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Despite the development of Byzantine studies in the field of art and architecture in the early twentieth-century Balkans, the complex historical status and ideological relevance of Byzantium remained in both historiography and political culture. This was particularly evident at the International Congresses of Byzantine Studies spectacularly hosted by the Balkan capitals in the interwar period. This article discusses the ideological and political aspects of the second congress held in Belgrade in 1927, expressed in the visual staging of the opening ceremony. The text acknowledges that a dual ideological structure of the cultural and political continuity of Byzantium in medieval Serbia and, on the other hand, of a modern Yugoslav afterlife of the “Serbo-Byzantine” Empire, was a conceptual framework not only of the congress itself and its public presentation, but also of the historical imagination in Serbia at the beginning of the XX century that was heavily relied on the interpretation of medieval art and architecture.

U radu se sagledava razvoj teorijskog i metodološkog sloja u srpskim tekstovima o umetnosti nastalim tokom XIX veka i prepoznaje postepena promena sistema vrednosti, koja je bila preduslov za tumačenje srednjovekovne umetnosti. The paper sheds light on the development of the theoretical and methodological layer in Serbian texts about the art created during the nineteenth century and recognises the gradual change in the system of values, which was the precondition for the interpretation of medieval art.

Freske u priprati crkve Preobraženja manastira Zrza kod Prilepa (1368/1369) imaju nekoliko tema neuobičajenih za taj prostor i veoma retku ikonografiju. Sveti monasi u prizemnom pojasu objašnjavaju se kao tri kategorije monaštva (anahoreti, predstavnici kinovijskog monaštva i monasi koji su postali episkopi i učitelji crkve). Ostale freske - skraćeni ciklus Hristovih stradanja s Nedremanim okom, Sveta Trojica u vidu Gostoljublja Avramovog, s junicom koja tuguje za zaklanim teletom, i Pričešće apostola s Judom na čelu jedne apostolske skupine - nastale su pod uticajem bogosluženja Strasne sedmice. The frescoes in the narthex of the Church of the Transfiguration at the Zrze Monastery near Prilep (1368/1369) depict several unusual themes, as well as a very rare iconography. The holy monks painted in the lower zone of frescoes can be interpreted as the three categories of monasticism: anchorites, representatives of coenobitic monasticism and monks who became the bishops and teachers of the Church. The remaining frescoes - an abbreviated cycle of Christ's Passion with the Anapeson, the Holy Trinity in guise of the Hospitality of Abraham, with a heifer lamenting over a slaughtered calf, and the Communion of Apostles, with Judas heading communion with the wine - were painted under the influence of the liturgy served during Holy Week.

The paper discusses an icon of the enthroned Mother of God with Christ, St. Nicholas, and St. John the Baptist in the National Archaeological Institute with Museum - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NAIM - BAS) in Sofia. The icon was previously dated to the fifteenth-sixteenth or fourteenth century. We propose its attribution to Longin, a renowned Serbian painter from the second half of the sixteenth century. This attribution is explained by the striking similarities of the stylistic characteristics and most iconographic elements of the Sofia icon with those of the painter?s signed works. The icon must have made its way to Sofia from the southern parts of Kosovo and Metohija, where it was probably created.

The study is dedicated to the figures of holy monks in the west bay of the Church of the Virgin in Studenica, painted during the restoration of the original murals in 1568. The paper seeks to establish the identity of some saints who were previously incorrectly identified, as well as the identity of those who were unobserved in previous studies. It also discusses to what extent the choice of holy monks to be depicted was determined by the original iconographic program. The research results confirm the hypothesis that has for long been present in scholarly literature; according to it, during the restoration of frescoes in the Studenica katholikon, the painters largely repeated the original painted program. Nevertheless, judging by the example of the holy monks depicted in west bay, it may be concluded that in some cases they departed from the original iconographic program. In selecting new saints to be depicted they must have relied on the Menologion. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177032: Tradicija, inovacija i identitet u vizantijskom svetu]

The topic of this study are representations of lancet or phlebotome in frescoes and icons of Serbian medieval art. The very presence of this medical instrument in Serbian medieval art indicates its usage in Serbian medical practices of the time. Phlebotomy is one of the oldest forms of therapy, widely spread in medieval times. It is also mentioned in Serbian medical texts, such as Chilandar Medical Codex No. 517 and Hodoch code, i.e. translations from Latin texts originating from Salerno-Montpellier school. Lancet or phlebotome is identified based on archaeological finds from the Roman period, while finds from the Middle Ages and especially from Byzantium have been scarce. Analyses of preserved frescoes and icons has shown that, in comparison to other medical instruments, lancet is indeed predominant in Serbian medieval art, and that it makes for over 80% of all the representations, while other instruments have been depicted to a far lesser degree. Examination of written records and art points to the conclusion that Serbian medieval medicine, both in theory and in practice, belonged entirely to European traditions of the period. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 178018 i br. 175056]

The paper refutes the assumption of Petar Miljkovic-Pepek that the oldest icons in the treasury of Monastery of King Marko were painted between 1395 and 1405, as a gift the Byzantine empress Helena Dragas made to the monastery so as to ensure a yearly memorial service for her tragically killed father Constantine. The part of the inscription on the icon of St Demetrios, on which the assumption was based, has been differently interpreted here: it is not actually related to empress Helena but to the military title of Thessalonian megalomartyr, like the rest of the inscription. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177036: Srpska srednjovekovna umetnost i njen evropski kontekst]

The paper reviews the last will of the Kotor nobleman Nycolaus Marini Glauacti made in 1327 to bequeath to St. George’s church on the small island near Perast a depiction of the Madonna, St. Nicholas and St. John the Baptist. On the one hand, the legacy is analyzed in the context of the compositions involving the three saints in Kotor’s religious medieval art and, on the other, in the context of ad pias causas bequests and the concept of preparing for a good death (ars moriendi). The contents of the testaments of Nycolaus and his brother Johannes Marin Glauacti as of 1336 are contrasted, especially in terms of the number of pro remedio animae items bequeathed and their distribution. A special emphasis is laid on the comparison of the representations between the Franciscan and Benedictine Orders as the recipients of pious bequests. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177003: Medieval heritage of the Balkans: institutions and culture]