Petrova crkva
The Petrova crkva (St. Peter's Church; Serbian - Cyrillic Петрова црква ) is located in southwestern Serbia, two kilometers north of Novi Pazar near Ras (today Raška). It is the oldest church in Serbia and the only completely preserved monument from the time before the Nemanjids . The church stands on a hill that was built in the 5th and 6th centuries. Century BC was settled. Because during conservation work in 1958, an Illyrian princely grave with rich grave goods was found under the foundations. The jewelry made of gold, silver and amber, which is influenced by Greek Archaic art, is now in the Serbian National Museum in Belgrade. A Roman rotunda stood above these finds, which was used as an early Christian church and whose foundations have been preserved. The Byzantine rotunda built on it in the 9th century , which according to legend was founded by the apostle Paul student Titus , was for a long time the most important place of worship in Serbia and later the seat of the bishop, then the archbishop of Raszien . Stefan Nemanja , the founder of this dynasty who converted to the Orthodox Church, declared the Bogumils to be heretics at a council and decided to persecute them. Here he resigned in favor of his son Stefan Nemanjić .
The ground plan of St. Peter's Church is a rotunda divided into four apses. The eastern apse is greatly expanded. The high dome rises above the tambour (architecture) on trumpets above the square central space . There are three layers of painting in the church, of which the oldest remains of frescoes are in the drum. In the chancel there are frescoes from the 12th century, some of the best preserved from the 13th century on pillars in the central area.
In 1979 the church was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the Stari Ras and Sopoćani site.
literature
- Frank Rother: Yugoslavia. Art, history and landscape between the Adriatic and the Danube. DuMont Buchverlag Cologne 1988, ISBN 3-7701-0787-0 , p. 242.
- Franz N. Mehling: Yugoslavia. (Knaur's cultural guide). Droemer Knaur , Munich 1984, ISBN 3-426-26135-9 , pp. 226-228.
Web links
Coordinates: 43 ° 9 '40.65 " N , 20 ° 31' 39.39" O