Serbian Medieval Architecture

Gabriel Millet : ses études de terrain sur les monuments serbes et leurs résultats

Dans cet article, les études de terrain réalisées par Gabriel Millet entre 1905 et 1935 sont examinées essentiellement à partir des documents d’archives conservés à Paris et à Belgrade et non publiés à ce jour. L’archéologue français avait, en effet, mené une première enquête sur les monuments serbes en 1906 et il fut l’un des premiers scientifiques
à explorer le patrimoine architectural des Balkans alors que la région se trouvait encore sous le régime ottoman. Son expédition pionnière en Serbie, au Kosovo et en Macédoine produisit des effets d’une portée considérable puisque sa contribution la plus éminente à la connaissance de l’art serbe réside dans une synthèse architecturale, intitulée L’ancien art serbe. Les églises et publiée en 1919. Auparavant, Gabriel Millet
avait déjà fait connaître ses travaux dans L’histoire de l’art, une somme encyclopédique conçue par André Michel, et dans une étude plus courte (L’ancien art serbe) parue, en 1917, dans un numéro particulier de la revue L’art et les artistes tout spécialement consacré à la Serbie (La Serbie glorieuse). De la même manière, l’art serbe occupait une
place privilégiée dans le programme des cours dispensés par le byzantiniste français à l’École Pratique des Hautes Études et au Collège de France.
Le voyage inaugural de Gabriel Millet en Serbie a été suivi de quatre autres missions scientifiques au cours desquelles il a étudié les églises et les monastères, non seulement serbes mais également byzantins, qui émaillaient le territoire de la Serbie, du Kosovo et de la Métohija, du Monténégro et de la Macédoine. Au cours des expéditions de 1924,
1927, 1934 et 1935, il a ainsi rassemblé un matériel conséquent dans l’intention de rédiger une étude de la peinture médiévale et de compléter son ouvrage initial sur l’ancienne architecture serbe. Pendant toute cette période, son épouse Sophie fut une talentueuse compagne de voyage, auteure de nombreux dessins et aquarelles reproduisant les fresques et l’architecture. De fait, entre 1906 et 1935, le couple Millet visita et étudia
plus de 80 églises et monastères subsistant dans la région.
Gabriel Millet n’a toutefois pas réussi à finaliser la synthèse qu’il ambitionnait de rédiger sur l’art serbe médiéval. C’est pourquoi le matériel photographique engrangé au cours de tous ces voyages et partiellement publié à ce jour demeure un outil irremplaçable
pour l’étude des monuments serbes à l’époque médiévale.

Written Sources on the Churches and Monasteries Built or Restored in the Domains of the Lazarević and Branković Families. IV Diverse Legal and Property Documents, Saopštenja XLVIII, Belgrade 2016, 135-151
Апстракт: Разматрају се храмови и манастири у областима Лазаревића и Бранковића (1371–1459) који се помињу у правним исправама о имовинским односима. То су списи о судским парницама у вези са правом манастира да поседују и обавезама да воде бригу о поклоњеним метосима, одлукама о одузимању имовине и даровању њеног дела манастирском братству, потом непотврђени концепти или неоверени преписи оснивачких или даровних исправа, једна белешка о судском позиву и мноштво тестамената, као и уговори између светогорских обитељи и нових ктитора. Подаци које те исправе доносе већином су једина сведочанства о древним здањима за које није утврђено где су се тачно налазила. Ретки су случајеви храмова о којима постоје теренска сазнања или оних што су доцније порушени да би на њиховим местима билe подигнуте нове цркве. Подвлачи се значај наведених података за познавање странаца, махом Дубровчана, који су тада боравили у Србији и бринули о подизању цркава и манастира, а нарочита пажња се поклања питањима везаним за средњовековни град Рудник.

The paper discusses unknown frescoes in the narthex of the Patriarchate of Peć Monastery dating from c. 1332 and found during the conservation-restoration works undertaken in 1931. They were discovered above the younger vaults (the cycle of the Passion of Christ) and in the large arched openings on the western side of the narthex, which were walled up in the sixteenth century (cycle of the True Cross, busts and figures of saints). During works on the presentation of the monument in 1932, these frescoes were once again concealed without having been subjected to scholarly research. However, the photographs taken during the conservation works do allow them to be studied. The results of their research have significantly altered the picture of the original wall paintings in the narthex.

Апстракт: Детаљна анализа остатака цркве који се називају Манастириште Свете Петке Русалне код Сврљига показује да се ради о цркви са основом у облику триконхоса уписаног у правоугаоник и са три међусобно независне, апсидално завршене просторије на источном крају. Истовремно, дошло се до информација о начину грађења, пропорцијским односима и вероватном првобитном изгледу, као и о могућим наменама појединих простора цркве. Расположиви историјски подаци не допуштају прецизно датовање објекта, али се чини да је његов настанак највероватније везан за средњи век. Циљ овог рада је да се скрене пажња на ову цркву занимљиве основе, да се подаци о њој сакупљени на терену учине доступним стручној јавности и да се подвуче неопходност даљег и потпунијег истраживања, које би укључило и систематско археолошко ископавање.
Кључне речи: Сврљиг, црква, архитектура, триконхос уписан у правоугаоник, олтарски простор, пастофорије, нартекс, пропорцијски односи, средњи век

Brskovo and its mining production have a
special importance in Serbian medieval history.
Recently started archeological excavations testify
to the mining expansion that was started in
this place, and which resulted in the economic
strengthening of the medieval state of Serbia.

The site called Manastirište Svete Petke Rusalne ("the former Monastery of St. Petka Rusalna) is located between the villages of Ribare and Djurinac, southeast of the present-day town of Svrljig. Remains of the church are visible on the site, showing that the church was of considerable dimensions, and of an interesting and atypical plan. It features a triconchal interior space inscribed in a mass of walls that are perpendicular to the outside, a unique solution in church architecture in Serbia for the time being. There are three rooms in the eastern part of the structure, each with its own apse, which is semi-circular on the outside and inside alike. These rooms are not interconnected, but each opens only to the nave. In addition, the two lateral rooms are placed obliquely with respect to the axis of the central one, certainly the sanctuary, probably thereby adjusting to the curves of the lateral conchs on which they rely. In the western part of the church, which probably served as a narthex, lateral spaces of unequal sizes and unknown purposes were noted, with semi-circular finishes on the east side.

The analysis of the preserved forms, reconstructed spaces and proportions, as well as the possible purpose of some parts of the building revealed that the remains belonged to a church whose morphological and geographic closest relatives are found in present-day Northern Macedonia and Bulgaria. First of all, these are two churches with almost identical foundations and both preserved only in the remains, a church in the village of Krupište (near Štip) and a church in the village of Kulata (near Petrich). The first is dated to the period from the 7th to the 9th century, while the second is ascribed to the period from the 10th to the 12th century. Both churches are most commonly associated with the Cappadocian and Armenian churches of this type and, in particular, with two churches in southern Greece, St. Nicholas in Aulis (mid-11th century) and St. Demetrius in Varassova (10th or 11th century). A number of churches of the same or similar plan can be found in Armenian architecture of the same or later time, and it is possible that the church presented here was built for the needs of an unknown Armenian enclave or as a result of the patronage of some Armenian notable, although there is no historical data to suggest links with this geographically remote area. In addition to these, the comparative analysis also takes into account churches that, strictly speaking, do not belong to the type under consideration, but share with them the concept and organization of interior space, especially the presence of chapels integrated into the mass of the church, characteristic of the Middle Byzantine period. On the basis of all this, as well as considering the historical circumstances in the region of Svrljig, it is proposed to date the Ribare church in the 10th or 11th century, with the possibility that the building was erected precisely as part of the Byzantine ecclesiastical and architectural restoration in the central Balkans after the reintegration of these geographical areas to the Byzantine Empire in 1018.

The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Ras is one of the oldest ecclesiastic monuments in Serbia, and as such continually attracts the attention of researchers. At a certain point, based on the results of all investigations, several stages of construction of the temple of the St. Apostles in Ras had been identified. It seems that the ktetors of the first rotunda in Ras should be sought precisely among the members of the Serbian elite, more likely, the royal family, which, during the second half of the ninth century, recognized and supported by the Byzantine emperor himself, ruled the regions of Serbia and opposed the Bulgarian princes. Furthermore, the paper provided arguments on the basis of which a shift of the dating of the second phase of the church had been proposed, into the second half of the tenth century. Stylistic and architectural elements of both phases of the ancient church in Ras find their models in the architecture of Byzantine centers in the Adriatic, and Serbian states in its hinterland. These have no analogies in the solutions applied on the territory of Bulgaria in the period from the ninth to the eleventh century, which, following Byzantine, metropolitan
templates, highlight the three-nave basilica as a dominant type. Moreover, the discovered remains of material culture suggest that the reconstructed church, with galleries, a dome, and an ambulatory, had been an episcopal seat, probably founded during the third quarter of the
tenth century, when the re-establishment of Byzantine rule in the Balkans achieved political conditions for such an undertaking.

In this paper, an analysis of three Serbian medieval Raška churches highlights the significance of the interaction of regular geometric shapes in the composition of their underlying proportional scheme. The complex geometry recognised in the layouts and cross-sections of these monastery churches points to the potential use of a unique triangular proportioning system. This proportional system is derived from the initial geometry of Štambuk’s proportional canon, which employs two circles constrained by an equilateral triangle in a specific setting. As the essence of religious medieval structures is often related to their interior, in this paper 3D “empty space moulds” are created by the parametric modelling of each element of the structure. This research shows how the variation of the two critical points of the church interior, the centres of the dome and of the main apse, along with the key triangles incorporated in the proportional scheme, affect the final 3D structural model.

Full text available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00004-018-00426-z

Some problems of Serbian medieval architecture periodization.
The term “Morava school”.

The article reviews the history of research on the last period of Serbian medieval architecture usually referred to as “Morava school”. The author analyzes different concepts put forward by researches in the past and sorts out the most important problems which remain unresolved up to date. These include the general classification of Serbian medieval architecture, definition of the main tendencies and logic in its development, distinguishing the main traits of its regional features in the 14th and 15th centuries, as well as finding out the character and measure of its involvement in the general evolution in Byzantine Paleologan architecture.

This paper aims to re-affirm early efforts in the preservation of architectural heritage after World War One by focusing on the book Serbian Orthodox Church, which presented selected works of Serbian religious art and architecture. Initiated in New York in 1917 by Serbian-American scholar Mihajlo Pupin, who gathered an international team of scholars and public figures to support the project, the book waspublished in London in 1918. This volume was the first such publication written in the English language and called international scholarly, political and public audiences for the due preservation of architectural heritage during and after the Great War. Pupin’s book started discussions about Serbian culture and architecture by conceptualizing cultural heritage as a common heritage of humanity. The importance of this early effort in the preservation of architectural heritage is attested to the fact that seven of the twenty-five medieval churches and monasteries from Pupin’s publication were later included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. Moreover, the UNESCO’s criteria for including these sites on its list are correlated to the reasons why Pupin and his team singled out specific examples of architecture in the volume Serbian Orthodox Church.