George's Church (Staro Nagorichino)

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George's Church (Staro Nagorichino)
George's Church in Staro Nagorichino, west side

George's Church in Staro Nagorichino, west side

Data
place Kumanovo , Staro Nagorichino
Client Stefan Uroš II Milutin
Architectural style Byzantine architecture
Construction year 1312/13
particularities
Cross-domed church

The Church of St. George is located in a regional Kumanovo that are available village of Staro Nagorichino the north Nordmazedoniens . It is a building from the palaeological period from the 14th century. It shows one of the largest fresco cycles in the country.

Benefactor

An inscription above the western entrance door attributes the church to Stefan Uroš II. Milutin (1253–1321). This is confirmed by the archbishop and biographer Danilo II, who lists the ruler's most popular church renovations and new buildings. The picture of the donor on the north wall of the monument shows the latter in front of Georg , the patron saint of the church. The iconography is dominated by the symbolic exchange of gifts. Milutin hands the saint a model of the church, while George hands him a sword in recognition of his military achievements, which are mentioned in the donor's inscription and refer to the victory over the Turks, so these inscriptions provide a reference to the building of the church in 1312 / 13.

architecture

The building is a cross-domed church with a narthex and an altar area separated by a stone iconostasis , which is flanked in the north by a prosthesis and in the south by a diakonicon . A cross is formed by four barrel vaults, with the northern and southern arms of the cross being shorter in relation to the other arms. An octagonal drum rises above the naos with pendentives leading to the end of the dome , the corners of the church have four smaller domes, but the latter is only assigned a decorative, not a functional, meaning. From the narthex in the west only remains of walls are left today. This was added later, as the church probably belonged to a monastery and the building element just mentioned could have been required due to lack of space. However, an inner narthex has already been created through architectural constriction, which has two columns with lower arches than in the rest of the building and also stands out from it through a separate pictorial program.

A special feature of the church is the changing design of the facade from a height of 5 m. The lower part consists of large sandstone blocks, while for the upper part alternating and offset rows of stones and bricks, held together by mortar, have been used. The brick elements were also used to frame and highlight niches and windows. There is also a difference in the structure of the windows. Those in the lower zone are covered by an arch, while those in the upper zone end with a lintel. The apse is also initially semicircular on the outside, but changes to a five-sided shape with false windows towards the top. This shows that the church comes from two different phases and that Milutin used the already existing remains of a previous building for his foundation. The older wall structures date from the 11th century and are attributed to a legend after Emperor Roman IV Diogenes (r. 1068-1071). It is not possible to determine exactly what type of building this was. It could have had three aisles, but from 10 to 12 Churches with only one room and a central dome are also popular in the 18th century.

In the southwest corner of the church there are remains of a staircase that could have led to a pulpit. Under Milutin, the entrance was blocked with bricks and painted over with frescoes. There are also traces of pilasters on the north and south facades , which end abruptly at a height of 4.10 m. At a distance of 3.90 m on the south side opposite the third rest of the pilaster a fragment of a pillar was discovered, which is why porticos are being reconstructed for the north and south sides of the church . These seem to have been retained under Milutin, as they were depicted on the church model presented by the ruler George .

Frescoes

A second donor inscription in the southern part of the west wall of the inner narthex mentions 1317/18 as the completion of the frescoes during the reign of Bishop Benjamin von Nagorichino. However, these could have started a year earlier, as the church is relatively large. The creators of the paintings are Michael Astrapas and Eutychios, who ran the most productive studio of Byzantine art during the palaeological period for three decades. Staro Nagorichino's frescoes are considered the highlight of their work. Two dedications by Michael Astrapas can be found in the church - one on the shield of a warrior saint on the north wall of the naos and the other on the clothing of a saint on the south-western pillar.

The scenes are arranged in up to seven horizontal strips, one above the other, and extend below the 9 m high barrel vault, although this structure only applies to the naos and part of the bemas. In the lowest zone there are geometric patterns. As for the second strip with holy figures (warriors, martyrs, monks, apostles, regional ascetics) such as Pachomios , Kosmas of Jerusalem or John of Damascus , only this one can also be found in the inner narthex . In the zone above the legend of St. George is depicted with a special focus on the torture he endured during his martyrdom, but also the famous scene with the conquest of the dragon and the rescue of the princess is shown. The fourth strip shows the Passion of Christ, followed by his appearance after the resurrection, followed by his miracles. The cycle of twelve church festivals such as the birth, the baptism, the entry into Jerusalem, etc. forms the conclusion. flanked by the angels Michael and Gabriel. The walls of the prosthesis are studded with apocryphal scenes from the life of Mary, those of the deaconicon with images of St. Nicholas . The inner narthex is adorned with the menologion , a list of the commemorative days of saints and religious holidays. Above the western door there is a larger picture of Koimesis .

The style of the frescoes follows the palaiological renaissance that emerged in the 13th century , which describes the revival of ancient forms with iconographic innovations. This is characterized by the enlargement of the color spectrum with warmer tones such as red as well as the setting of white accents in order to increase the dimensionality of the textiles. Furthermore, there is an increase in narrative content, which results in an increased number of cycles, but at the same time leads to a reduction in the size of the characters. This circumstance and often poorly lit rooms as an addition express themselves in the tendency towards strong liveliness in a scene and to intensified gestures. The style just described has developed fully, especially in the churches of Milutin .

State of preservation

The church is in poor condition with regard to its frescoes. In the upper area of ​​the walls, but especially in the domes, there is a significant loss of pigment. In the north-western dome in particular, all the frescoes have been irretrievably lost. In autumn 2011, moisture was found in the main dome, which is increasingly destroying the painting layers. A conservation project, sponsored by the European Union, which had only existed on paper so far, was decided in summer 2013. A project called "Macedonian Frescos 360 (Masco)", started in April 2016 by students at the Georg-August University in Göttingen, aims to draw attention to the endangered cultural asset by recording the interior of the church using 360 ° panoramas in order to make a virtual one Invite a tour of the monument on the computer and record the frescoes in their current state.

gallery

  • South side of the church

  • Remains of the outer narthex

  • North facade and remains of pilasters

  • Inscription and bust of George above the west door

  • Iconostasis with George and Mary with the playing Christ child

  • View into the southeast corner of the church

  • Frescoes on the north wall

  • Capital in the inner narthex

  • Christ Pantocrator in the main dome

  • George and the dragon

  • North wall: Mocking, way to Golgotha, George destroys the idols, George and the dragon

  • Donor portrait with King Milutin and Saint George

  • Saints on the west wall

  • Dormition of Mary on the west wall above the front door

  • Torture of St. George on one of the pillars

  • Holy Communion in the apse

  • Pillars with saints

  • Beheading and burial of Georg

  • Name inscription of Michael Astrapas

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sašo Korunovski, Elizabeta Dimitrova: Macédoine Byzantine. Histoire de l'art macédonia du IXe au XIVe siècle. Paris 2006, p. 161.
  2. ^ M. Georges Bošković: Deux Églises de Milutin. Staro Nagoričino et Gračanica. In: L'Art Byzantin chez les Slaves. Les Balkans. Paris 1930, p. 195.
  3. ↑ Svetozar Radojcić: The speeches of Johannes Damaskenos and the Koimesis frescoes in the churches of King Milutin. In: Yearbook of Austrian Byzantine Studies , No. 22, 1973, p. 301.
  4. ↑ Elizabeta Dimitrova: The Church of St. George at Staro Nagorichino. In: Seven mediaeval churches in the republic of Macedonia. Skopje 2014, pp. 83-84, 92.
  5. ^ M. Georges Bošković: Deux Églises de Milutin. Staro Nagoričino et Gračanica . In: L'Art Byzantin chez les Slaves. Les Balkans . Paris 1930, p. 203. 206.
  6. ^ M. Georges Bošković: Deux Églises de Milutin. Staro Nagoričino et Gračanica . In: L'Art Byzantin chez les Slaves. Les Balkans . Paris 1930, pp. 195-196. 203.
  7. ↑ Sašo Korunovski, Elizabeta Dimitrova: Macédoine Byzantine. Histoire de l'art macédonia du IXe au XIVe siècle . Paris 2006, p. 111.
  8. ^ M. Georges Bošković: Deux Églises de Milutin. Staro Nagoričino et Gračanica . In: L'Art Byzantin chez les Slaves. Les Balkans . Paris 1930, p. 202.
  9. ^ Vojislav Korać, Marica Šuput: Byzantium. Architecture and ornamentation . Düsseldorf 2000, p. 131
  10. ^ M. Georges Bošković: Deux Églises de Milutin. Staro Nagoričino et Gračanica . In: L'Art Byzantin chez les Slaves. Les Balkans . Paris 1930, pp. 196-198.
  11. ↑ Elizabeta Dimitrova: The Church of St. George at Staro Nagorichino . In: Seven mediaeval churches in the republic of Macedonia . Skopje 2014, p. 84.
  12. ↑ Branislav Todić: Serbian Medieval Painting. The Age of King Milutin . Belgrade 1999, p. 320.
  13. ↑ Elizabeta Dimitrova: The Church of St. George at Staro Nagorichino . In: Seven mediaeval churches in the republic of Macedonia . Skopje 2014, pp. 82. 86-87.
  14. ^ Dušan Tasić: Byzantine Painting in Serbia and Macedonia . Beograd 1967, pp. XXI-XXII.
  15. ^ Pance Velkov: The Concept of Authenticity in Byzantine Churches - The Case of Republic of Macedonia . In: Niš and Byzantium. Eleventh Symposium. No. 11, 2013, pp. 491-492.
  16. ↑ Macedonian Frescos 360 (Masco) website of the Institute for Christian Archeology and Byzantine Art History of the Georg-August University of Göttingen, July 26, 2016, accessed on July 28, 2016.
  17. ^ SC Kutsal - T. Ziegler, "Macedonian Frescos 360". An approach to investigate the connection between image and space and their meaning in churches, AXIOS Student journal for Archeology and History of Art 1, 2016, 209–225.