Our Lady of Ljeviš

* This name is listed on the World Heritage List. ª The region is classified by UNESCO.

Bogorodica Ljeviška (Serbian Богородица Љевишка / Bogorodica Ljeviška ) is the Serbian Orthodox Church of Central Prizren (Kosovo) and the cathedral of the Eparchy Raszien - Prizren.

Founded in the early 13th century by King Stefan Uroš II Milutin, it is the oldest five-domed Church of the Serbian art. During the Ottoman rule it was rededicated as a mosque. The heavily damaged frescoes have been discovered in the 1950s. The quality of the execution by the Greek painter Michael Astrapes and Eustychios and the structural importance of the cathedral, it is thanks to them that it is registered since 2006 as a part of cultural heritage in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. Simultaneously, the Metropolitan Cathedral of Prizren was set because of the legally unclear situation of Kosovo and the difficult security situation on the Red List of World Heritage in Danger.

Albanian extremists damaged the church in 2004 greatly during nationwide riots against the Serbian population and Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo. Some of the frescoes was here destroyed by heat and fire, demolished the entire interior, as well as parts of the structure damaged by fire.

History

The church is built on the foundations of a Byzantine basilica from the 11th century. It is a rare building which - has received a bell tower - unique in Byzantine art.

Frescoes

The damaged by the conversion into a mosque frescoes are among the best works of fresco painting of the 14th century. Parts of the frescoes were during the unrest in March 2004 in an attempt by Kosovo Albanians to light the church, damaged. A 50 -square-foot fresco is shattered by the heat. Even cleaning the blackened by the smoke created frescoes is necessary.

Power of the Apostles

Apostle

Jesus is bathed

Holy Bisilius

Saint Simeon