Monastery of the Holy Archangels

The Archangels Monastery (Serbian Манастир Свети Арханђели / Manastir Sveti Arhanđeli ) is a monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Prizren (Kosovo). The monastery was the grave situation of the Serbian Tsar Stefan Dušan and crucial for the development of Serbian architecture in the second half of the 14th century and first half of the 15th century. The main church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel monastery was consecrated next to the monastery Visoki Dečani the largest house of worship in Serbia in the Middle Ages and one of the largest late medieval church building in the Balkan Peninsula. The monastery was burned down on 17 and 18 March 2004 by radical Albanians of Prizren.

Location

The facility is located in the valley of the river Bistrica Prizrenska east of Prizren in southern Kosovo. To the south of the valley, the heavily wooded Šar Planina massif rises with mountains that are over 2000 m high and so represent a natural border between Kosovo and Macedonia. The valley exit was backed up by the Serbian Tsar Dušan built by the 14th century fortress ( Dusanov degrees), which is located above the Archangel monastery. The first built in the Byzantine period Kalaja Fortress above the town of Prizren was the closure of the Talausganges, under the Ottoman occupation, it served until the end of the 19th century as a garrison and fortifications above the town.

History

The monastery, which were dedicated to the Archangels Michael and Gabriel, was built from 1348 to 1352, the marriage of the Serbian medieval empire under Stefan Uroš IV Dušan.

At the monastery complex included two built in the style of Raška School churches: the Archangel and St. Nicholas Church.

Similar facilities are located in Visoki Dečani and Gracanica. The Archangel Church served as the Serbian Tsar Stefan grave laying Uroš IV Dušan whose grave plate is received within the ruin and for the Serbs has symbolic meaning. The relocation of the remains of the Tsar to Belgrade took place in 1965. Archangel The Church had one of the most beautiful mosaics of all the monastic churches of South East Europe, which the Kosmatenstil came very close stylistically. A Western influence was also evident at the Tomb Dusan that a grave figure Dusan had and was unique for the former Serbian and Orthodox Christian art. The main entrance was located in the western part of the monastery complex. The corresponding bridge was restored in our day. Furthermore, there was the refectory and a residential building, which housed the most glamorous times of the monastery up to 250 monks. Belonged to the monastery as a library, an infirmary and the accommodation areas for the monks. In the past in the southwestern part of the dining room, there was the so-called imperial court. This place was only the Serbian Tsar reserved, because the monasteries served as palaces and were essential for effective governance of the Serb empire.

1455 the plant was destroyed during the Ottoman expansion in Europe under the reign of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih by the Ottomans. The remaining stones were used in 1615 for the construction of the Sinan Pasha Mosque in Prizren, five kilometers away.

Serbian archaeologists discovered until 1927 the muddy remains of the monastery again, even if the memory of the monastery in the valley population was still alive.

In the 1960s, the Yugoslav Army built from the eastern part and used the destroyed during the March riots in 2004 block as a training center for senior officers.

Presence

From 1998 to March 17, 2004 there were seven Serbian Orthodox monks and novices who were sent there by the Patriarch of Belgrade. In the eastern part of the plant were new residential and commercial buildings, built a workshop for woodwork in the western part. The monks living there made ​​their living from the income they generated with their woodwork and from donations. In the wake of the Kosovo Albanian riots on 17 and 18 March 2004, the guarded by UNMIK monastery was burned down by radical Albanians from Prizren; the monks were expelled. Some weeks later, the monks returned and were again since then under the reinforced protection of NATO's KFOR troops. Completely new accommodation for the monks were built by the international community.

On 10 May 2011 the responsibility of securing the Archangel Monastery of KFOR to the Kosovo Police was passed.

Architecture

At the Archangel Michael Church emerged at a Serbian church for the first time a rosette as a facade element. The rig also here for the first time used by previous stages bands as rhythmic accentuation of the façade and the rich architectural sculpture of these characteristic elements formed in the later Morava school a new style. As a late flowering of Byzantine architecture of these came from the architectural innovations in Archangel monastery and was also continued in the binding of Prince Lazar of St. Michael's Church grave situation Ravanica and the design scheme of the church of St. Nicholas in the Archangel Monastery Hofkirche simulated Lazar, Lazarica.

Swell

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