying the programme entity, we focus ourselves on the specific iconographic, stylistic and epigraphic features influenced by the so called Levantine Baroque tendencies as well as by tendencies with Russian-Ukrainian origin within the contemporary Mediterranean art.
the Post-byzantine period (especially of the new anachorites and of
St Dionysius of Olympus among them) and the penetration of their
holy images in the diocese of Ohrid happened during the 18th century
and are mainly associated with the Moscopole-Korçë-Ohrid region
and with the authorship associated with the Zograph painting family
of Korçë. All such tendencies are the result of the new course of the
Ohrid Church Chair, promoted by the wise and well-educated Archbishop
Joasaph. His period saw the association of St Dionysius’ cult
with that of St Nahum of Ohrid.
The small number of illustrations of St Dionysius of Olympus in the
area of the Ohrid diocese at the end of the 18th and throughout the
19th century can be explained by the Greek origin of the saint which
did not fi t its deliberate strategy of Revival, aiming to restore the old
Slavic cults of the Ohrid Archbishopric as well as to promote and to
enhance new ones, mostly with a Slavic background.
The chosen events of the Archangels Saga and the manner of depicting them reveal the hand of an educated and lucid painter.
The dark eyelids on the saints’ faces are the dominant and distinctive elements of this painting expressiveness. The mask-like faces carry the anti-classical approach that strives towards a mystical and dramatic atmosphere of the scenes. This impression is further emphasised particularly by the depiction of the landscape. It seems like an assemblage of merged cubic masses that, in tern, seem like a stone sculpture of geometric bodies. Placed at the top of the scenes, rocks open in the foreground, thus creating a broad pit in which the event unfolds.
The origin of this ekphrasis is the masterly painting in The Holy Mother of God Peribleptos (1295) in Ohrid. The talented artists, the two of them, who execute the murals in St. Demetrius, recycle the famous palaeologan patterns from Peribleptos, giving them an authentic expressiveness that had been created by the second generation of disciples of the authoritative painter John Theorian and that reached its summit in the 1380s.
These two painters, the leading ones in their generation, work in tandem on the several church decorations and on the few icon-paintings. According to the comparative analyses the fresco painting of St. Demetrius in Ohrid dates around 1378/79.The dating is based on the donor’s inscription at Small St. Clement church and on the arcosolium inscription in the narthex of Peribleptos, the period related to the (last ?) years of archiepiscopos Gregorios II and of Andrea Gropa, megas zupanos of Ohrid.
- The Crna Reka Iconostasis Cross Data -
The iconostasis cross, a wood-carved plastic having monumental dimensions and painted Crucifixion, flanked by painted ripidions with the images of the Holy Mother and the Apostle John, is a novelty in the post-Byzantine art. No specimen dating earlier than the 16th century has been known so far. By recent scholarly analyses an old thesis of its initial Byzantine origin has been increasingly abandoned. In this article we support the thesis of its Western origin, arguing more in favor of Venetian la Croce dipinta influences than the gothic one derived from Triumphkreuz. However, as soon as its arrival, the import got authentic features: it was set at the topmost of the iconostasis and got a cross-stand which is the most important element for analyzing.
In the Balkans during the 16th century only two clearly homogenous groups of crosses, so called Peć group and Prilep-Slepče one, were distinguished by similarities in their cross-stand features. We find that the well preserved iconostasis-stand from Crna Reka Monastery (1601) is an important “ring” of an evaluative chain of the iconostasis crosses in the Central Balkans.
In the article we also focus on the phases of the conceptual and ideological conceiving of this cross in the dogmatic frame of the Eastern Christianity.
According to our analyses the direction of transmission/comprehension of the idea of iconostasis crosses in the Balkans went throughout Adriatic and Ionic Islands, Epirus and Macedonia to the Central Balkan region. It appears the Mount Athos to have been left aside from immediate influences in the arrival and encircling the Orthodox concept of the iconostasis cross.
The specific positioning of the prophets on the vault in the south transept, surmounted by the representation of the Holy Mother of God, misled previous researchers to the hypothesis that it is an illustration of the theme The Prophets Announced You. It is known that the representation of The Prophets Announced You has a defined iconographic structure, expressed through the contents of the prophets’ citations announcing the Holy Mother of God. However, all of the chosen prophets with their texts depicted on the south part of the narthex transept in Šiševo are recommended by the painters’ manuals for the dome and under-dome church spaces. By analyzing the quotations on their scrolls, a conclusion is reached that the painter(s) did not have a common conceptual denominator when selecting the prophets.
The observation of the nave prophets/scrolls in Šiševo indicates that half of them have been replicated on the vault of the middle bay of the Holy Apostles church in Peć (1633/34), whose fresco-painting was completed by the members of the so-called Ovčar-Kablar painting workshop. The Peć selection contains a smaller number of prophets, eighteen in all; nine of the figures positioned on the south side of the vault, and are identical to their Šiševo counterparts, with the exception of Ezekiel, who is not included in Peć. This is yet another argument in support of the thesis that both ensembles in Šiševo and in Peć were completed by the members of the same atelier.
The large number of prophets depicted on the domes, walls, tympanums and the insides of the arches has been well documented from the Byzantine Macedonian period onwards. Research has shown that painters, in general, did not pay particular attention to the sourcing of citations from the prophetical books, or to their overall conceptual relationships. This statement can also be applied to the selection of citations from the prophets in the wall-painting after the fifteenth century, during the dominance of domeless churches with barrel vaults.
The prophets selected in the Šiševo nave and the narthex also hold texts with heterogeneous symbolic meanings. This conceptual approach highlights the idea that every single prophet is part of the general foundation of Christocentric teaching.""
Thesis
The subject of our interest is the possibility of establishing a link between the iconographic features of the Akathistos Hymn in the Ohrid Church of The Holy Mother of God Peribleptos (1364/65) and the representations of the same theme in the monasteries of Mount Athos (16th to 8th centuries). The answer we are searching for concerns the probable location of the origin of the iconographic patterns of the Akathistos Hymn on which the Akathistos representation in the Church of the Holy Mother of God Perybleptos in Ohrid is based, and of whose origin from Mt. Athos there is no data.
Background
The theme of the Akathistos Hymn in Palaeologan painting has already been profoundly researched. Comparative analyses of all wall painted or illuminated cycles in the 14th century have shown that the Akathistos of the Holy Mother of God Peribleptos in Ohrid has highly distinguished iconographic features, and therefore there is no doubt concerning its own version re-edited in Ohrid. This conclusion is based upon the scheme features of the 7th oikos, 7th kontakion, 8th oikos, 8th kontakion, 12th oikos and 12th kontakion, the scenes whose iconography is customarily highly varied.
On the other hand, as part of a wide-scale interest in the themes devoted to the Holy Mother of God in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Akathistos was also frequently painted in the post-Byzantine period, especially in the monasteries on Mount Athos. Although synthetic comparative studies have yet to be done, the phrase Athonic Akathistos model is frequently used in the published thematic analyses.
Our Research
The subject of our interest in this article is the iconography of the Athonic Akathistos model, and our objective is to prove that it should be termed an edition; namely, in doing so, we carry out the analyses of the Akathistos Hymn in Lavra (refectory, 1535), Melivokklisia (1536-41), Dochiariou (refectory, 1568), Chilandar (refectory, 1621), and in the Hermitage of Xenophon (1757). Our attention will be focused primarily on the Lavra Monastery as a “promotional” Athonic Akathistos depiction. Our thesis on the possible Athonic edition of the Akathistos will be based upon the iconographic features of the 7th oikos, 7th kontakion, 8th oikos, 8th kontakion and 12th oikos - 12th kontakion, which we follow in all of these monuments.
We correlate the scenes’ schemes with the same ones from the 14th-century Ohrid version, in order to provide an especially detailed analysis of the possibility of establishing a link between the Ohrid redaction and the post-Byzantine Athonic patterns/specific features.
This research will include the conclusions based on the comparative analyses mentioned above that (1) draw a conclusion concerning the development of the post-Byzantine iconographic model of the Akathistos and (2) detect the possible location of its Athonic origin executed in the Byzantine period whose remains do not survive.
Предмет на нашето истражување се пророците и старозаветните сцени насликани во Св. Никола Шишевски на Матка близу Скопје. За разлика од 8-те оштетени куполни пророчки претстави (тешко пристапни и за фото-документирање), 20-те допојасни пророци (6 незачувани) на сводот во наосот имаат читливи имиња и текстови на свитоците. Нашите анализи, базирани на компаративно расчитување на натписите помеѓу двете пророчки групи, покажаа дека сите избрани ликови во куполата се содржат во профетската галерија и на сводот во наосот. Компаративните анализи со сродни ансамбли покажаа дека шишевскиот избор на пророци на јужната страна на сводот во наосот е идентичен со оној на јужната страна во средниот травеј во црквата Св. Апостоли во Пеќ (1633/34), што е аргумент повеќе во прилог на тезата (прифатена во науката) за присуството на истата работилница во создавањето на двата ансамбла.
Во тесниот јужен свод/лак на нартексот се насликани уште четворица пророци, надвишени со медалјонот на Богородица во кој е испишан почетокот на песната Достојно ест. Во досегашната наука овој „комплет“ беше идентификуван како илустрација на темата Пророците Те наговестија. Нашите анализи покажаа дека се работи за пророци чиишто цитати се наменети за пророците во куполниот/поткуполниот простор.
Изборот на шишевските пророци/свитоци немаат интегрален идеен именител туку, симболично, претставуваат одделни столбови поставени на општиот темел на христоцентричното учење. Карактеристика на сите цитати се бројните грешки и очигледната скромна писменост на нивниот испишувач.
Според нашите анализи четирите старозаветни сцени во поткуполните ниши (Трите момчиња во огнената печка, Жртвата и Гостољубието на Аврам и Седумтемина заспани момчиња од Ефес) се Богородичини алегории, кои создаваат мариолошка идејна целина заедно со Лествицата на Јаков, Богородичиниот медалјон со текстот Достојно ест и со Успението. Овие сцени го потенцираат симболичното присуство на Богородица во нартексот и се вклопуваат во геоморфолошката симболика на топонимот Матка (женски принцип), област позната во науката по култните женски локалитети (Богородица/Артемида, св. Петка, св. Недела...).
The Tree of Jesse in the narthex of the Kučevište Monastery (1630/31) is a unique representation of the genealogy of Christ in the late Middle Ages in Macedonia. It is painted on the west wall, right beneath the scenes of the Acathystos. Its complex type is made of ornamental plant intertwining of acanthus/vine, in which 88 single figures and 22 scenes are embedded. Eight vertical rows can be followed quite visibly, with an accentuated central genealogical line. As usual the representation of Jesse is illustrated at the bottom of the compositional scheme as the root of the Tree, while the highest point is Christ Himself, represented at the top of the Tree. The Tree is developed into nine rows.
The subject matter of our research is identification of the eleven persons of Antiquity depicted inside the basic genealogical row at the bottom of the Tree. Ten wise men and a woman among them are not the ancestors of Christ in flesh, but they represent the pre-text and precursors of Christian doctrine of The Divine Wisdom. We have identified the following figures with certainty: Socrates, placed as the fifth person on the left side of the laid figure of Jesse, Aristotle, depicted as the seventh person, then Plato as the eighth, then follows Galen(us) who is the ninth one, next to whom is Sibyl and Plutarch as the last eleventh person who is portrayed in the same line.
The appearance of the antique ancestors of Christ in the Tree of Jesse is the result of a long and very complex process which started around the end of the 1st century in Alexandria and which was devised by Carpocrates of Alexandria and his successors so called Carpocratians. Carpocrates’ teachings rested upon a Platonic basis and were interspersed with Christian ideas. Our analyses of the features and the phases of this process arrive at the conclusion that it consists of three levels. The first level is basically determined by the spring of Antiquization within the Christocentric doctrine (1st-3rd c.). The second level is generally connected with the Patrology from the 4th to the 8th centuries when the tendencies of Christianization of Antiquity became a crucial part of the campaign for enhancing the self-consciousness of Christians, which is led by prominent names of the Ecumenical Orthodox Church. The new types of literature appeared within these tendencies. The symbolic names (florilegia and paleae) ascribed to these books are quite suitable for their contents. Namely, the books were actually collections of extracts taken mainly from the writings of the Church Fathers from early Christian period combined with the citations of the famous pagan philosophers (Aristotle and Plato above all), some classical writings and biblical apocrypha. The third level, containing several phases, practically ended in the 14th C. The predominant person during this period was Plutarch whose Parallel Lives (Bíoi Parállēloi), especially The Life of Alexander the Great, had an enormous influence over the biographies of the famous individuals of the Slavonic-Byzantine society. As one of the results of this complex process, the famous pagan philosophers became the antique ancestors of Christ, not in flesh, but in thoughts of wisdom, that is to say in The Logos as a common value. Thus, the brief moral sayings (Sententiae) taken from the ancient philosophic sources and “adapted” to the Christian context have been recognized as anticipation of the crucial aspects of Christianity which resulted with the inclusion of their authors - the pagan philosophers - in the illustration of the genealogy of Christ.
In the Tree of Jesse in the narthex of the Kučevište Monastery, besides the inclusion of the the philosophers Socrates, Aristotle and Plato, the prophetess Sibyl and the historian and biographer Plutarch, who are often part of the selection of prominent pagans gathered together with Christ’s relatives according to Holy Bible, the inclusion of Galen of Pergamon, the famous Roman anatomist and surgeon, is rather odd. In spite of the well-known statement of his that the Best Physician is also a Philosopher, he is nonetheless celebrated as a physician and the father of modern medicine. It seems that the inclusion of Galen’s figure in the Tree of Jesse in the Kučevište Monastery can be explained as a special commission of the donor of the narthex fresco decoration whose name remains yet unknown. We can support our hypothesis with the numerous busts of the holy healers, even eight, depicted nearby the Tree/Galen.
The visualization of this complex composition of the Tree of Jesse is testimony to the quality of its author, who was undoubtedly a skillful and an educated painter. He painted an extensive genealogy of Christ, placed on 25 m sq., so that it can be associated to the largest Trees, transcending the contemporary post-Byzantine period. The inclusion of the remarkable personalities of Antiquity among the ancestors of Christ confirms even more the impression on which our analyses are based.
Our analysis of these influences demonstrates the fact that they originally emerge in post-Byzantine painting in the second half of the 16th century and are a reflection of the deteriorating situation in the Ottoman Empire which followed after the period of prosperity during the wise Sultan Suleiman el-Kanuni (1520-1566), rightfully named by modern historiographers as the Magnificent.
Филозофски факултет (УКИМ)
Семестар: втор
Византиска иконографија и семиотика-почетен курс
Иконографски водич: Богородичин акатист
Приложениот иконографски опис претставува елементарен водич чијашто цел е препознавање на сцените во византиските фрескоансамбли и во иконописот. Тој е сочинет како заеднички иконографски именител во визуелизацијата на секоја сцена одделно, а е базиран на упатствата за нивно сликање кои се бележени во старите ерминии. Познавањата од областа на византиската иконографија е појдовна основа за откривање и осознавање на многубројните варијанти на основниот образец. Варијантите (отстапки, дополни, специфики) се предмет на научни проучувања. Анализата на варијантите со примена на компаративни методи, го усмеруваат истражувачот кон откривање на сознанија за зографот, сликарската работилница/ателје и кон уметничко валоризирање на делото при што особено важна компонента е откривање на причините (текстуална или дуг вид предлошка, влијанија и сл.) за појава на одредена специфика во иконографскиот модел.
Филозофски факултет (УКИМ)
Семестар: летен 2020
Византиска иконографија и семиотика - почетен курс
Иконографски водич: Христови маки и страдања
Иконографскиот водич е само појдовна точка на почетната платформа за идните проучувачи на византиската уметност во препознавање и научно толкување на комплексни целини, одраз на врвна творечка креативност во словенско-византискиот свет.
Византиска иконографија и семиотика-почетен курс
Иконографски водич: Велики празници
Приложениот иконографски опис претставува елементарен водич чијашто цел е препознавање на сцените во рамките на византиските фреско-ансамбли и во иконописот. Тој е сочинет како заеднички иконографски именител во визуелизацијата на секоја сцена одделно, а е базиран на упатствата за нивно сликање кој е забележен во старите ерминии. Познавањата од областа на византиската иконографија е појдовна основа за детектирање на многубројните варијанти на основниот образец. Варијантите (отстапки, дополни, специфики) се предмет на научни проучувања. Анализата на варијантите со примена на компаративни методи, го усмеруваат истражувачот кон откривање на сознанија за зографот, сликарската работилница/ателје и кон уметничко валоризирање на делото при што особено важна компонента е откривање на причините (текстуална или дуг вид предлошка, влијанија и сл.) за појава на одредена специфика во иконографскиот модел.
А. Серафимова, Сликарски висови, СД РОМ, Скопје 2003/Терминолошки речник:
Евхаристијата (euharisteo - благодарен сум, преносно: жртва-благодарница) на почеток на христијанството претставувала молитва на благодарност упатена кон Бога којашто се говорела на крајот на заедничкото обедување на верниците. Заедничкото обедување, пак, било во спомен на последната вечера (Тајната вечера) на Хрситос со апостолите пред неговото распнување. Според општохристијанското верување Христос токму на последната вечера самиот ја заветувал на своите ученици светата евхаристија со зборовите: „Примете, јадете, ова е тело мое ... Примете, пијте, ова е крвта моја.“ Овој цитат се темели на претходниот исказ на Христос, изречен во истата случка: „Ќе ме предаде оној од вас (аспостолите) којшто сега посега по телото мое поставено на оваа трпеза“ (читај: лебот). Во чинот на евхаристијата се содржи споменот и благодарноста кон Спасителот и спасението на човечкиот род. Тајната на евхаристијата или претворањето на лебот и виното во тело и крв на Исус Христос се одвива со посретство на св. Дух и е најважниот момент и основна смисла на целата литургија. Оттаму евхаристијата се смета за второ име за чинот/појмот „литургија“.
Евхаристични теми, уште наречени литургиски или олтарски теми, се нарекуваат сцените кои се сликаат во олтарскиот простор. Во овој простор во црквата се одвива литургијата, а верниците немаат пристап. Во апсидата на главниот олтарски простор се сликаат двете централни евхаристични теми: Литургија на архијереите на Христос Агнец и Причестување на апостолите.
Литургијата (богослужбата) на архијереите на Христос Агнец е сцена во која е визуелизирана литургијата која се одвива во црквите и се претставува во првата/најдолната зона во олтарскиот простор. Во центарот на сцената е претставата на Христос во иконографскиот тип/модел Агнец (жртва) положен на Чесната трпеза. Лево и десно од Чесната трпеза се претставени две групи архијереи (црковни отци-владици), кои богослужат свртени кон центарот на сцената, кон Христос Агнец, читајќи цитати од литургијата, испишани на нивните свитоци.
Најстарата зачувана византиска претстава на оваа сцена се наоѓа во апсидата на црквата Свети Георгиј во Курбиново (1191). Пред тоа, во втората половина на XI век и во текот на XII век, во центарот на сцената не се прикажувала Чесната трпеза со Христос Агнец, туку Приготвениот престол (Хетимасијата), како на пример во црквите Света Богородица Елеуса во манастирот Велјуса (1085-93), крај Струмица, и во црквата Свети Пантелејмон во Нерези (1164), близу Скопје. Овие две сцени спаѓаат меѓу ретките зачувани илустрации во византиската ументност и претставуваат директен одраз на престолничите повеќедецениски дискусии и дилеми за осмислување на сликата на овоземната литургија. Во црквата Свети Димитрија на Марковиот манастир (околу 1376/77), близу Скопје, се наоѓа една од најнаративните византиски верзии на оваа сцена. Имено, таму не е претставена овозенмата туку Небеската литургија во која самиот Христос богослужи при што во првата зона, по должината на целиот олтарски простор, се насликани сите пет делови на византиската литургија и тоа (1) Службата на проскомидијата, (2) Службата на катихумените, (3) Службата на верните, (4) Великиот Вход и на крајот таканаречената (5) Заамвона молитва.
Причестувањето на апостолите е сцена во која Христос, двапати претставен, им дава на своите ученици (апостолите) причесен, свет леб (просфора) и вино. Таа се слика во втората зона во апсидата на главниот олтарски простор.
Во евхаристични теми спаѓаат и сите старозаветни случки во кои е претскажана Христовата жртва и евхаристијата (на пример: Аврамовата жртва, Гостољубие Аврамово...), како и сите сцени кои илустрираат богослужење/литургија (на пример: Визијата на св. Патар Александриски) или причестување или се асоцијативни за тоа, меѓу кои и сцените од Поствоскресните Христови јавувања, бидејќи во нив Христос на избраните (апостоли, мироносици, апостол Петар, Марија Магдалена...) ги покажува раните на своето тело како симболи на евхаристијата.
Наши анализы указывают на то что этажные помещения, несомненно имевшие канцелярийное предназначение в рамках институционального администрирования Охридской архиепископии в которых обыкновенные верюющие не имели доступа, заполненны дидактичными и символично-алегорийными темами которые подчеркивают ее кафедральную функцию. Все темы имеют свои текстуальные образцы (беседы, проповеди и гомилии), которые здесь будут отдельно обработанны, предназначенны и понятны епископам, имевших в первую очередь должность быть доблестными монахами по образу Крестителя, чьей идеал посмертное телесное вознесение Богородицы до Христа на небе. В интегральном идейном концепте трех отделов этажных частей Святой Софии, есхатология маргинализированна на счет мысловной христологичной дидактики, понятной ученому црковному персоналу. Обрасцы на которых обоснован этот концепт находим в нартексе Сопочани, в котором обмысленно включенны и тематические заимки из эгзонартекса призренской Святой Богородици Левишкой.
По отношению разнообразия датацый фреско-живописи в трех этажных частей, при чем признаем новейшие тезисы только по отношению многочислености группы художников и пренаглашенной роли потписанного „протомастера“ Иоанна Теориана, на основании наших исследований считаем что: 1. декорация на этаже нартекса и трема законченны до 1346 года что связываем с устоличением Душана за царя и осведомленностю архиепископа Николы к подготовкам этой церемонии; 2. не исключаем возможность что на этих отделениях было работано одновременно или в коротком промежутке, что ставим в соотношение с грамотой Душана к храму Богородицы Перивлепты (1343-45) и с датацией живописи южного фасада церкви Святого Николы Болничкого, как и с многочисленостю группы художников в (относительно) камерных помещений; 3. живопись в капелле Святого Иоанна Крестителя была реализованна последняя (около 1347), что связываем в первую очередь с формализацией инвеституры ктитора, деспота Иоанна Оливера.
Считаем что нашими анализами отвергаются тезисы о владической идеологии как платформы програмных содержаний Григориевой галереи. В настоящей статье пытаемся дать аргументы в пользу того что архиепископ Никола, кого считаем осмыслителем программы этажных частей Святой Софии как интегральной целости, не смотря на его супортированном статусе со стороны короля Душана, суптильно выражая благодарность к нему за свою высокую функцию/привилегию, остался консеквентный и посвященный архиерейному завету к матичной охридской кафедре.
Предметом нашего исследования является программа западных этажных отделений собора Святой Софии в Охриде (до настоящего времени только частичьно тематически третированны), которая будет анализированна как интегрально задуманная целостность в которой стенны имеют не только конструктивную функцию, но и функцию символичной перегородки между предворной (капелла Св. Иоанна Крстителя), проложной (этаж нартекса) и галерийной травеи (этаж трема) с эпилогическим тематическим намерением.
Наши анализы указывают на то что этажные помещения, несомненно имевшие канцелярийное предназначение в рамках институционального администрирования Охридской архиепископии в которых обыкновенные верюющие не имели доступа, заполненны дидактичными и символично-алегорийными темами которые подчеркивают ее кафедральную функцию. Все темы имеют свои текстуальные образцы (беседы, проповеди и гомилии), которые здесь будут отдельно обработанны, предназначенны и понятны епископам, имевших в первую очередь должность быть доблестными монахами по образу Крестителя, чьей идеал посмертное телесное вознесение Богородицы до Христа на небе. В интегральном идейном концепте трех отделов этажных частей Святой Софии, есхатология маргинализированна на счет мысловной христологичной дидактики, понятной ученому црковному персоналу. Обрасцы на которых обоснован этот концепт находим в нартексе Сопочани, в котором обмысленно включенны и тематические заимки из эгзонартекса призренской Святой Богородици Левишкой.
По отношению разнообразия датацый фреско-живописи в трех этажных частей, при чем признаем новейшие тезисы только по отношению многочислености группы художников и пренаглашенной роли потписанного „протомастера“ Иоанна Теориана, на основании наших исследований считаем что: 1. декорация на этаже нартекса и трема законченны до 1346 года что связываем с устоличением Душана за царя и осведомленностю архиепископа Николы к подготовкам этой церемонии; 2. не исключаем возможность что на этих отделениях было работано одновременно или в коротком промежутке, что ставим в соотношение с грамотой Душана к храму Богородицы Перивлепты (1343-45) и с датацией живописи южного фасада церкви Святого Николы Болничкого, как и с многочисленостю группы художников в (относительно) камерных помещений; 3. живопись в капелле Святого Иоанна Крестителя была реализованна последняя (около 1347), что связываем в первую очередь с формализацией инвеституры ктитора, деспота Иоанна Оливера.
Считаем что нашими анализами отвергаются тезисы о владической идеологии как платформы програмных содержаний Григориевой галереи. В настоящей статье пытаемся дать аргументы в пользу того что архиепископ Никола, кого считаем осмыслителем программы этажных частей Святой Софии как интегральной целости, не смотря на его супортированном статусе со стороны короля Душана, суптильно выражая благодарность к нему за свою высокую функцию/привилегию, остался консеквентный и посвященный архиерейному завету к матичной охридской кафедре.