%0 Journal Article
%T Serbian themes in 14th century frescoes in the church of St. Demetrios in Pe
%A Todi£¿ Branislav
%J Zograf
%D 2004
%I Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade
%R 10.2298/zog0530123t
%X After new research excluded the likelihood of the frescoes in St. Demetrios in Pe  having been painted in the period around 1345/1346, as they are usually dated, one should revert to the view held by the initial research workers, who believed that Archbishop Nikodim (1317-1324) not only built but also had the church decorated. Well-educated after having been a student in Hilandar, and one of the most meritorious Serbian archbishops, Nikodim created a program of frescoes in which one can clearly distinguish these personal traits. Nikodim's experience on Mount Athos, of which we learn from his writings, preserved in the preamble of the two charters granted to the Karyes Cell, is reflected in the Church of St. Demetrios in the arrangement of the scenes of The Birth of the Virgin and The Presentation of the Virgin m the Temple on the opposite walls of the altar (in the churches of Mount Athos, they are painted on the eastern walls of the choir which does not exist in the church in Pe ), and in the painting of the warrior saints and holy monks in the area of the naos beneath the dome, which is also characteristic of the churches on Mount Athos and of those decorated under the influence of this monastery. Nikodim erected the Church of St. Demetrios as his burial place. Therefore, he prepared a tomb for himself in the form of a sarcophagus in the western bay. beside the northern wall, and had it decorated with relief of a highly eschatological nature. During the painting of the church, he surrounded the tomb with presentations of a similar content. On the western wall, one can see The Lamentation (with the distinct figure of St. Nikodemus), the women bearing ointments and spices at the tomb of Christ, and Zechariah the Prophet with a Sickle and the prophecy about Him, written on a scroll. Directly above the tomb, however, there are the images of the donor's patrons and mediators (the warriors, St. Theodore Teron and St. Theodore Stratelates, and the anargyroi, SS Cosmas and Damianos. Fig. 1). while the place of St. Panteleimon ( who was relocated to the area beneath the dome) is occupied by a desert anchorite (Fig. 2) which was in keeping with Nikodim's ideals as a monk. Nikodim's example was followed by his successor, Archbishop Danilo II, in his mausoleum church dedicated to the Mother of God (around 1330): he too placed his tomb next to the northern wall of the western bay, a sarcophagus decorated with motives similar to those of Nikodim, surrounding it with images of the saintly physicians and warrior saints, a d placing the warrior saints and the holy monk
%U http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-1361/2004-2005/0350-13610530123T.pdf