GRAČANICA MONASTERY

In a green setting, right in the center of Gračanica, hides a jewel of Serbian-Byzantine art: the Gračanica Monastery (Манастир Грачаница/Manastir Gračanica in Serbian, Manastiri i Graçanicës in Albanian). In 1321, it was the last building founded by Milutin, a great king of the Nemanjić dynasty. From its tumultuous past, this Serbian Orthodox monastery has inherited a magnificent medieval church that is worth as much for the finesse of its architecture as for the brilliance of its frescos. Since 2006, this complex dedicated to the Mother of God (the "Virgin" for Catholics) is one of the four sites in the country listed as World Heritage by UNESCO. Spared by the last war, and now under the protection of the Kosovar police, it is occupied by about twenty nuns, one of whom speaks French. For the visit, it is necessary to leave an identity card at the security post. Proper attire is required (no shorts or tank tops, cover your head for women) and photos are prohibited inside the church. At the entrance, don't miss the store selling honey, rakija and wine from the Rahovec/Orahovac wine region, Orthodox icons, or books about the monasteries of Serbia and Kosovo.

HistoryFrom

the

first centuries of Christianity to the creation of modern Kosovo, this monastery, a symbol of Serbian culture, offers a good summary of the region's eventful history

.

Ancient origins. The monastery was established in 1321 on the site of a 13th century church dedicated to the Mother of God, itself built on the site of a 6th century basilica. The foundations of the latter have been preserved. They bear inscriptions in Latin which testify to the replacement of the nearby Roman city of Ulpiana. It was there that the Byzantines had created, in the^5th

century, the eparchy of Lipljan, one of the oldest dioceses in the central Balkans. But the ancient city declined and the seat of the eparchy was transferred to Gračanica, where a small, more easily defended town developed. Centuries passed, and so did new peoples. From the 12th century onwards, the region was disputed by the Serbs and the Bulgars. The church built in the 13th century suffered from these confrontations. A destruction that could not leave the Serbian king builder insensitive: "I saw the ruins and decay of the church of the Mother of God in Gračanica, in the eparchy of Lipljan, explains Milutin in an inscription painted on the south wall, so I rebuilt it from top to bottom and painted and decorated, both inside and outside. "

A fast construction.

Completed in less than two years, the work on the new church was finished in 1322. But Milutin will not see the end of it. He died on October 21, 1321, after thirty-nine years of reign. However, the king took care to associate with the foundation of the monastery his fourth wife, the Byzantine princess Simone Paléologue. A team of well-trained craftsmen, called "the court school of King Milutin", led the construction. Among them, two of the best artists of the Balkans, the Greek brothers and painters Michalis Astrapas and Eutychios. The result, remarkable, is considered as the achievement of the classic Serbo-Byzantine art, as well by the smoothness of its architecture as by the richness of its frescos. An exonarthex (fore-vestibule) was added in the 1340s. The eparchy of Lipljan is then elevated to the rank of "metropolis of Gračanica" and the monastery becomes the second most important Orthodox site in the territory after the Patriarchate of Peć.

Seven eventful centuries.

After the end of the Serbian Empire (1371), the monastery of Gračanica finds itself in the front line of Ottoman incursions. They lead raids here in 1379, in 1383, then during the battle of Kosovo Polje, in 1389: precious objects are stolen, while the exonarthex, the campanile and a rich collection of manuscripts go up in flames. The exonarthex is rebuilt and calm returns when the Ottomans really take control of the territory, in 1455. Gračanica then established itself as a great intellectual center. In the 16th century, the monastery is famous for its icon painters and its printing house. But during the great Turkish war (1683-1699), the Serbs bring their support to Austria. In retaliation, the Ottomans looted the complex, destroyed the annex buildings and seized the treasure of the Patriarchate of Peć, which had been hidden under a dome of the monastery church of Gračanica. The latter, however, escaped almost unscathed. But the monastery will then experience a long decline.

Since 1999.

The monastery has resumed a leading role since the end of the war in Kosovo. Located in the enclave of Gračanica, relatively untouched by Albanian nationalists, it became the "provisional" seat of the Eparchy of Raška-Prizren, which has authority over the Serbian Orthodox of Kosovo. Since 2006, the monastery has been listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site among the "medieval monuments of Kosovo" along with the monasteries of Peć, Dečani and the Church of the Mother of God of Leviša in Prizren. Due to the local political situation, these four sites are also on the Unesco list of World Heritage in Danger.

ArchitectureThe

annex buildings of the monastery as they existed in the Middle Ages have almost completely disappeared. Only the church itself has survived for seven centuries: despite the complexity of its architecture, it is a masterpiece that amazes by its harmony.

Monastic complex.

Once past the gate, a path leads directly to the church. It is set in the middle of a garden with trees forming a large square of 60 m on each side, surrounded by walls and three buildings of Serbian-Ottoman influence rebuilt in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: two on the sides housing the headquarters of the eparchy and the nuns' workshops (icons, honey, clothes, etc.) and another, larger, located behind the church where the cells, the refectory and the treasure of the monastery are located (which is not visited).

Exterior of the church.

The catholicon impresses with its five drum-mounted domes, the central one reaching 18 m in height, its cascades of vaults and pendentives, its alternation of stone and brick, its spherical volumes and complex curves from which emerges a graceful harmony. All this in a rather small space: 13 m by 16,50 for the church and its narthex, extended on 9 m in length with the exonarthex. This last one, open with bay windows and decorated with a cupola, is not very interesting in itself, but it fits well with the older style of the rest of the church. Feel free to walk around the building to find the Latin inscriptions on the stones from the Ulpiana site and to admire the work of the 14th century masons. They perfectly mastered the two great Byzantine techniques: the cloisonné device (ashlars framed with mortar and flat bricks) and the assembly of bricks forming various patterns (meanders, saw teeth, palm leaves ...) whose meaning escapes us today.

Interior of the church.

In a modest space, a complex structure unfolds. To understand it, one must disregard the exonarthex added later. The church follows the base of the sixth century basilica with its three parallel naves. But the anonymous 16th century architects went beyond this constraint to invent an almost unprecedented layout, which can only be found in certain churches of Thessalonica of the same period. This suggests that the architects of Mitulin came, like the painters, from this Greek city. Generally speaking, the church corresponds to the Byzantine canons with its inscribed cross plan (or "Greek cross"), i.e. inscribed in a rectangle, a single nave without transept. Thus, in the area of the central dome, two axes intersect: to the north and south, the barrel vaults form the horizontal arms of the cross, while the vertical axis of the cross stretches from west to east. But the architects took advantage of the four secondary domes placed at the four corners of the rectangle to create multiple subspaces. After the exonarthex, to the west, one enters the narthex. This one is surprisingly small: shallow, it is also limited on the sides by the presence of two lateral wings that stretch between two domes to the south and two other domes to the north. However, these wings end on the east with two side chapels (paracels): the chapel of Saint Nicholas under the northeast dome and the chapel of the Mother of God under the southeast dome. These two chapels frame the sanctuary and its apse. Finally, in the center, the naos ("temple") is dominated by the main dome supported by four pillars that delimit the heart of the church.

FrescoesThe whole

interior of the church is decorated with frescoes. Those of the exonarthex, made in 1570, are not very artistic and are quite damaged. But the decoration of the rest of the building is absolutely remarkable: it is the work of Michalis Astrapas and Eutychios, in 1322, which inspired generations of painters. On the whole, they are well preserved, except in some high parts, due to water infiltration.

Narthex. Located after the exonarthex, this "vestibule" is decorated with frescoes of the cycles of the Last Judgment and the menologion (calendar of saints), but, above all, with a remarkable series of portraits of members of the Nemanjić dynasty. The latter is placed in the lower register of the large pillars marking the separation from the naos. On the left, Milutin's parents are depicted in monastic garb: King Stefan Uroš I and the Capetian princess Helene of Anjou surround Christ Emmanuel, who presents each of them with the Great Schism, a vestment reserved for the most venerable Orthodox monks. On the right, a family tree illustrates the Nemanjić dynasty, from Stefan Nemanja, the founder in 1166, to Milutin. This is the first "Nemanjić tree" ever made. It will be repeated in many churches, such as in Peć and Dečani, a century later. On the inner side of the pillars face the richly dressed sponsors. Milutin carries the model of the church. Opposite him stands his wife, Simona Palaeologus, on whose head an angel places a crown inspired by the propoloma

, the trapezoidal headdress of Byzantine women. In the upper register, the Last Judgment cycle is dominated by the hand of God (vault). Some of the scenes are quite astonishing, such as the angels folding up the sky and the stars like a tablecloth after a picnic, or Paradise represented as a fortified city, guarded by St. Peter and an angel of fire, and in which the prophet Abraham welcomes the good thief carrying his cross.

Dormition of the Mother of God. Located above the entrance to the naos, this is the most striking fresco in this church, which was itself dedicated to the dormition of the Mother of God at the time of its foundation. It illustrates the central theme of oriental pictorial art since the 8th century: the "sleep" (dormitio

in Latin) of Mary or, more prosaically, her death. This episode is almost absent among Catholics, who celebrate on the same day, August 15, the "Assumption", the ascent to heaven of the soul of the "Virgin", without evoking her physical death. Here, Michalis Astrapas and Eutychios have largely reproduced the first fresco of the dormition that they made in 1295 in the church of the Mother of God-Perivleptos, in Ohrid (Northern Macedonia). The scene is composed in a dynamic way. Below, a funeral procession traces the major stages of Mary's life: the crowd leaves her former home in Bethlehem, arrives at the home of the apostle John in Ephesus, the place of her death, passes her second home in Jerusalem, and arrives at the Mount of Olives, where the faithful discover her empty tomb. Christ appears above the remains of his mother, surrounded by a shimmering halo. He holds in his arms a swaddled newborn child, symbolizing the soul of Mary. Around him, a militia of archangels forms the celestial dome, then joins the procession where the apostles (without halo) carry or precede the shroud. But an intruder has slipped in among them: it is the Jewish priest Jephonias. His forearms are cut off "by an invisible force, with a sword of fire" for having wanted to overturn the sacred body. In the apocryphal writings, this character is the symbol of the redemption of the Jews. Thus, Jephonias will be miraculously healed after his conversion. In the upper register, the cohort of angels opens the window of Paradise to welcome the soul of the deceased. On either side, in a less well-preserved area, are represented the apostles (still without halo) sailing on clouds drowned in the blue sky. Not just any blue: the entire background is painted with lapis lazuli from Afghanistan, the most precious pigment of the Middle Ages.

Central dome area. It is almost entirely occupied by a great cycle of the life, Passion and miracles of Christ, while on the pillars continues the cycle of the menologion begun in the narthex. The ensemble is dominated by the Christ Pantocrator ("all-powerful" in Greek) painted in the dome's cap. He is surrounded by the letters IC XC. This is the Christogram, the abbreviation of "Jesus Christ" in Byzantine Greek (Iesous Christos), used in all representations of Christ in Orthodox churches around the world. Christ holds the Holy Scriptures and makes the sign of blessing with his right hand. The position of the fingers is important. It reproduces the Christogram: the thumb and the ring finger touch to form the C, the other three make up the I and the X. But that's not all, since two outstretched fingers symbolize the double nature, human and divine, of Christ, while the other three, joined, represent the Trinity. In the next register, archangels participate in the divine liturgy (the Eucharist for Catholics). Surprisingly, it is the Christ child and not his symbol, theamnos

(the bread representing the Lamb of God), that is offered to the communicants. Between the windows of the drum of the dome are painted eight prophets of the Old Testament. In the lower register, the four evangelist apostles should normally be depicted. However, these were placed at the top of each of the four secondary domes: Matthew to the northwest, Mark to the southwest, Luke to the northeast and John to the southeast.

Sanctuary. The most sacred part of the church is reserved for the clergy. The boundary is marked by the "wall of icons": the iconostasis. Not very wide and several times reworked because of the raids of the Ottomans, it contains only two icons including a very beautiful Mother of God in majesty made around 1540. Mary appears seated on a throne. She herself is the "throne" on which sits the Christ child, who represents here the wisdom of God. Both are surrounded by eighteen prophets of the Old Testament represented with their symbol or with the manuscript of their prophecy. The iconostasis is also distinguished by its high carved and gilded wooden cross from the 17th century. Behind it, access is forbidden. However, one can contemplate the apse decorated with the Orante: it is the traditional representation of the Mother of God "praying" (orans

in Latin), standing with her hands raised and stretched, palms open towards the outside, she announces the arrival of Christ. She is surrounded by the archangels Michael (on the left) and Gabriel who each carry a sphere evoking the creation of light (Michael) and earth (Gabriel). This fresco is quite damaged. But another orante, magnificent and better preserved, can be seen in the absidiole of the chapel of the Mother of God, to the right of the sanctuary.

Behind it, access is forbidden. However, one can contemplate the apse decorated with the Orante: it is the traditional representation of the Mother of God "praying" (orans in Latin), standing with her hands raised and stretched out, palms open towards the outside, she announces the arrival of Christ. She is surrounded by the archangels Michael (on the left) and Gabriel who each carry a sphere evoking the creation of light (Michael) and earth (Gabriel). This fresco is quite damaged.