The enormous art treasure of Chilandar is accommodat­ed in the building on the east side, erected in 1970. The first storey houses icons, manuscripts, charters and other monastery valuables, while the most significant items from the treasury and library are on display on the second floor.

The central place in the first room on the second storey belongs to the mosaic icon of the Virgin Hodege-tria dating from the end of the 12th century (38 x 57 cm). The only surviving Chilandar icon executed in this tech­nique was obtained from Constantinople, or, perhaps, Thessaloniki, in the period when St Sava of Serbia and Simeon Nemanja founded the monastery. The dignified image of the Virgin with large eyes, and the effigy of the infant Christ, minutely executed against the background of gold mosaic cubes, echo the features of monumental wall-paintings.

Two icons of Christ and the Virgin, dating from the third quarter of the 13th century, which probably stood on the old iconostasis in the main church, are amongst the oldest examples of icon painting in Chilandar. The grave image of Christ and the refined, gentle expression of the Virgin bear close resemblance to Sopocani frescoes, so that they are dated on the basis of them. The exception­ally noble and sophisticated representation of the Virgin with the infant Christ undoubtedly ranks among the most beautiful examples of icon-painting in Byzantium and thirteenth-century painting in Europe. Roughly in the same period, in the second half of the 13th century, a painted staurotheke came into existence, formerly treasur­ing a fragment of the holy cross. The busts of two angels and the almost destroyed representations of the Emperor Constantine and the Empress Helen with their complex­ions painted in an exaggerated green hue, do not equal the icons of Christ and the Virgin in beauty. The icon of St Panteleimon from the beginning of the 14th century is typical of the epoch in which one conception is being replaced by another. The work of an experienced artist, the icon is almost a paragon of stylistic strictness and deliberate simplification of forms.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the icon of the Presentation of the Virgin into the Temple, to whose feast the church is dedicated, was produced for the iconostasis of Milutin’s church. The old theme was icono-graphically refreshed through the introduction of new details in the description of the setting, and seven maid­ens from the Virgin’s entourage vividly recall their classical paragons.

A considerable number of icons from the second half of the 14th century have survived in Chilandar. Ten icons from around 1360 formerly adorning the iconostasis of the main church are especially valuable. They made up a somewhat abridged Deesis (62 to 74 cm in width, 98 cm in height), from which the icon of Christ is missing today. Of monumental dimensions and character, of subtle colour­ing, aiming to produce clearly delineated characters of individual figures, these icons rank among significant accomplishments of that epoch. The icon of the Presenta­tion of the Virgin from the main church, on the reverse

face of the Virgin of the Priest, is attributed to one of the two masters whose names remained unknown.

Almost at the same time, in the third quarter of the 14th century, the icon of John the Forerunner (71 x 103 cm) was created, typified by a greatly simplified painting technique. Depicting the image of the famous hermit on a gold background, the anonymous painter abandoned vividness of colours in order to accentuate rich inner life.

In all probability, all the aforementioned icons are the works of Greek masters, coming chiefly from Thessaloni-ki or the broader hinterland of Mount Athos. In this peri­od, Serbian artists seem to have rarely come to Chilandar to paint. Only one procession icon from the third quarter of the 14th century appears to be the creation of a Ser­bian icon-painter. Its face depicts the image of the Virgin of the special iconographic type of the Impregnable Rock, and its reverse side displays a bust of a bishop, per­haps of St Sava of Serbia, almost completely destroyed. Its Serbian origin is indicated by Serbian inscriptions, by a cruder painting technique and less refined colouring, as well as by the strength of expression.

The small icon of the Five Martyrs (Eustratios, Aux-entios, Eugenios, Mardarios and Orestes) was painted at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. The meticulous treatment of complexions, hands, the harmony of compo­sition, warm colours and the manner of lighting, point to the epoch on the eve of the fall of Greek and Serbian lands under Turkish rule.

Two small icons are displayed in a glass showcase in the first, larger, chamber on the second storey. The first (25 x 29 cm) conveys to us the life of Mary the Egyptian. The entire turbulent life of the sinner, and subsequently saint, is narrated in fourteen continuos, undivided pic­tures arranged in four rows. Painted like a miniature with emphasized narrative quality, the small icon most proba­bly dates from the mid-14th century. The icon of even smaller dimensions (19 x 27 cm), depicting, as it seems, St loannicios the Great, is half a century younger. The figure of the renowned hermit against a gold background, and his face in particular, are meticulously painted, colours are muted but skillfully harmonized.

The second, smaller, chamber on the second floor chiefly displays icons produced in the period from the 16th to 18th centuries. Just as there are no surviving six­teenth-century frescoes in Chilandar, icons from that epoch are likewise rare. The large icon from 1575 featur­ing the Presentation of the Virgin into the Temple, the feast day celebrated by the church, was a gift of the Patri­arch of Pec Antonije (92 x 118 cm). However, this rather decorative icon, of average artistic value for its epoch, is not the creation of a Serbian artist, but of a Greek from the hinterland of Mount Athos, who modelled his work on Cretan icons.

More works of greater artistic value survive from the 17th century. In the second and third decades, the Chi­landar monk Georgije Mitrofanovic, although having spent considerable time in Serbian lands, produced a number of icons for his monastery. The royal doors from 1615/1616 are his early work displaying traces of matura­tion. However, other Mitrofanovic’s icons in Chilandar — those of St Philip, the Nativity of Christ, Entry into Jerusalem, Synaxis of the Archangels — reveal the hand of an experienced master. A subtle feeling for colouristic values, delicate draftsmanship, skillful composition — all of these attest to the fact that the reputation enjoyed by this Chilandar painter in his native country was not groundless.

Of icons painted by other Serbian painters especially noteworthy is the small icon of St Paraskeve from 1631/1632 (25.5 x 33 cm) painted in an outstandingly refined manner, signed by painter Jovan, to whom the icon of St Demetrios from the main church is attributed with good reason. He was a contemporary of Georgije Mitrofanovic for a while, and learned a great deal from his artistic legacy. However, Jovan’s painting technique is more subtle, and artistic knowledge greater. In contrast to painter Jovan, the other well-known artist from the mid-17th century, Andrija Raicevic, did not visit Chilandar, but his small icon of St Sergios and Bakchos (22.5 x 32.5 cm) reached Mount Athos. Also known as a miniaturist, the modestly talented Raicevic rarely produced works at a high stylistic level. This icon cannot be classified as a masterpiece, for the drawing is oversimplified, and colouring rather crude.

Seventeenth-century Greek painters are well repre­sented in the Chilandar icon collection both as regards their number and artistic merit. The collection accommo­dated in the second, smaller, chamber includes the icon of Prince Lazar and George the New, which, although bear­ing no signature, can be attributed to priest Danilo who painted the church of St Nicholas in 1667. An icon with the effigies of two saints, who suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Turks, closely resembles the representations of Prince Lazar and George the New in the church of St Nicholas in respect of both their iconography and paint­ing technique.

The icon of St Sava of Serbia and Stefan Nemanja from the mid-17th century is the creation of a Greek artist executed at a highly professional level. However, the icon of the Serbian saints is especially interesting, for the remains of an earlier icon seem to be hiding beneath the present-day layer. On the removal of the icon frame, parts of surviving Serbian inscriptions were revealed, rather archaic in paleographic terms.

The icon of four warrior-saints — Demetrios, George, Artemios and Procopios from 1680/1681, gift of the hieromonk Mitrofan (48 x 37.5 cm), attest to the fact that certain Greek icon painters skillfully emulated the old manner of painting at the close of the 17th century. Although the inscriptions are Serbian, the icon is the work of an anonymous Greek artist, who displayed his flair for decoration and a fine sense of colour harmonies.

Of the Chilandar icons, numbering several hundred, which are displayed not only in the treasury but also in the churches and residence buildings, the collection of Russian icons is especially noteworthy. They arrived at Chilandar as gifts presented by Russian sovereigns and benefactors in general, brought by Chilandar monks from this large Orthodox country. The collection includes works from the 16th and the 17th centuries, as well as those from later epochs, up to the present age. Some of them are old (the Holy Mandelion by the painter Ephraim and a part of the Never Sleeping Eye, both from the first half of the 16th century, a triptych with representations of the Virgin and Christ with saints, especially commissioned as a gift for Mount Athos in 1548), but the majority of them date from the second half of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th centuries. Small in size, they chiefly display portraits of Russian saints, i.e. the Metropolitan Alexios, Bishop Leontios of Rostov, and many others. These icons of light colouring, attracting attention by their subtle simplicity and fine harmonies of colours, were supposed to help the spread of the cult of Russian saints out of the borders of the Russian Empire.

More than a thousand manuscripts dating from vari­ous epochs — from the 12th until the end of the 19th cen­turies — are kept in the Chilandar treasury. As regards the number and importance of its manuscripts, this library bears great significance for the study of old Ser­bian literature and culture. The majority of manuscripts are Serbian, but some are Greek, Russian, Bulgarian, etc. Many contain important texts of theological or historical content. Some of the Chilandar manuscripts are notewor­thy for their artistic value, having been embellished by skillful calligraphers and painters with initials, headpieces and figural miniatures.

The Chilandar collection used to include the famous Miroslav’s Gospel, which came into existence at the end of the 12th century. It is treasured in Belgrade now, hav­ing been presented by Chilandar monks to King Aleksandar Obrenovic on the occasion of his visit to the monastery in 1896.

Of Chilandar manuscripts, volumes dating from the 12th and the 13th centuries are meagerly embellished with initials and headpieces. Nevertheless, several of these books written on parchment are very representa­tive (a twelfth-century Greek gospel, a Serbian Gospel Lectionary from the third quarter of the 13th century, on display in the first chamber on the second floor).

The most lavishly illuminated books in the collection date from the 14th century. Apart from other ornaments, the Gospel of the Patriarch Sava from the third quarter of the 14th century contains four portraits of the evangelists painted in richly ornamented square headpieces. The evangelists are pictured at scribes’ stands, with maidens, symbolizing Wisdom, whispering divine words behind their backs. Although miniature in size, human figures are depicted in a refined manner, and the exquisitely rich frame of the headpieces painted around the evangelists adds to the beauty of these miniatures.

The gospel from 1337, known after its scribe as Roman’s gospel, was illustrated approximately a quarter of the century later, by order of the abbot Dorotej. The large miniatures of the evangelists beneath painted arch­es on a gold background were executed with such great care, with the aim of accentuating typical features of indi­vidual characters, that they resemble small icons.

Even when some richly decorated manuscripts do not contain figural miniatures, as is the case, for instance, with the Gospel Lectionary (around 1365), gift of the grand voevoda Nikola Stanjevic, the virtuosity of drawing and the subtlety of colours displayed in the painting of initials, and headpieces in particular, render these manu­scripts exquisitely beautiful.

In the collections, there are few illuminated manu­scripts dating from the 15th century. One of them is the Homilies of John Chrysostom, copied in Smederevo in the mid-15th century, which may have reached Chilandar as a gift from a member of the ruling house of Brankovic. For this book, the painter Teodor produced a portrait of its author John Chrysostom, in which the subtlety of the painting of the Morava Serbia is reflected.

Of the numerous manuscripts copied in the 16th and 17th centuries, very few are richly illuminated. The Apos­tle of the abbot Viktor, embellished in 1660 by an anony­mous Greek miniaturist, includes several representations of apostles in small frames. Focusing greater attention on the portrayed characters, and less on the setting, he dis­tinguished himself as a skillful master capable of selecting excellent paragons.

Several manuscripts from the first half and the middle of the 17th century contain painted miniatures in which images of the evangelists are set in the centre of head­pieces with interlace decoration. Although of modest artistic abilities, the anonymous authors had a fine flair for ornamentation, so that as a whole, this group of man­uscripts leaves a good impression.

The Chilandar treasury also contains very rare copies of printed Cyrillic books dating from the end of the 15th until the end of the 17th centuries. Rare speci­mens include several incunabula — books issued in Cetinje before 1500: three Octoechoi from 1494, as well as three Psalters with supplements from 1495. These books came into existence thanks to the generosity of Djurdje Crnojevic and the skill of the printer, monk Makarije. In addition, Chilandar treasures about thirty different volumes originating from the famous Venetian print-house of Bozidar Vukovic and his son Vicenzo. A special rarity in the Chilandar collection of old printed books is the Four Gospels, issued in 1512 on the order of Jovan Basaraba, work of the Cetinje printer Makarije. Some of these printed books are adorned with graphic prints showing portraits of saints and scenes of particu­lar feasts. As regards objects of applied art, the most numerous are artifacts of embroidery from the 14th and 15th cen­turies (the epitaphios of Jovan, the Metropolitan of Sko­plje, from the mid-14th century, the embroidered curtain for the royal doors of the iconostasis, gift of the nun Jefim-ija from 1399, an embroidery featuring the scene of the Communion of the Apostles around 1400, an aer with rep­resentations of the Annunciation and the Nativity of Christ, also from 1400, an aer with scenes of the Adoration of the Lamb from 15th century, etc.). These embroideries are the work of skillful artisans who by means of delicate needlework managed to represent individual figures and events with remarkable precision. The richness of the uti­lized material also comes to prominence, for in the manu­facture of these embroideries expensive fabrics, gold and silver thread, combined with dyed silk, were used.

The curtain for the iconostasis embroidered by the despina Jelena, who adopted the monastic name of Jefimija, with the effigies of Christ, two Church Fathers and two angels, ranks among the finest examples of embroidery, not only in the Chilandar collection, but in Serbian art in general. Emphasizing the attire of saints by the opulence of the material employed, Jefimija embroi­dered on the curtain the text of a prayer in verse. The embroidery with the scene of the Communion of the Apostles from around 1400 is also of great artistic value. Of rather serene colouring, the representation is one of the finest achievements of that epoch as regards drafts­manship.

The curtain presented to Chilandar by the Russian Tzar Ivan IV the Terrible in 1556, is a valuable specimen of Russian embroidery of a later epoch. Christ, the Vir­gin and John the Forerunner placed in its centre are sur­rounded by medallions featuring representations of ten Russian saints, as well as the founders of Chilandar, St Sava of Serbia and St Simeon of Serbia — Stefan Nemanja.

The many costly works of art treasured in Chilandar also include a number of Byzantine cameos from the llth-14th centuries, of which the cameos with images of St Demetrios, llth century, and a bust of Christ, 13th cen­tury, are especially noteworthy for their beauty.

The woodcut diptych of the small Ugljesa Despotovic in a frame of pearls and semiprecious stones from 1368/1369, is not only a specimen demonstrating the exquisite craftsmanship of the goldsmiths and wood-engravers who produced it, but also a very touching liter­ary work in which the mother, despina Jelena, subse­quently nun Jefimija, expressed her grief for the early death of her only son.

An especially valuable holding of the Chilandar trea­sury is a diptych from around 1300 containing twenty-four painted fields on parchment. They include illustra­tions of events from Christ’s life and passion. Ornament­ed with silver-gilt filigree work, pearls, semiprecious stones and rock crystal, the diptych attests to the high level of craftsmanship of Venetian artisans, from whom King Milutin most probably purchased it at the time of the church construction.

More than fifty copperplates from which prints were restruck in the 18th and 19th century have survived in Chilandar. Copperplate engravings of the monastery’s vistas are especially interesting, of which the one from 1757 produced in Moscow at the expense of the Archi­mandrite of Pec Jelisej Rodionovic stands apart. On the edges, it includes figures of Serbian saints.

Of the woodcuts, especially noteworthy is the Cruci­fixion from the beginning of the 16th century, whose woodcut block has survived. On its reverse side is the carved block of the quadripartite icon with the images of the Virgin, the Archangel Michael, St Nicholas and St Paraskeve. It is probably the work of a Cretan master, who was a gifted draftsman.

A large red-green silk flag from the treasury is known as the Emperor Dusan’s flag, although its age has not been ascertained. But there is no doubt that the so-called “chalice of the Emperor Dusan” made of ivory was pro­duced in Germany as late as the 16th century. Of the works of applied art kept in the treasury, a lavishly embroidered curtain — katapetasma — with a represen­tation of the Tree of Jesse, stands apart. Its centre is taken by the Presentation of the Virgin into the Temple, the feast-day celebrated by the monastery. It was pre­sented to the monastery by “God’s servant” Mihailo in 1780.

Very few works of art dating from the 19th century have survived in Chilandar. A church flag — “horugva” — donated to the monastery by the Bishop of Backa Jovan Jovanovic in 1801 is displayed in the treasury. It features two Chilandar donors — rulers, King Milutin and Prince Lazar, while the reverse side is taken by the Ascension of Christ. This work, executed in the spirit of late Baroque in 1800, was produced by Stefan Gavrilovic, a painter from Sremski Karlovci.

Another famous artist, Uros Knezevic, painted a por­trait of the Archimandrite Onufrije Popovic on the occa­sion of his visit to Belgrade in 1854. Afterwards, the archimandrite of Chilandar brought the painting to the monastery. The painter Milan Milovanovic left a trace of his sojourn in Chilandar in 1907 — a vista of the monastery of St Basil by the sea, clearly displaying his links with impressionism.

Chilandar treasures a number of charters — 367 — dating from the 13th up to the 17th centuries, issued by various rulers — members of the Nemanjic and Lazarevic dynasties, Greek and Russian emperors, Wallachian and Moldavian dukes (Milutin’s charter to Chilandar and Hrusija tower from around 1303, a charter of Prince Lazar to the Chilandar hospital from 1379/1380, a chrysobull of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III issued to Chilandar in 1317, a chrysobull of the Russian Tzar Theodore Ivanovic from 1585, etc.). On some of them gold bullas have survived, bearing miniature repre­sentations of sovereigns or saints. Their priceless content ranks them among primary historical sources, especially for the study of old Serbian history.

The rich archive of Chilandar treasures various histor­ical documents dating from the 15th century to the pre­sent day, pertaining not only to the history of Chilandar but also to Mount Athos, Serbia and other Balkan coun­tries.

• Share
• Tweet
• "&title=""">