The Beginnings of Investigation and Stewardship of Monuments

Abstract

It was not until the mid-19th century that foreign and local travel writers and scholars began visiting and studying the surviving churches and monasteries on the territory of so-called Old Serbia. This period saw the beginning of gathering evidence about medieval Serbian monuments in the area of Kosovo and Metohija and interest in studying them – an interest that perseveres to this day owing to the dedication of multiple generations of researchers. The last decade of the 19th and the early 20th century were marked by the appearance of the first scholarly texts and monographs which, owing to the wider interest in the research of monasteries and churches on the territory of Old Serbia, offered historical-artistic interpretations of these monuments. A new stage in the study of churches and monasteries in Kosovo and Metohija began after World War I, when this area became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. The circle of researchers, architects and art historians studying Serbian antiquities in the area of Kosovo and Metohija grew, as did the number of periodicals that published the compiled evidence and research results. The tours and field research of medieval Serbian monuments in the area of Kosovo and Metohija in the interwar period facilitated the recognition of their artistic merit and provided insight into their state of preservation. The outbreak of World War II put a brutal end to any major efforts to investigate and protect monuments throughout Yugoslavia, including Kosovo and Metohija.