Praying for a Franciscan in an Orthodox Church: Remembering the Master Builder in the Inscription of the Dečani Monastery

Abstract

This paper explores the memory of the master builder of the Dečani monastery as it was “performed” through the inscription of the south portal of the monastery’s katholikon. Despite the confessional differences, Fra Vita, a Franciscan friar from Kotor, was allowed to place his name on the (Orthodox) church. Moreover, he was permitted to place it beside those of the royal founders, King Stefan Uroš III and his son Stefan Dušan. By focusing on the carved representation in the lunette of the south portal and through the devotional, confessional, and political contextualizations, this paper demonstrates the performative nature of the Dečani inscription and the nuanced complexity of the memory that it cherishes.

Ovaj rad posvećen je istraživanju oblikovanja sećanja na glavnog graditelja katolikona manastira Dečana, čije ime je sačuvano u sklopu natpisa južnog portala. Bez obzira na konfesionalne razlike, fra Viti, franjevacu iz Kotora, bilo je dozvoljeno da zabeleži svoje ime na (pravoslavnoj) crkvi. Štaviše, dopušteno mu je da to učini odmah uz imena ktitora, kralja Stefana Uroša III i njegovog sina Stefana Dušana. Putem sagledavanja natpisa u kontekstu pobožnih praksi, konfesionalnih razlika i političkih zbivanja, kao i analizom predstave u luneti južnog portala, rad ima za cilj da pokaže njegov performativni karakter u službi očuvanja memorije.