Morava school
The Morava school was the late Byzantine style in medieval Serbia from 1370, which continued the buildings in the Serbian-Byzantine style under the Nemanjids and their successors. The decidedly experimental style is considered to be the most original and independent direction of medieval art in Serbia.
The Morava School set the style in northern Serbia from 1370 to 1459, and achieved a pronounced court art under Lazar Hrebeljanović (1370–1389), Stefan Lazarević (1402–1427) and Đurađ Branković (1427–1456) in architecture, painting and literature Blossom. It is often assigned to the so-called Eastern European analogic renaissance , although this term is not clearly defined in terms of art history and is sometimes rejected by art historians.
The merging of different cultural influences in the decorative decoration of the buildings can be seen in the development of the Morava School. Suggestions for this came from both the West ( relief ) and the Orient ( ornamentation ). Byzantine art, however, remained a substantial basis for the formation of styles.
The numerous Morava-style churches were built in Fruška Gora in Syrmia until the 17th century . It was not until the Great Turkish War that the Baroque style introduced by the Austrian Empire replaced this style in Serbian sacred architecture.
Origins
The Morava School has its origins in the Nemanjid building traditions of the early Serbian Empire. The Serbian-Byzantine style, which found its artistic highest development in the Morava school, was followed by the Raška school , which was part of the Romanesque style of Western Europe (e.g. the monasteries Studenica , Žiča , Sopoćani and Visoki Dečani ) and the Byzantine tradition that was dominant at the time of King Milutin the Macedonian School with the mediation of the Palaiological Renaissance (e.g. Bogorodica Ljeviška , Gračanica ). The artists of the Morava school developed their individual style from this rich structural substrate.
The plan was adopted from the Athos monasteries, especially Hilandar . The direct predecessor of the first church of the Ravanica Monastery , built in Morava style in 1370, was the Archangel Monastery near Prizren in Kosovo , built as a mausoleum by Emperor Stefan Dušan in 1345 and now destroyed . The fact that the Dušans Foundation in particular had a role model function for the development of the Morava School has, in addition to the new architectural ideas appearing there for the first time (use of building plastic, tiering of the building with ribbons, construction as a five-domed church), also with the legitimacy of the new ruling dynasty Lazar Hrebeljanović to do.
Dušan's mausoleum was of twofold importance as a model. The large church in the Archangel monastery was the model for the stately mausoleums of Lazar and his son Stefan Lazarević, while the smaller, chapel-sized St. Nicholas Church in the Archangel monastery was the model for the Lazarica court chapel built in Kruševac in 1377 . This little guy in particular developed quickly and artistically culminated in the monastery church of Kalenić .
architecture
The architecture of the Morava School is characterized by the three-icon layout . This was taken over by the monasteries of Athos, here in particular the Serbian monastery Hilandar. The tendency towards height is achieved by stepped blind arches and high tambours as well as elongated domes. A colored, very nuanced facade decoration, attached in harmony to the structure, through alternating rows of bricks and the sculptural elements executed in the bas-relief technique, complete this original architecture. Mythological scenes from the bas-reliefs are particularly high-quality on the windows of the Kalenić Monastery. The only religious representation, the representation of Mary on the narthex window, is the main work of Serbian sculpture and has direct Gothic models .
Floor plan types
Within the basic form of the churches of the Morava school, as in other Byzantine architecture, two basic types can be distinguished. The Einkuppeltrikonchonos as in Lazarica, Kalenić, Ljubostinja , Novo Hopovo , Naupara , Vraćevšnica and Krušedol is used for mostly smaller town churches and monasteries that were founded by nobles. The larger five-domed churches of the Morava school, Ravanica and Manasija, on the other hand, are reserved exclusively for the rulers' mausoleums .
Another type difference is the use of external architectural decoration, which is not found in churches with exclusive marble cladding such as in Manasija and Vracevšnica.
Building plastic and building decor
The most striking common feature of almost all the churches of the Morava School is the abundant building sculpture. Alternating rows of red bricks and tapes of mortar give the buildings a colorful look. The building sculpture is distinguished by rosettes and window sculptures . The most important of these are the sculptures in Kalenić. In addition to the representation of Mary, mythological scenes and animal representations, including griffins, lions and bears, are represented, which only found their way into later buildings and probably have their models in miniatures from manuscripts such as the Serbian Psalter . The entrance portals between the narthex and Naos and the rosettes (Ljubostinja, Kalenić and Naupara) are also elaborately designed. The monumental Naos portal in Kalenić and the rosettes on the west side of Naupara are the main works of Serbian sculpture.
The decorative stone sculpture of the Morava School is considered to be the most original artistic achievement in Serbian art. The decorative elements are characterized by geometric arabesques and stylized floral ornaments, rarely with figurative representations. Fragments of the plastic decoration of the almost completely destroyed St. Stephen's Church in the village of Milentija , which are now exhibited in the Serbian National Museum in Belgrade , show that the decorative elements and figures were painted and made a very lively impression.
Wall painting
The frescoes from the Morava School are among the best in Serbian art. They are approaching the international style of Gothic . The best-known representations are the wedding at Kanaa in Kalenić and the portrait of the founder by Stefan Lazarević and the holy warriors in Manasija . The courtly style of the frescoes often has models in contemporary miniature painting and forms the conclusion of the painting of the Palaiological Renaissance. The frescoes of Manasija are recognizable by the external display of magnificence, solemnity and the depicted wealth of the people as the foundation of the ruling despot , the frescoes in Kalenić are characterized by the intimacy and the subtle psychological representation of the figures.
Book illumination
Significant evidence of the Serbian illumination of the Morava school are the Tetra Gospel of Radoslav Gospel from 1429 with miniatures of the four evangelists and the Serbian Psalter from the end of the 14th century, which was probably created for Stefan Lazarević. The Serbian Psalter is one of the most valuable late Byzantine manuscripts due to the 148 often full-page miniatures. A number of illustrations are known only from this Psalter. For many of the miniatures, models of monastic wall painting are attested and the similarity of the miniatures in the Radoslav Gospel and frescoes in Kalenić and Manasija is evident.
Literary school
In addition to the hagiography by Konstantin Kostenezki (a student of the Tarnow School and co-founder of the Resava literary school) about Stefan Lazarević and the Novo Brdo Miners' Code (1412), three works have been preserved that were written by Stefan Lazarević. These are
- The mourning for his father Lazar (1389)
- The inscription on the marble stele of Kosovo (1404)
- A poem on love (1409), a poetic declaration to his brother Vuk
The nun Jefimija , the widow of the despot Jovan Uglješa , also wrote a laudation to Prince Lazar ( praise of Prince Lazar ), who during the Battle of Ankara (1402), Lazar's son, Stefan Lazarević, who was vassal of the Sultan Bajezid I. had to go into the field against the Mongolian general and barge Timur Leng (Tamerlan) , who was supposed to protect in battle. The poem is designed as gold embroidery for the face cloth for Lazar's corpse . It is the first extant lyric poem in Serbian literature.
distribution
The Morava school originated in Šumadija in central Serbia around the Morava river , hence the name Morava school. The monasteries Manasija and Ravanica are built as grave sites with fortifications and as complexes with five domes. The churches of Lazarica and Kalenić represent the other type with a dome and a blind dome over the narthex. Another important foundation is the Ljubostinja Monastery of Princess Milica Hrebeljanović . From Moravaserbia, the style spread north of the Danube and Sava. In the Fruška Gora in Syrmia are u. a. the monasteries Novo Hopovo , Krušedol and Mala Remeta can be assigned to the buildings of the Morava school.
The Morava School experienced a second boom in Wallachia . The Cozia Monastery and the Cathedral in Curtea de Argeș are the most important. Many churches in Bucharest also show the importance of the Morava school for the art of Wallachia.
The Serbian ground plan with the three conches was also used in the monasteries of the Vltava, such as in Putna .
literature
- Slobodan Curcic: Some Uses (and Reuses) of Griffins in Late Byzantine Art . In: Byzantine East, Latin West: Art-Historical Studies in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann, edited by Christopher Moss and Katherine Kiefer, pp. 597-604. Princeton, 1995.
- Slobodan Curcic: Religious Settings of the Late Byzantine Sphere . In: Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557), edited by Helen Evans (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004).
- Vojislav J. Djuric 1967. Slikar Radoslav i freske Kalenica / Le peintre Radoslav et les fresques de Kalenic. Zograf 2, pp. 21-29.
- Vojislav J. Duric: La peinture murale de Resava: Ses origines et sa place dans la peinture byzantine . In: Moravska skola i njeno doba: Nauchmi skup u Resavi 1968 / L'École de la Morava et son temps: Symposium de Résava 1968, edited by Vojislav J. Duric, pp. 277-91. Belgrade, 1972.
- Helen C. Evans, ed., Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557), exh. cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. 658 pp., 721 color ills., 146 b / w.
- Nadežda Katanić: Decorative camea plastika Moravske škole . Prosveta, Republički zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture, Beograd, 1988. ISBN 86-07-00205-8 .
- Tania Velmans : Infiltrations occidentales dans la peinture murale byzantine au XIVe et au début du XVe siècle . In: Moravska skola i njeno doba: Nauchmi skup u Resavi 1968 / L'École de la Morava et son temps: Symposium de Résava 1968, edited by Vojislav J. Duric, pp. 37-48. Belgrade, 1972.
- Svetlana V. Mal'tseva: Historiography of the Morava Architecture: Controversial Points of the Study . In: Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. Vol. 8. Edited by SV Mal'tseva, E. Iu. Staniukovich-Denisova, AV Zakharova. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg Univ. Press, 2018, pp. 742-756. ISSN 2312-2129