CHURCH OF THE MOTHER-OF-GOD-OF-LEVIŠA

This early 14th-century Serbian Orthodox church (Kisha e Shën Premtës, Црква Богородица Љевишка/Crkva Bogorodica Ljeviška) contains precious frescoes that have earned it a Unesco World Heritage Site. A former cathedral transformed into a mosque in the 16th century, it has had a long and tumultuous history. Damaged during the anti-Serbian riots of 2004, it is once again open for worship on the Orthodox feasts of the Mother of God: 25 March, 15 August, 8 September,¹ October and 21 November. The church is accessible on these days and is expected to be open all year round from 2022 or 2023.

History

The history of this building dates back to the early centuries of Christianity. The church follows the plans of an ancient Byzantine basilica.

Foundation. The church was founded in 1306 by the great builder-king Stefan Uroš II Milutin (1282-1321), to whom the Novo Brdo fortress and the Gračanica monastery are attributed. He left an inscription here on the apse at the back of the building: "I have renewed this temple from its very first foundation." For the site had already been occupied by a first Byzantine basilica from the^5th-6th centuries, a Serbian or Bulgarian church around the 10th century, a new Byzantine basilica in the 11th century, and a Serbian church built in the 1210s. For King Milutin, it was a matter of providing a prestigious seat for the rich eparchy (diocese) of Prizren. This church was then a central part of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which had been recognized as autocephalous (independent) by the Byzantine Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1219. The new church is dedicated to the Annunciation of Mary and takes the Greek name of the previous churches: Theotokos Eleousa ("Mother of God of Tenderness"), which is translated into Slavonic as Bogorodica Ljeviška. In 1346, the church was symbolically elevated to a cathedral.

Construction. The church, typically Byzantine, was built between 1306 and 1309 with walls of alternating brick and stone. The frescoes were created between 1307 and 1313. The work was entrusted to two great artists of the "court school of King Milutin": the masters Nikola and Astrapas, whose names appear in the exonarthex. The former is a Serbian or Greek architect to whom we owe several achievements in the Balkans, including the magnificent church of St. George the Martyr at Staro Nagoričane (northern Macedonia), also commissioned by Milutin. In Prizren, the master Nikola designed a church in the form of an inscribed cross with a main dome, four secondary domes placed diagonally and a high bell tower on the façade. The plan is dictated by the previous buildings, parts of which have been preserved. The former three-aisled basilica thus becomes a single-aisled church with a side chapel on each side. However, this unusual form is also found in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Thessaloniki (Greece), built just after Prizren in 1310, possibly by the same architect. As for the frescoes, some dating from the 1230s are preserved. But most of the walls and ceilings are decorated by the Greek painter Michalis Astrapas ("Michael the Lightning", a nickname due to the fact that he painted fast) and his brother Eutychios, who would later work on the decoration of the monastery of Gračanica.

Transformations. The general appearance of the building has changed little. However, at the beginning of the Ottoman era, around 1517, the church was transformed into a mosque. It was named Atik ("old" in Turkish), then Juma ("Friday" in Arabic). The seat of the eparchy was transferred to an unidentified church in the city, which was then mainly populated by Serbs. A minaret was built above the bell tower and a mihrab (niche indicating the direction of Mecca) was installed in the southern part. The frescoes and their human representations, profane in the eyes of Islam, are coated with plaster. However, the plaster did not adhere well and some of the panels came off. So in 1756, all the walls were hammered out to allow a new layer of plaster to adhere better. When Kosovo returned to Serbia in 1912, the building became a Serbian Orthodox church again. The minaret and mihrab were removed, but the frescoes were thought to have disappeared. It was not until 1950 that Yugoslav scientists took soundings in the walls and rediscovered the old paintings. After a year of work, some two hundred frescoes covering about a third of the interior surface reappeared, all hammered out, but mostly well preserved. On March 17, 2004, the church was vandalized during the anti-Serbian riots: a fire was set inside covering all the walls with soot. But two years later, in view of its artistic and historical value, the church was included among the "medieval monuments in Kosovo" of the Unesco World Heritage as well as on the list of World Heritage in Danger. At the same time, Unesco obtained from the Kosovar authorities that the heritage services of Serbia ensure its restoration.

Frescoes

It took fifteen years of work to repair the damage caused in 2004. Between 2006 and 2021, under the aegis of UNESCO, Serbian and Italian specialists in medieval painting took turns at the church's bedside. All the walls have been cleaned and consolidated, the frescoes saved and restored. Some of them have been specially treated: on small areas corresponding to the hammering, the missing parts have been reconstituted.

Exonarthex. This "pre-vestibule" is placed under the bell tower. Note on the first arch on the left (north side) a rare personification of the Old Testament with a rhipidion (angel) holding a kind of red beam at the top of which appears a small Christ Emmanuel. On the right (south) vault, a large part of a very beautiful scene of the Last Judgement remains, where Christ seems to be placed under spotlights. Below, the walls are occupied by portraits of Serbian archbishops whose faces were all erased when the building was converted into a mosque. This is almost the only place in the church where this is the case. Elsewhere, the 18th-century workers simply hammered away at the frescoes without attempting to destroy them, just to make the plaster adhere.

Narthex. You now enter the "vestibule". The wooden mezzanine corresponds to the place of the catechism where the non-baptized attended the liturgy (mass). The surviving frescoes below it are dedicated to the Serbian dynasty of the Nemanjić (1166-1371). Opposite, on the left, is a fine portrait of the church's patron, King Milutin, wearing the akakia of the Byzantine emperors, a purple silk case filled with dust reminding the powerful that they too are destined to become dust again. Before entering the naos, turn around: under the mezzanine, the western wall is occupied by a large family portrait: Stefan Nemanja, the first king of the dynasty, surrounded by his two sons, including Saint Sava, on the left, founder of the Serbian Church in 1219. Next to him stands a figure holding a strange white object. No, it is not a satellite dish. The young man is in fact a cerophonist, a candle bearer.

Naos. The most frescoes are on the four pairs of pillars here. They are portraits of Christ and saints (martyrs, warriors, doctors...). On the first pillar on the right, a magnificent portrait of Saint Theodosia. The fourth pair of pillars is different: it only has the frescoes of the upper register with the episode of the Annunciation: Mary (pillar on the right) and the archangel Gabriel (pillar on the left) coming to tell her that she is pregnant. Turning back to the narthex, see around the window the dormition (death) of the Mother of God: on the left, Christ holds against him a swaddled baby, symbol of Mary's soul.

Domes. The caps of the five domes each contain a representation of Christ. In the centre of the naos, the main dome is decorated with Christ Pantocrator ("Almighty" in Greek). With his left hand, he holds the Holy Scriptures. The fingers of his right hand form the symbol of his double nature, human and divine. His blue robe is painted with lapis lazuli stone powder, the most precious pigment of the Middle Ages. The second register is occupied by eight prophets from the Old Testament. Among them, Daniel is distinguished by his tunic pulled up above his knees: an evocation of the two episodes in which he emerges unharmed from the lions' den. Under the secondary domes, placed at the four corners of the naos, Jesus appears as Christ Emmanuel in the guise of a child (southwestern dome, on the right after the entrance), as Christ the Priest in the guise of a young adult (northwestern dome), as a mature Christ (northeastern dome), and as the "Ancient of Days," a Byzantine representation of the elderly Christ (southeastern dome). Under the domes of Christ the Priest and Christ the Mature, note the beautiful colours of the frescoes of the prophets and patriarchs of the Old Testament.

South ambulatory. On either side of the nave, a narrow "ambulatory" runs between the pillars of the naos and the four arches of the side chapels. In the southern ambulatory, at the level of the main dome, the interior of the third arch houses the oldest fresco, which is also the dedication of the church: the Mother of God of Tenderness and the Nurturing Christ. Restored in 1951, it depicts Mary holding the infant Christ on her lap, who takes food from a basket and distributes it to the people. This association of the Virgin Eleusora and the Christ the Nurturer (also called the "Guardian of Prizren") is unique in Christian iconography. The fresco belonged to the previous church and was painted around 1230 by an unknown artist. Two other 13th century frescoes were discovered in the narthex in 1951. They are now on display in the National Museum in Belgrade (Serbia).

Chapel of Saint Demetrios. The southern ambulatory gives access to this chapel dedicated to Saint Demetrios of Thessalonica, who died as a martyr in 306. This was the heart of the mosque, with the mihrab towards which the faithful directed their prayers. However, some frescoes have been partially saved. One can guess the scene where Demetrios is condemned to death by the emperor Galerius and the one where Nestor, the disciple of Demetrios, kills Lyaeos, a gladiator who massacred Christians.