The most beautiful religious buildings Kosovo

With its red-walled churches contrasting with the green of the surrounding hills, the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć (Манастир Пећка патријаршија/Manastir Pećka patrijaršija, Manastiri Patriarkal i Pejës) marks the entrance to Rugova Gorge. Founded by St. Sava around 1330 and listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2006, this 3-hectare Serbian Orthodox complex is, due to its historical significance, one of the most valuable religious sites in Europe. Important home of the Serbian culture, it conceals medieval frescos among the richest of the Balkans. Today occupied by about twenty nuns who follow the Julian calendar and the Code of Saint Sava, the monastery shelters the tombs of Serbian Orthodox primates, the oldest tree in Kosovo, the ruins of ancient monastic buildings and, above all, four churches and a narthex adjoining each other, which form an ecclesiastical complex almost without equivalent in the history of Christian architecture.

Ecclesiastical complex. Built between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the heart of the monastery of Peć is composed of four adjoining churches and a monumental narthex. A tour following the chronology of the realization of the buildings and their frescoes is almost impossible as the periods are so intertwined. We propose the following route

:1 - Narthex. Added around 1330 and remodeled two centuries later, this monumental portico links three of the four churches together and constitutes the "vestibule".
2 - Church of the Holy Apostles. This is the oldest of the churches and the catholicon (main church) of the monastery. Dating from 1230-1240, it is located in the center of the complex.
3 - Church of Saint Demetrios. Located to the north (left) of the Church of the Holy Apostles, it was completed in 1324.
4 - Church of the Mother of God-Hodegetria. Located south (right) of the Church of the Holy Apostles, it was built almost at the same time as the narthex (1330s).
5 - Chapel of Saint Nicholas. Significantly smaller than the other churches, it is also the only one not connected to the narthex and the only one without a dome. Built at the same period as the narthex and the church of the Mother of God, it is attached to the south wall of the latter.

An architectural rarity.

Seen from above, the ecclesiastical complex gives the impression of a single church with three domes. This is an almost unique example in the history of Christian architecture. The only monument that comes close is the Pantocrator Monastery (12th century) in Constantinople/Istanbul. The comparison with the great Byzantine buildings was in fact constantly in the minds of the commissioners of the Peć complex. For the Serbian primates and rulers, it was a matter of affirming the existence of an autocephalous patriarchate, i.e., independent of that of Constantinople. This desire is felt in the architecture of the buildings, marked by two local artistic currents (the school of Raška, then the Serbo-Byzantine school), in the inscriptions no longer written in Greek but in Old Slavonic (ancestor of the current Serbian-Croatian language) and, above all, in the frescoes.

Frescoes. The entire interior surfaces of the narthex and the four churches were painted. The frescoes date mainly from the 13th-14th centuries and the 16th-17th centuries, and are particularly well preserved with a few exceptions. Combining techniques of pigment application on wet plaster (affresco) or dry plaster (a secco)

, the painters produced works of great variety, both in their artistic qualities and in the themes treated. Largely influenced by Byzantine iconography, they also tried to break away from this heritage by creating rare or original themes. Thus, the series of portraits of Serbian saints created here have become a standard for all Serbian Orthodox churches. Created at different times, the frescoes in the five buildings also reflect the artistic and political developments of the Balkans, even incorporating elements of Ottoman culture, the Italian Renaissance, and Russian iconography. Conceived in the context of a largely illiterate society, these works can be read today as an immense comic strip recounting the life, myths and hopes of medieval man.

Red walls.

In 2006, all the exterior walls of the churches and part of the narthex were painted brick red (or ochre). This color evokes the first Byzantine churches built in brick and symbolizes the blood of Christ. For the Serbian patriarchate that commissioned the operation, it was to imitate the color of the catholicon of the monastery of Žiča (Serbia), which itself takes the traditional red of some monasteries of Mount Athos (Greece). The intervention has provoked strong criticism from many art historians for whom it distorts the original appearance of the complex. In fact, the exterior walls were designed to remain blank or to be decorated with frescoes.

Visit. Three things to know. The monastery is under police protection and you must leave an ID at the security station. An audio guide in French is available (2 €). The monastery store offers honey, Velika Hoča wine, and icons and raki made by the nuns.

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.

A visit to the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć is worthwhile mainly for its ecclesiastical complex (churches and narthex). But it is possible to walk around almost the entire 3-hectare compound to discover the traces of a long history. The monastery is surrounded by powerful walls inherited from the Middle Ages. At that time, the site was also defended by four towers and a keep, which have now disappeared. During the Ottoman era, in agreement with the higoumen (abbot), the Albanian inhabitants of the neighboring villages appointed voivodes (guardians) responsible for the protection of the monks. Thus, there remains a house of the voivodes, outside, on the north bank of the Pećka Bistrica. Inside the monastery grounds, once you pass the large wooden gate, you find yourself facing ruins. These are the foundations of conventual buildings destroyed by an accidental fire in 1940 (before the Italo-Albanian occupation of 1941-1943): a bakery, a refectory and a guest house from the Middle Ages, the monks' cells, two kitchens, a water mill, an attic and a stable from the 18th century. Excavations in the 1960s also revealed the presence of other ancient buildings to the north and east.

The treasure: saved, but inaccessible. To the right of the entrance, the belfry houses the bells of the monastery. This tower is about 15 m high and is in the Serbo-Byzantine style, but it dates from 1970. Two buildings have been added nearby since 2007: the store and a guesthouse. The ruins of the old belfry (14th century), destroyed in 1940, can be seen opposite the narthex. The northwestern part is dominated by modern conventual buildings dating from the 1980s and 1990s. They are located on the site of the old conventual buildings destroyed by a fire set by Albanian nationalists on the night of 15-16 March 1981. This attack on the churches resulted in the loss of the patriarch's residence, the nuns' refectory, the infirmary, the workshops and the monastery treasury. There were no casualties, but many documents and liturgical objects disappeared in the flames. However, a large part of the treasure accumulated since the 13th century, including icons, could be saved. The treasure remains on site, only shown to distinguished guests. Finally, throughout the complex are visible the tombs of the monks who succeeded each other here for seven centuries. They stand alongside those of the nuns who have occupied the monastery since the 1950s.

This mosque (Xhamia e Sinan Pashës, Sinan-pašina džamija) is the most beautiful in Prizren. It was completed in 1615 for its patron, Sofi Sinan, a prominent Albanian and former Ottoman governor of Bosnia. Built with stones from the Holy Exchange Monastery, it retains much of its original structure: raised foundations, a square base (about 14 m square), walls 1.65 m thick, a main dome up to 25 m high, a half-dome at the back housing the mihrab (niche indicating the direction of Mecca), and a minaret 43.5 m high. Although the mosque still has its 17th-century wooden frame, it has lost its triple-arched porch topped by three domes. This was destroyed by an explosion in 1919, when the building was used as an ammunition store for the Serbian army. The porch and the stone staircase leading to it were rebuilt in the 1960s-1970s, during which time the interior decoration, which had been damaged by a leak in the lead roofing of the dome, was also redone. The mosque was closed to worship from 1912 onwards, and was briefly converted into a museum in the 1970s to house many documents from the Ottoman period. The municipality wanted to reopen the museum after the Kosovo war. But faced with pressure from local imams and Turkey (which funded further restorations between 2007 and 2013), the mosque was finally reopened for worship in 2011.