The Hilandar Monastery is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece and the only Serbian monastery there. It was founded in 1198 by Stefan Nemanja and his son Saint Sava. St. Symeon was the former Grand Prince of Serbia (1166–1196) who upon relinquishing his throne took monastic vows and became an ordinary monk. He joined his son Saint Sava who was already in Mount Athos and who later became the first Archbishop of Serbia. Upon its foundation, the monastery became a focal point of the Serbian religious and cultural life, as well as assumed the role of "the first Serbian university". It is ranked fourth in the Athonite hierarchy of 20 sovereign monasteries. The Mother of God through her Icon of the Three Hands (Trojeručica) is considered the monastery's abbess.
The Studenica Monastery, pronounced[mânastiːrstudɛ̌nit͡sa]) is a 12th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery situated 39 kilometres (24 mi) southwest of Kraljevo and 40.9 kilometres (25.4 mi) east of Ivanjica, in central Serbia. It is one of the largest and richest Serb Orthodox monasteries.
Serbian art refers to the visual arts of the Serbs and their nation-state Serbia. The medieval heritage includes Byzantine art, preserved in architecture, frescos and icons of the many Serbian Orthodox monasteries. In the Early modern period, Serbian visual arts began to be influenced by Western art, culminating in the Habsburg monarchy in the late 18th century. The beginning of modern Serbian art is placed in the 19th century. Many Serbian monuments and works of art have been lost forever due to various wars and peacetime marginalizations.
The Bachkovo Monastery of the Dormition of the Theotokos, archaically the Petritsoni Monastery or Monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa is a major Eastern Orthodox monastery in Southern Bulgaria. It is located on the right bank of the Chepelare River, 189 km from Sofia and 10 km south of Asenovgrad, and is directly subordinate to the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The monastery is known and appreciated for the unique combination of Byzantine, Georgian and Bulgarian culture, united by the common faith.
The Žiča Monastery is an early 13th-century Serbian Orthodox monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia. The monastery, together with the Church of the Holy Dormition, was built by the first King of Serbia, Stefan the First-Crowned and the first Head of the Serbian Church, Saint Sava.
The Sacred Patriarchal and Stauropegic Monastery Esphigmenou is an Eastern Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Ascension of Christ in the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece. It is built next to the sea at the northern part of the Athonite peninsula. Located near the Hilandar monastery, it is the northernmost of all Athonite monasteries. The current monastery dates back to the 10th century, while tradition holds that the site had been used as a monastery since as early as the 5th century. Esphigmenou ranks eighteenth in the hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries and since the early 1970s has been embroiled in legal and ecclesiastical disputes. It is considered amongst the most conservative of the monastic houses on Mount Athos.
The Patriarchate of Peć Monastery or the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć, is a medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery located near the city of Peja, Kosovo. Built in the 13th century, it became the residence of Serbian Archbishops. It was expanded during the 14th century, and in 1346, when the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć was created, the Monastery became the seat of Serbian Patriarchs. The monastery complex consists of several churches, and during medieval and early modern times it was also used as mausoleum of Serbian archbishops and patriarchs. Since 2006, it is part of the "Medieval Monuments in Kosovo", a combined World Heritage Site along with three other monuments of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The Saint George the Zograf Monastery or Zograf Monastery is one of the twenty Eastern Orthodox monasteries in Mount Athos in Greece. It was founded in the late 9th or early 10th century by three Bulgarians from Ohrid and is regarded as the historical Bulgarian monastery on Mount Athos, and is traditionally inhabited by Bulgarian Orthodox monks.
Dimitrije "Mita" Avramović was a Serbian writer, iconographer, caricaturist and painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era and best known for his iconostasis and frescos. Avramović also translated from German into Serbian Johann Joachim Winckelmann's Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums and other writings. He is considered the father of modern comic strips in Serbia. His caricatures were used to fight against the authoritarian rule of the masses in both the Austrian Empire and the Ottoman Empire at the time.
Stavronikita Monastery is an Eastern Orthodox monastery at the monastic state of Mount Athos in Greece, dedicated to Saint Nicholas. It is built on top of a rock near the sea near the middle of the eastern shore of the Athonite Peninsula, located between the monasteries of Iviron and Pantokratoros. The site where the monastery is built was first used by Athonite monks as early as the 10th century. Stavronikita was the last to be officially consecrated as an Athonite monastery in 1536 and ranks fifteenth in the hierarchy of the Athonite monasteries. It currently has 30 to 40 monks.
Saint Sava, known as the Enlightener, was a Serbian prince and Orthodox monk, the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church, the founder of Serbian law, and a diplomat. Sava, born as Rastko Nemanjić, was the youngest son of Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, and ruled the appanage of Zachlumia briefly in 1190–92. He then left for Mount Athos, where he became a monk with the name Sava (Sabbas). At Athos he established the monastery of Hilandar, which became one of the most important cultural and religious centres of the Serbian people. In 1219 the Patriarchate exiled in Nicea recognized him as the first Serbian Archbishop, and in the same year he authored the oldest known constitution of Serbia, the Zakonopravilo nomocanon, thus securing full religious and political independence. Sava is regarded as the founder of Serbian medieval literature.
Pajsije of Janjevo was the Archbishop of Peć and Serbian Patriarch from 1614 to 1647, seated at the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć. He was also a writer, poet, composer, educator, and diplomat.
Jefrem, also known as Elder Jefrem and Jefrem of Serbia, was the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church twice, in 1375–1379 and 1389–1392, and also a renowned poet.
Zograf Longin is considered the most significant Serbian icon painter of the 16th century. He was also a translator and writer. He was first a layman and later a monk in the monasteries of Peć and Sopoćani. His workplace was the monastery Visoki Dečani where he worked from 1566 to 1598. His icons and frescoes in the monasteries of Peć, Visoki Dečani, Piva Monastery, Velika Hoča, Lovnica, and the village churches Crkolez and Sveti Nikola at Bijelo Polje are preserved.
Zograf Radul was a Serbian archpriest, writer, painter, and woodcarver. Such a combination for that period was not uncommon. According to art historians, Radul was influenced by Kyr Kozma. He was a contemporary of Kyr Kozma and Avesalom Vujičić, another Serbian icon painter who lived and worked at the same period. His student was Dimitrije Daskal.
Kyr Kozma was one of the most renowned Serbian painters who lived and worked in the sixteenth and early seventeenth century along with the likes of Zograf Longin, Zograf Radul, Avesalom Vujičić, and Georgije Mitrofanović.
Painter Dimitrije Daskal was the founder and head of the Dimitrijević-Rafailović family of painters whose ten members, from the end of the seventeenth to the second half of the nineteenth century, worked icons and murals on the southern coast of Montenegro and southern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Spiridon, Serbian Patriarch, also known as Spiridon I, was the archbishop of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć and the Serbian patriarch from 1380 to 1389.
Sinaites in Serbia are a special group of clergy, whose name is associated, directly or indirectly, with Mount Sinai, where Moses met God, which established the ties of the Orthodox East with the Serbian lands from the time of Saint Sava, if not before. Traveling to the Holy Mountain, Saint Sava built monasteries and donated funds for their maintenance there for these spiritual ties to continue, especially during the reigns of Prince Lazar, Despot Stefan Lazarević and Djuradj Branković. Serbian monks went to Palestine, but a far larger number of Sinaitic monks also came to Serbia via Mount Athos.
Dimitar Krstev Dičov, also known as Dičo Krstev and best known as Dičo Zograf (1819–1872) was a Mijak iconographer, fresco painter and a representative of the Debar Art School in the Balkans in the 19th century. He self-identified as a Bulgarian.
