Decani Monastery

The Decani Monastery is the tomb church and endowment of King Stefan of Decani, for which the original founding charter from 1330 has been preserved. Apart from the fact that the builder was the Franciscan Fra Vita from Kotor and that after Stefan's death the construction was completed by his son Dušan, the value of two wood-carved objects from that period is especially emphasized - a wooden throne from 1335 and the sarcophagus of King Stefan Dečanski from 1340.

Of the icons, the ones painted by the monk Longin at the end of the 16th century are considered especially valuable - 15 icons of great holidays and the monumental icon of Saint Stephen of Decani with motifs from his life. The fresco is almost entirely preserved and has over 1,000 individual figures and scenes arranged in more than 20 cycles, so that it represents the largest preserved source of data on Byzantine iconography. It is especially interesting through historical portraits and compositions of the ruler's iconography.

The iconostasis with the throne icons is as original as most of the church furniture. The Decani treasury is the richest in Serbia, with about 60 icons from 14-17. century, old manuscripts and other liturgical objects, according to the Republic Institute for the Protection of Monuments. Unlike the church, almost all other monastery buildings have lost their original appearance. Conservation works have been undertaken on the entire complex since the 1930s and have been going on continuously until today. The fact that the monastery is active and that worship services are regularly held in it is also important.

Patriarchate of Peja

The Patriarchate of Peja, with four churches that make it up, is considered especially important because of the place it had in the historical origin and unity of the Serbian state and church during the reign of Emperor Dušan. Special mention is made of the founding of the Serbian Patriarchate in 1346 and the role it played in the 16th century, when the Turks allowed its renewal. Monumental and unique frescoes from the 13th century in the Church of the Holy Apostles are also emphasized as a value of world cultural heritage.

For centuries, the group of churches in Peja has been the spiritual seat and mausoleum of Serbian archbishops and patriarchs. The Church of the Holy Apostle was built in the third decade of the 13th century by Archbishop Arsenije I. Thanks to him, the church was painted around 1260. Archbishop Nicodemus (1321-1324) built the church of St. Demetrius on the north side, and Archbishop Daniel II (1324-1337) on the south side he built churches dedicated to the Virgin Hodegetria and St. Nicholas. In front of the western facades of Hodegetria, he also erected a monumental narthex in the form of a magnificent open porch. In the time of Patriarch Makarije Sokolović, elegant openings with double arcades were walled up. The entire history of the styles of medieval wall painting can be seen on the walls of the churches in Peja.

Our Lady of Ljeviska

The Mother of God of Ljeviska stands out for the frescoes from the early 14th century and the Renaissance style of the Palaeologus, which combines the influences of the Eastern Orthodox-Byzantine and Western Romanesque traditions, and that style was decisive for the overall later Balkan art.

The very damaged frescoes have exceptional values ​​and are among the most successful frescoes from the reign of the Byzantine Palaeologus dynasty. It is the work of the protomaster Astrapa from Thessaloniki with associates from around 1310-13. who, judging by the preserved frescoes, made an extremely original selection of compositions, individual figures, their iconographic solutions both in detail and as a whole.

Particularly important are the portraits of the founders and the procession of Nemanjić, the ancestors of King Milutin, which are of supernatural size. Conservation and restoration works on the architecture were done in the fifties, the painting was discovered under layers of lime in 1950-52, and then it was cleaned and retouched several times between 1969 and 1979.

The church was shot at and burned in March 2004, when portraits of Nemanjić from the narthex, painting of the tower, and to a lesser extent painting of the nave were severely damaged.

Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Gracanica

The monastery church of the Assumption of the Mother of God in Gračanica, the endowment of King Milutin, was built in the second decade of the 14th century and is one of the top architectural achievements of the era. In the middle of the 14th century, an external narthex was added, and Mihailo and Evtihije, famous painters from Thessaloniki, finished their frescoes by 1321.

In addition to compositions from the cycle of the Ecumenical Councils, the Akathist of the Mother of God and Baptism, there are portraits of Serbian archbishops and patriarchs and performances of the funeral of Metropolitan Dionysius of Gracanica. The Gračanica treasury was destroyed in fires between 1379 and 1383, and today it houses a significant collection of icons, among which the oldest is Christ the Merciful from the 14th century, unique in its dimensions (269x139 centimeters).