This paper discusses the nature and inherent symbolics of the material of choice of which the body of the church of the Virgin Euergetis at Studenica was fashioned. In view of Byzantine theological concepts deeply ingrained in this material, concepts which were present and well understood also among the learned theologians of medieval Serbia, this paper presents the implied messages behind such a choice of material as well as the possible theological, ideological and political interpretations and applications of this medium at the time of Nemanja’s founding of Studenica and raising of the church of the Virgin therein. It thus questions the theory of its marble facades as simply a case of a Byzantine structure clad in Romanesque garb
This paper discusses sensory experience in the practice of devotion of two
highly venerated icons in medieval and Early Modern Balkans: the mosaic icon
of the Virgin Hodegetria from the monastery of Chilandar and the icon of
Gospa of Skrpjela (Our Lady of the Reef) from the Bay of Kotor. Although part
of two different, albeit historically intertwined and perpetually connected
cultural and liturgical spheres, icon veneration in both the Orthodox and the
Catholic community of the broader Mediterranean world and the Balkans in
medieval and Early Modern times shares the same source. It relies on the
traditional Byzantine manner of icon veneration. This is particularly true of
highly venerated and often miracle working images of the Mother of God,
identity markers of political, social and religious entities, objects of
private devotion as well as performative objects around which are centered
public rituals of liturgical processions and ephemeral spectacles.
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