.....STUDENICA MONASTERY

Among all the Serb monasteries, the most respectable place always belonged to Studenica, endowment and mausoleum of Great Zupan Stefan Nemanja (1171-1196), founder of the independent state and progenitor of a powerful dynasty which was to rule Serbia for two whole centuries. Ever since its founding, with a spiritual disposition much influenced by Nemanja's son St. Sava, Studenica was destined to become a model for many later Serb monasteries.

The Church of the Mother of God, built during the last decades of the 12th century, bears characteristics of Byzantine as well as Romanic tradition. The church architecture, with dominant cupola, is treated in the Byzantine manner, while its facades - covered with white marble slabs - present a completely different, Romanic face. Overtopped triangular gables, lesenes, arcature friezes, as well as the richly decorated portals and windows, make this building a unique monument of the Ras school of architecture.

All three Nemanja's sons took part in the creation of frescoes dating back to 1209, which raise Studenica to the level of one of the most important 13th century monuments in the Byzantine world of art. Its wall paintings are the earliest preserved work of the monumental style, which transformed earlier comprehension of art and opened a new chapter in the history of old Serb and Byzantine art. With the appearance of Serb inscriptions and themes, the magnificent beginnings of a school of painting with numerous autochthonous traits, which reached its peak with the frescoes in Sopocani, were conceived in Studenica. The fresco ensemble in the Church of the Mother of God is complemented with wall paintings, dating from 1569, whose artistic qualities are worthy representatives of their own epoch.

A number of customary monastic buildings (dining room, living quarters, chapels, towers), as well as a treasury with only part of the original wealth still preserved, testify to continual life in Studenica throughout the centuries. After Nemanja's demise, patron rights over this monastery were inherited by his sons and their heirs, and the ruler actually became the patron. Nemanja's grandson Radoslav added a spacious exonarthex to the Church of the Mother of God, while at the beginning of the 14th century his great-grandson Milutin erected the so-called King's Church, dedicated to the Virgin's parents Joachim and Anna, in the monastery courtyard. Judging by their stylistic refinement, harmony of color and brilliant artistic treatment, the well-preserved frescoes in Milutin's endowment remain unsurpassed examples of Serb painting from the first half of the 14th century.

As one of the best preserved and most respected monasteries of the Eastern Christian world, this monument of exceptional artistic and cultural value was inscribed in the World Cultural and Natural Heritage List in 1986.