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Monastery Mileseva
The monastery of Mileseva was founded by Vladislav,
King of Serbia, son of Stefan the First-Crowned and
grandson of Stefan Nemanja, founder of the Serbian
medieval dynasty. Ancient Serbian biographers recorded
that the erection of Mileseva started immediately after
Vladislav's accession to the trone in 1234. However, some
specific details of the church frescoes lead to the
conclusion that Mileseva might have
been constructed some ten years earlier, at the time
when Vladislav was a royal prince ruling over the
Black Mount (Crna Stena) area in which the monastery
was located.
After having spent ten years on the trone, Vladislav was to pass the
scepter over
to his younger brother Uros in 1243. Residing thereafter in
the coastal region of Zeta, he died in the eighties of the 13th century
and was buried in his royal foundation - Monastery of
Mileseva.
As the earlier royal foundations, monasteries, the
church of Mileseva was built in the style of Raska
(Rascia). This style was characterized by the Romanesque
type of building, common in the Serbian Adriatic Coast, land
of that epoch, and which, in its basic disposition, was
adapted to the needs of the Orthodox worship. The church is
one nef building with two lower chantries, a wide central
apsid and two small apsids. It had originally one dome and
later on, probably in the 19th century, it got one more over the
exonarthex. This narthex was built by King Vladislav around
1235. in order to bury his uncle, Archbishop Sava,
who at that time had died in Bulgaria on his way back from
the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Because of the tomb of St.
Sava, Mileseva acquired enormous prestige in the eyes of
the Serbian nation, becoming a center of pilgrimage, while
under the Turkish rule it was a source of hope and courage
for the enslaved people. In order to suppress the spiritual
ascendancy of St. Sava the Turks took away his relics from
the Monastery of Mileseva and burnt it at the stake on Vracar in
Belgrade.
It was in Mileseva in 1377 that Stefan Tvrtko was
crowned King Bosnia and Serbia, since Monastery Mileseva
was within the territory of his state. In the year of
1446 Stefan Vukcic Kosaca, ruler of Zahomlje, added to
his titles that of "Herzeg (Duke) of St. Sava", and hence,
his dominion, which extended even to the Monastery of
Mileseva, got the name "Herzegovina". Therefore, in the
Serbian epic poetry the Monastery of Mileseva used to be
mentioned as "Mileseva of Herzegovina".
In the 16th century, one of the Serbian printing-shops
operated in Mileseva.
Towards the end of the 17th century, during national
uprisings against the Turks and the later migrations to the
northern Serbian lands, Mileseva was burnt by the Turks few times.
For that reason and because of later
tribulations, the monks had often to leave it. The well-known
Russian writer of travels Hilferding found Mileseva in
ruins in 1857. The Monastery church, as well as the
refectory, was rebuilt in 1863 by efforts of citizens of
Prijepolje. This action saved the church and the frescoes
from the further decaying.
Nowadays Mileseva is mainly known for its frescoes.
These frescoes are reckoned by many experts among the most
beautiful achievements not only of the Serbian, but even of
the European painting in the Middle Ages.
The greatest artistic value is ascribed to those
frescoes of Mileseva, which are the portraits of the first
kings of the Nemanjic dynasty. Among them one can find the
portrait of Stefan Nemanja (canonized as St. Symeon), then
the portraits of St. Sava, King Stefan the First Crowned,
King Radoslav and King Vladislav. The portrait of St. Sava
has an extraordinary significance for the Serbian people,
since it was painted during his lifetime.
In our days the renown of Mileseva has been mostly
spread out by the figure of the Angel on Christ's tomb, a
suggestive figure, which by the skillfulness of drawing,
harmony of colors and spirituality of expression emanates
with nearly a transcendent beauty. In addition to this, the
other frescoes of Mileseva - compositions or individual
figures - make an entity - a remarkable gallery of
pictures. One might easily say that together with the
frescoes of the monastery of Sopocani these frescoes of
Mileseva represent the greatest treasury of the old Serbian
painting.
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