Monastic settlement situated 30 km south-west of Kraljevo in Serbia. It was founded c. 1186 by the Grand Župan Stephen Nemanja (reg 1169–96). Within its walls are several conventual buildings and three churches: the main church (katholikon) dedicated to the Mother of God (Bogorodica; completed before 1196), the 13th-century chapel of St Nicholas and the King’s Church (Kraljeva Crkva) dedicated to SS Joachim and Anne and built in 1313–14 by King Stephen Uroš II Milutin (reg 1282–1321).

In 1196 Stephen Nemanja abdicated and became a monk of Chilandar Monastery on Mt Athos. When he died his relics were translated to Studenica’s katholikon, where he was entombed in a marble sarcophagus and venerated as the first Serbian saint.

The main church belongs to the Raška school of architecture with its tall, single nave surmounted by a gabled roof, two side bays for choirs, a tripartite sanctuary terminating in three semicircular apses, and a deep inner narthex; it also has a dome and a drum, both of which are duodecagonal and supported by four arches above the central bay. The exterior is built of polished marble and adorned with Romanesque carvings. Particularly noteworthy are the relief figures of Christ and the Apostles on the jambs of the west portal, the Virgin and Child Enthroned with Archangels Michael and Gabriel (see [not available online]) in the tympanum above the portal, and the plants and mythological creatures (e.g. griffins, dragons and centaurs) that decorate the archivolt surrounding it and the roof corbels. In the tympanum of the apse window a dragon devours a man and a basilisk observes them. The fine carving and the traces of gold and other colours suggest the work of craftsmen from the south Adriatic coast. An exonarthex and side chapels were added in 1235 by Stephen Radoslav (reg 1227–34). An inscription around the dome’s drum indicates that the original frescoes in the nave interior were commissioned in 1208–9 by Stephen Nemanja’s sons. The frescoes have different backgrounds; some scenes, such as the Last Supper and the Virgin Enthroned in the sanctuary and the Annunciation in the nave, are on a gold ground while the others are on a blue ground. Other scenes, including the Life of Christ, Stephen Nemanja Presenting a Model of the Church to the Virgin and the Dormition, were repainted in 1568. The serene quality of the figures is conveyed through the smoothly delineated forms of the bodies, the heavy folds of the drapery and the large, open eyes. The frescoes in the south chapel of the exonarthex are contemporary with its construction and depict themes of local interest, including the Translation of the Body of Stephen Nemanja, and King Radoslav shown as a founder with his wife and ancestors, and various Serbian archbishops.

The more modest chapel of St Nicholas also recalls the Raška architectural school. Its fragmentary fresco decoration, however, is in a more archaic, classicizing ‘Komnenian’ style and was probably executed by a local workshop in the late 13th century. The later King’s Church has a Greek-cross plan with a central dome and a tripartite sanctuary. Its interior frescoes are divided into three levels with, on the lowest level, portraits of Nemanjić and other saints, and King Stephen Uroš II Milutin Offering a Model of the Church, flanked by St Anne, and his wife Queen Simonis. The Life of the Virgin occupies the middle level, with the Twelve Feasts at the top. The parallel depiction of Christ’s earthly ancestors and Milutin’s saintly ancestors may be an attempt to emphasize the King’s position in the hierarchy of princes as the son-in-law of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (reg 1282–1328) and the heir of Nemanjić authority. These frescoes are among the finest examples of the classicizing style in Palaiologan art

Among the other conventual buildings are the late 12th-century refectory and several 14th-century chapels. Fragmentary painted portraits (1208–9) of Nemanja’s sons Vukan and Stephen Nemanjić (reg 1196–1227) have been found at the west gate of the surrounding walls and a Tree of Jesse (13th century) adorns the west tower. The katholikon’s exonarthex is used as the monastery’s treasury and houses the walnut coffin of Stefan Prvovenčani, made in 1608 when the king’s body was planned to be translated to Studenica, a 16th-century evangelistery, a silver casket with bas-reliefs (c. 1628–9) made at Studenica to house a relic of the True Cross, and 17th- and 18th-century books, liturgical vestments and icons.

REFERENCE:

Gordana Babić

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