Much research has been done in the last decades on this topic in the context of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art. This art persistently rejects the Renaissance achievements in geometric perspective, depicting unnaturally elongated figures and ascetic faces that seem to be suspended on the golden background and avoiding any resemblance to a photographic depiction of reality. In this paper E. moutafov tries to draw a general conclusion from the evolution of the religious painting on mount Athos by presenting the most important achievements of the other researchers about illuminated manuscripts, mural paintings and icon production. By analyzing the already published data the author concludes that Athos appear as the most serious “consumer” of Christian art during the late medieval and Ottoman periods. Anyway, he observes that the earliest and the latest periods of the history of art on Athos are the less versed in scholarship at that moment, because of the lack of systematic archeological excavations in order to reconstruct the Athonite life from eighth and ninth centuries, and because of the huge number of religious monuments dating from 11th to the beginning of the 12th c. they are not collected in catalogues and published. Until now as regards to the genre separation of the painting, as best interpreted appear the illustrated manuscripts on Athos, because they are approachable as a number. Recently most of the wall-paintings from the Athonite churches were published, but it is must to examine, systematize and analyze the 19th c. wall-painting tradition. most work has to be done for the icon opulence on Athos and especially for the Post-Byzantine period one and again mostly for the production of icons created a century ago. This paper gives a proof for a lack of a local Athonite tradition in painting of any media and for a lack of a common style there as well. One can say and write a lot about the art on mount Athos, but probably nothing about the Athonite art, because of the absence of real and strong local workshops. In adden-dum to this conclusion the author criticize the overestimated part of mount Athos for the development of the Orthodox art on the Balkans. In detail he discusses the connections between present day Bulgaria and the Athonite monasteries, trying to revise some scholarly looking legends i.e. about icon-painters who studied painting on Athos, etc.
More...Keywords: Sava Nemanjić; Stefan the First-Crowned; Serbia; Nicaea; Epiros; Byzantine succession
The authors analyze Serbia’s position and politics in relation to the Greek states of Epiros and Nicaea which emerged after the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1204. The available sources show that Serbia under Stefan the First-Crowned and his successors wisely used the rivalry between the two Greek states, which both sought to present themselves as the lawful successor of the fallen Empire of the Romans, and thus safeguarded her independence. Acting as an adviser to Stefan the First-Crowned and his successors, his brother Sava played a prominent role in conducting this realistic policy.
More...The wall-paintings in the “St. Dimiter” Church in the village of Patalenitsa, near Pazardžik, not far from the medieval fortress of Batkunion, were revealed in part some 25 years ago. So far they have been dated within the range from the late 11th с. to the very beginning of the 13th с. In the detailed study of Liljana Mavrodinova on the basis of iconographic, stylistic and logical analysis of the painting have been drawn parallels of the first half of the 13th с. in small churches outside the principal artistic centres: the rock chapels in Penteli, Kalivia Kouvara and Merenda in Athics. This makes possible the predating of the monument to the first 3 decades of the 13th с. and linking it to an unofficial, “peripheral” tendency in painting, attested during the years of Latin domination of the region.
More...Keywords: icon; museum collection; Dormition of the Mother of God
The theme of the Dormition is reflected in the five icons from the collection of the National Museum of History of Moldova. Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, falling on August 15, is celebrated for a long time; according to some sources, it was officially established in 582. The canonical composition of the icons of the Theotokos was formed after the restoration of the veneration of icons, when the Church overcome heresy and consolidated the basic theological provisions. Initially the scenes were laconic, with a small number of characters; thereafter these iconographic compositions develop into complex patterns with a variety of characters and attributes. Icons of the Dormition from the museum's collection belong to the 18th early 20th centuries, and most of them represent the traditional iconographic patterns arranged both horizontally and vertically.
More...This article offers textological observations on the Parable of the Unicorn, which is an integral part of the medieval Story of Barlaam and Josaphat. For the purpose, manuscripts that contain the entire work are examined, as well as manuscripts which are part of anthologies of compound content. The aim is to verify the correlation between the complete and the singular traditions of the novel’s dissemination, as well as their relations with the Byzantine text.
More...Keywords: avarız defters; poverty; village; behavior of the peasants in the kaza of Edirne; the 17th – first decades of the 18th century;
The study aims to add touches to the study of one of the problems of the 17th – first decades of the 18th century – the intensified processes of impoverishment among the rural population. The main documents attempting to determine the poverty parameters of villages and their inhabitants in the territory of kaza of Edirne are two avarız defters, compiled in 1676 and 1685/1686, as well as numerous sultan orders, petitions and complaints of the population, kadı huccets, marginal notes in liturgical literature, etc. The study analyzes the main causes and mechanisms of rural impoverishment. The quantitative parameters of poverty among taxpayers at the level of the kaza as a whole and on level of the individual nahiye are reconstructed. The study seeks to answer the following questions:Was there a connection between the religious characteristics of the population and its property status, and between the geographical location of the village in particular and the nahiye as a whole?What was the ratio between poor villages and taxpayers and those who managed to cope with their tax obligations; in other words, between those who produced a scarce agricultural product and those who produced in sufficient quantity or with a surplus?The article examines the behavior of peasants in the context of increasing taxation and increasing poverty.
More...Keywords: reliquary; archery; taxidiote boxes; holy relics; church metalloplastics; church applied arts; goldsmith crafts; decorative applied arts
The object of this article is a special type of reliquary, called “taxidiote boxes” (gr,”taxid” way) having a certain function during the Revival period on the Bulgarian lands. They are related to a spiritual movement of the“monks – taxidiotes” (translation from a Greek means monk on his way)on the Balkans, which is a result of the historical situation during the Ottoman conquests. Although this activity naturally subsides after the Liberation, this movement remains a social, cultural and spiritual “phenomenon” in the history of Bulgaria.
More...Keywords: reliquary; taxidiote boxes; holy relics; church metalloplastics; church applied arts; goldsmith crafts; decorative applied arts
The study presents an unpublished reliquary made especially for the Batkun Monastery (village of Patalenitsa), and currently located in the Plovdiv diocese. According to the external inscription, its construction dates back to 1852 and according to its internal structure is defined as a clear “Taxidiote boxes”. This is a clear proof of its indisputable functionality – raising funds for the restoration and improvement of the Batkun Monastery. Following the historical development of the taxidiotes mission in the Balkans, this Batkun reliquary is part of the overall contribution to the preservation of socio-religious life and the protection of the spiritual culture of the Orthodox Bulgarians during the Ottoman rule.
More...Keywords: European integration; tourism; public administration; state; Western Balkans
The Western Balkans Subregion is made up of countries that are at one of the established stages of the European integration process. For all these countries, tourism, modified according to modern trends, marks a first-class industry and a great chance for prosperity. The institutions of the European Union have conceptualized specific legal legislation in the field, as a separate regulation that is binding on members and countries in the accession stages. Taken as a whole, all the creations of that micro-region, with some controversy, have obvious comparative advantages over other European areas, which the leading state entities must implement in fruitful development projects. Favorable geographic location with transport networks, diverse natural resources, and a healthy environment promote the tourism industry with supporting activities. Numerous cultural and historical values and specific ethnographic contents contribute to the overall ambiance. Affirmative economic parameters motivate foreign investors, where new business initiatives are formulated based on established postulates of international cooperation.
More...Keywords: St. Catherine‘s Monastery in Sinai; Serbian medieval art; icon; triptych; St. Stephen; 14th century
A triptych with Slavic inscriptions from the monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, composed of icons depicting St. Stephen, the Mother of God and St. Nicholas, is published in the paper. Based on the stylistic analysis and consideration of iconographic features, the opinion is expressed that it is a work of Serbian medieval painting. In addition, such an attribution is explained through the light of intensive and continuous contacts between the medieval Serbian lands and the famous monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai. Finally, a possibility is opened for the interpretation of the work in question in connection with certain, very interesting source material about the ktetorial activity of the Serbian rulers in Sinai.
More...Keywords: Serbia; Temple of Saint Sava; Orthodoxy; iconographic representation; icon; visual theology of the nation;
On the map of modern Belgrade, the Temple of Saint Sava is an object with a unique and complex symbolism. Its construction started in the 1930s and is still in progress: so far only the Crypt – the Orthodox church of Saint Prince Lazar – has been completed and richly decorated. This article considers the iconographic representations of Serbian historical figures found there, treating them as an example of the visual theology of the nation – Serbian nation. The aim of the study is to deconstruct self-beliefs about the spiritual condition of the Serbs and the mechanisms of mythologisation of the national past, which determine the perception of the community and its fate. Applying tools taken from semiotics, I analyse and interpret particular categories of iconography, a set of images that creates a socially shared symbolic meaning.
More...Keywords: cultural tourism; archaeological sites; valorization
In Serbia, there are numerous archaeological sites, among which the most important are: Sirmium, Viminacijum, Lepenski Vir, Felix Romuliana, Mediana, Caricingrad and Vinca. On our soil 17 emperors of the Roman Empire were born, which is one fifth of their total number, and the highest number of Roman emperors born outside of Rome. Contemporary building within the archaeological parks, creates places that emphasize the value of history, culture and science and help develop knowledge about them. The following work pays attention on a built of a modern infrastructure of existing archaeological parks of Serbia, an analysis of the aforementioned archaeological parks and their comparison with some archaeological parks developed on European soil.
More...Keywords: Enforcement Act; legal remedies; enforcement proceedings; objection; counter-enforcement;
During the enforcement process, parties, participants and third parties have the right to file legal remedies in order to protect themselves from the illegalities committed during the enforcement. These illegalities refer to both the enforcement document and the activity of the bailiff. Since the privatization of the enforcement system in RNM, public opinion has expressed dissatisfaction and distrust regarding the transfer of powers to private bailiffs, leaving the courts with the power to decide only on legal remedies. The idea of this research is to analyze how the requests of citizens for objection and counter-enforcement submitted to the Basic Courts of the RNM have continued since 2016 when the new Enforcement Act was brought, until 2019. The data have been processed by statistical methods and are compared with the population number for each judicial district and the data of the Bailiffs Chamber of the RNM on the number of cases enforced for each respective year. In this context, the results show a positive relationship between the cases of counter-enforcement and the population at 35.35%, while this correlation seems to be much stronger between the objections and the population at 90.46%. It was found that citizens generally file objections, but with special emphasis was found an increase in the number of objections in the Basic Court Skopje II for 2018, followed by the Basic Court in Kumanovo for 2017. In terms of requests for counter-enforcement in the Basic Court of Prilep for 2017 also sees a high increase or impulse of demand. In the period 2016-2019, the proposals for objection and counter-enforcement result to coincide with any increase or decrease in the percentage of enforcement by bailiffs. These and other results ascertained make this study important for both theory and practice of enforcement, given the great lack of studies in the field of enforcement and especially regarding the legal remedies available to the citizens of RNM.
More...Keywords: Manuscripts; St. John of Rila; The Holy Monastery of Zographou; Services; Lifes and Synaxary notes.
The Holy Monastery of Zographou is a place for spiritual growth, renewal and salvation for the believers throughout all the Middle ages. The veneration of St. John of Rila has been held there together with cult of St. George and the Most-holy Theotokos. The purpose of this text is to trace the veneration of the saint from Rila from 13th to 16th centuries in the manuscripts from Zographou library. The study presents the manuscript sources, which contain Services, Lifes and synaxary notes in honor of the Rila miracle-worker. They are found in the Gospels, Apostles, Euchologia, Menaia and other liturgical books. It is noteworthy that the Service for October 19. and Euthymius‘ Life of the saint have been copied more often in the next two centuries (17th–19th century) – which will be the subject of another study.
More...Keywords: Reka e Epërme; shqiptarët ortodoksë; gjuha shqipe; shënime; autorë të huaj
Shqiptarët ortodoksë të Rekës së Epërme kanë dhënë kontribut të çmuar për historinë dhe kulturën shqiptare. Nga kjo zonë kanë dalë disa emra të njohur, të cilët kanë botuar libra dhe revista në gjuhën shqipe. Për shqiptarët ortodoksë të Rekës së Epërme kanë shkruar shumë autorë shqiptarë dhe të huaj. Ka autorë që nuk e kanë vënë në dyshim se banorët e krishterë të Rekës së Epërme ishin shqiptarë, por ka edhe autorë që për qëllime të ndryshme politike tentojnë t’ua mohojnë përkatësinë shqiptare. Ndaj shqiptarëve ortodoksë të Rekës u ndoq politikë shkombëtarizuese. Ky qëllim, fatkeqësisht, u realizua në shkallë të madhe.
More...Keywords: identity; post-communist city; habitus; Novi Pazar; Serbia;
In line with contemporary urban policy to build a competitive city identity, this article deals with the post-communist identity of Novi Pazar, a medium-sized city in southwestern Serbia. Research attention is centred on building urban identity through the dynamic interaction between actors and socio-spatial structures. Following Bourdieu’s notion of habitus, the concept of a city’s habitus is employed as well as Lefebvre’s concept of the social production of space. Special focus is placed on the challenges that post-communist cities face in re-establishing their identity following the former promotion of the “communist (industrial) city” and its subsequent decline. The analysis is based on a survey of residents of Novi Pazar (n = 299) and interviews with experts employed in local government and other local institutions/organizations (n = 14), as well as content analysis of the city’s official website. Novi Pazar is a city with a potentially strong identity but also with considerable structural constraints that block the local agency needed to activate the city’s identity potential.
More...Keywords: identity; post-communist city; habitus; Novi Pazar; Serbia;
Avtorice se v skladu s sodobno mestno politiko, katere cilj je oblikovati konkurenčno mestno identiteto, v članku ukvarjajo s postsocialistično identiteto Novega Pazarja, srednje velikega mesta na jugozahodu Srbije. Proučujejo oblikovanje mestne identitete na podlagi dinamične interakcije med akterji in družbeno-prostorskimi strukturami, pri čemer uporabljajo pojem mestnega habitusa, ki temelji na Bourdieujevi teoriji o habitusu, in Lefebvrov koncept družbene produkcije prostora. Posebno pozornost namenjajo izzivom, s katerimi se postsocialistična mesta spopadajo pri ponovnem vzpostavljanju svoje identitete po obdobju spodbujanja modela socialističnega (industrijskega) mesta in njegovem poznejšem zatonu. Njihova analiza temelji na anketi med prebivalci Novega Pazarja (n = 299), intervjujih s strokovnjaki, zaposlenimi v mestni upravi ter drugih lokalnih ustanovah in organizacijah (n = 14), in na vsebinski analizi uradnega spletišča mesta. Njihovi izsledki kažejo, da je Novi Pazar mesto z močno identiteto, a tudi precejšnjimi strukturnimi omejitvami, ki onemogočajo lokalno delovanje, na podlagi katerega bi lahko mesto izkoristilo svoj potencial za oblikovanje konkurenčne identitete.
More...