The Church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren - A New Type of the Nemanjid Royal Mausoleum?
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2021
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Bulgarian Historical Heritage Foundation
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The church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren was built as the mausoleum of the first Serbian Emperor (Tsar) Stefan Uroš IV Dušan. The first part of the paper discusses the importance of the five domes in pronouncing imperial dignity by referencing the imperial mausolea of Constantinople. Furthermore, the realization of this notion is considered together with the non-funerary five-domed endowments of King Milutin and the general Nemanjid tradition of erecting royal mausolea that evoke the church of the Mother of God Evergetis in Studenica, the burial place of the dynasty’s founder.While preparing his resting place, Emperor Dušan decided to mark his tomb with his sculpted likeness – a gisant. Therefore, the second part of the paper is concerned with this unusual choice of a funerary monument characteristic of the late medieval western elite. However, the tomb effigy is contextualized in specific cultural and political circumstances instead of being interpreted as a western influence. I...t is argued that the recumbent figure of the Emperor referenced the tradition of depicting saintly relics in the Christian East, thus emphasizing Stefan Dušan’s spiritual cleanliness. This was a powerful image able to oppose the anxiety that arose with the condemnation that came from Constantinople when Patriarch Kallistos I excommunicated the Serbian ruler together with Patriarch Joanikije II and his clergy.
Keywords:
Church of the Holy Archangels / five domes / Monastery of Christ Pantocrator / Stefan Dušan / gisant / Ivan AlexanderSource:
Bulgaria Mediaevalis, 2021, 12, 125-139Publisher:
- Bulgarian Historical Heritage Foundation
Funding / projects:
- Projkat ,,Čovek i društvo u vreme krize” finansiran od strane Filozofskog fakulteta Univerziteta u Beogradu
Institution/Community
Istorija umetnosti / History of ArtTY - JOUR AU - Piperski, Nikola AU - Đorđević, Jakov PY - 2021 UR - http://reff.f.bg.ac.rs/handle/123456789/5551 AB - The church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren was built as the mausoleum of the first Serbian Emperor (Tsar) Stefan Uroš IV Dušan. The first part of the paper discusses the importance of the five domes in pronouncing imperial dignity by referencing the imperial mausolea of Constantinople. Furthermore, the realization of this notion is considered together with the non-funerary five-domed endowments of King Milutin and the general Nemanjid tradition of erecting royal mausolea that evoke the church of the Mother of God Evergetis in Studenica, the burial place of the dynasty’s founder.While preparing his resting place, Emperor Dušan decided to mark his tomb with his sculpted likeness – a gisant. Therefore, the second part of the paper is concerned with this unusual choice of a funerary monument characteristic of the late medieval western elite. However, the tomb effigy is contextualized in specific cultural and political circumstances instead of being interpreted as a western influence. It is argued that the recumbent figure of the Emperor referenced the tradition of depicting saintly relics in the Christian East, thus emphasizing Stefan Dušan’s spiritual cleanliness. This was a powerful image able to oppose the anxiety that arose with the condemnation that came from Constantinople when Patriarch Kallistos I excommunicated the Serbian ruler together with Patriarch Joanikije II and his clergy. PB - Bulgarian Historical Heritage Foundation T2 - Bulgaria Mediaevalis T1 - The Church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren - A New Type of the Nemanjid Royal Mausoleum? EP - 139 SP - 125 VL - 12 UR - https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5551 ER -
@article{ author = "Piperski, Nikola and Đorđević, Jakov", year = "2021", abstract = "The church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren was built as the mausoleum of the first Serbian Emperor (Tsar) Stefan Uroš IV Dušan. The first part of the paper discusses the importance of the five domes in pronouncing imperial dignity by referencing the imperial mausolea of Constantinople. Furthermore, the realization of this notion is considered together with the non-funerary five-domed endowments of King Milutin and the general Nemanjid tradition of erecting royal mausolea that evoke the church of the Mother of God Evergetis in Studenica, the burial place of the dynasty’s founder.While preparing his resting place, Emperor Dušan decided to mark his tomb with his sculpted likeness – a gisant. Therefore, the second part of the paper is concerned with this unusual choice of a funerary monument characteristic of the late medieval western elite. However, the tomb effigy is contextualized in specific cultural and political circumstances instead of being interpreted as a western influence. It is argued that the recumbent figure of the Emperor referenced the tradition of depicting saintly relics in the Christian East, thus emphasizing Stefan Dušan’s spiritual cleanliness. This was a powerful image able to oppose the anxiety that arose with the condemnation that came from Constantinople when Patriarch Kallistos I excommunicated the Serbian ruler together with Patriarch Joanikije II and his clergy.", publisher = "Bulgarian Historical Heritage Foundation", journal = "Bulgaria Mediaevalis", title = "The Church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren - A New Type of the Nemanjid Royal Mausoleum?", pages = "139-125", volume = "12", url = "https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5551" }
Piperski, N.,& Đorđević, J.. (2021). The Church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren - A New Type of the Nemanjid Royal Mausoleum?. in Bulgaria Mediaevalis Bulgarian Historical Heritage Foundation., 12, 125-139. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5551
Piperski N, Đorđević J. The Church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren - A New Type of the Nemanjid Royal Mausoleum?. in Bulgaria Mediaevalis. 2021;12:125-139. https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5551 .
Piperski, Nikola, Đorđević, Jakov, "The Church of the Holy Archangels near Prizren - A New Type of the Nemanjid Royal Mausoleum?" in Bulgaria Mediaevalis, 12 (2021):125-139, https://hdl.handle.net/21.15107/rcub_reff_5551 .