The Architecture of Dečani and the Role of Archbishop Danilo II. Bratislav Pantelić

Abstract

Reviews 295BRATISLAV PANTELIC, The Architecture of Decani and the Role of Archbishop Danilo II.(Spatantike-Friihes Christentum-Byzanz: Kunst im Ersten Jahrtausend, B/9.) Wiesbaden: Reichert, 2002. Pp. xi, 123 plus 59 black-and-white plates; 1 map. €58.The significance of the fourteenth-century church of the Pantokrator at Decani, in Kosovo, has been emphasized since the 1940s through a number of publications intended to illuminate its well-preserved architecture and furnishings as well as its extensive program of wall paintings and sculpted decoration. These publications include a long array of scholarly articles, a recent survey of the frescoes, the proceedings of a major conference devoted to all aspects of the church's composition and history, and, perhaps most notably, a twovolume monograph still considered the definitive study of its architecture (V. R. Petkovic and D. Boskovic, Decani, 1941). Bratislav Pantelic's latest contribution to the literature of Decani is not an attempt to supersede any of this work, especially not the last, which, according to the author (p. 2), forms the documentary basis for his own analysis. Rather, his book stands out as an amplified essay that is as much about the cultural-political milieu of fourteenth-century Serbia as it is about the monument in question. Indeed, the reader will come away with a rather general impression of the church itself since the author dispenses with detailed descriptions and a complete, or even semicomplete, assemblage of visual evidence for its many components. Discussion and images center instead on the issue of the internal function and spatial organization of the building and the formulation of its plan at the hands of Archbishop Danilo II, who, according to the author, utilized the tools of ecclesiastical architecture and "art" (Pantelic's term) to demonstrate the ideological principles and alliances of the ruling Serbian monarchy. The book, which deviates only slightly from the author's 1994 dissertation, is divided roughly into five sections. The first, which treats the historiography of the monument, plunges us squarely into the long and complex history of Serbian medieval architecture. The place of Decani within various stylistic/typological "schools" is outlined, with emphasis given to its adherence to the so-called Raska Style of thirteenth-century Byzantine monuments in the region. The building, however, has a split personality: in addition to its Byzantine dome and frescoes, elements of the Romanesque have traditionally been discerned in its five-aisled basilican plan as well as the external form and cladding of its superstructure. Indeed, when seen from the outside, the building's luminous cut-stone masonry and corbel-table friezes make it look as Western as any church on the opposite shore of the Adriatic. A major consideration for Pantelic is thus the reconciliation of its dual nature, which, for him, cannot be resolved merely by citing the famous cooperation of an Orthodox supervisor (Danilo II) with an itinerant Franciscan builder ...

Rethinking the Medieval Visual Culture of Eastern Europe: Two Case Studies in Dialogue (Serbia and Wallachia)

“…In these same years, Milutin commissioned Saint Stefan's church in Banjska that clearly reflected Western models. Danilo II was in charge of the construction of this church, and a few decades later oversaw the building of the 14th-century monastery of Dečani that was designed by a Franciscan friar, Fra Vita (Pantelić 2002). In essence, what Saint George and Cozia reveal is that the regions of Serbia and Wallachia were interconnected with each other and with neighboring territories, which informed the appearance and decorative details of these churches and other aspects of visual culture in these realms.…”

The Construction of Value in the Ancient World

“…On the opposite side of the Corinthian Gulf, closer to the Achaian homeland, the Panhellenic sanctuary at Olympia has produced no shortage of bronze tripods (Furtwängler 1890:plate 34; Maass 1978Maass , 1981, and the shrine of Odysseus at Polis Cave on the island of Ithake has yielded numerous tripods (Benton 1934(Benton -1935a(Benton , 1934(Benton -1935bMalkin 1998:94-119;Papadopoulos 2002:33, figure 20). These three sanctuaries-Delphi, Olympia, Ithake-virtually encircle the geographical extent of historic Achaia on the Greek mainland (for tripods in other Greek sanctuaries, see Papalexandrou 2005Papalexandrou , 2008.…”