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Stanislav živkov Evidence for the architectural reconstruction of the royal Mausoleum in Banjska, Kosova Starohrvatska prosvjeta UDK: 726.7 (497. 115 Banjska) III. serija - svezak 41/2014. 271.22(497.11) Original scientific paper / Izvorni znanstveni rad 205 Stanislav Živkov Evidence for the Architectural National Museum Pančevo SRB - 26000 Pančevo Reconstruction of the Royal [email protected] Mausoleum in Banjska, Kosovo Elementi za arhitektonsku rekonstrukciju kraljevskog mauzoleja u Banjskoj, Kosovo The royal mausoleum in Banjska originally built between 1313 and 1317 as a romano gothic single nave basilica with the facades made of blocks of three kinds of polished stones and with the rich architectural sculpture on the portals heavily suffered very early and for a very long time was used as a quarry. Only the ruins of the mausoleum were visible until the protective works in 1938, which practically blocked any further architectural research because the original walls of the Mausoleum remained overbuilt with the latter walls. Until 2007, the Mausoleum was never properly excavated and the numerous fragments of the sculptures scattered in various museums and in the monastic complex itself were never catalogised (some were lost meanwhile) and this paper for the first time presents the reconstructions of the architecture and sculpture of the mausoleum. Key words: architectura and sculptura, Middle Ages, Royal mausole- um in Banjska, Srbija, Kosovo sl. 1. zračni snimak Državne geodetske uprave Rh položaja Sušine kraj Virja i prostorni razmještaj arheoloških sondi istraženih 2013. godine s dijelom površine istražene magnetskom metodom u 2013. godine. The Banjska monastery with the mausoleum Banjska, and many of them can be attributed with dedicated to St Stephen was built between 1313 and great certainty to particular windows or portals, 1317 as the foundation of the Serbian king Stephan while other are built very high in the recent walls uroš II Milutin, who had planned Banjska as his and cannot be examined properly. mausoleum. The building of the complex was su- The Banjska mausoleum was the culmination of pervised by Danilo II, that time prior of Banjska, the long line of the development of the royal mau- who eventually became the Serbian archbishop1. soleums. The “urprojekt”, the mausoleum dedicated According the explicit whish of the king Mi- to The Our lady in Studenica, except for the dome lutin, the mausoleum in Banjska was built as the whose design was a link to the Athos architecture, reflection of the mausoleum in Studenica, which was a true Romanesque mausoleum and all the later was known as the most important and most beauti- mausoleums were only variations and experiments ful medieval Serbian mausoleum. Thus, the mauso- in search for the architecture whose final form leum in Banjska was the first medieval mausoleum was built in the mausoleums of Banjska, Dečani built after the mausoleum in Studenica dedicated to and holy Archangels near Prizren2. The Banjska the Virgin Mary whose facades were constructed mausoleum was the only mausoleum with a true 206 with the use of polished blocks of three kinds of transept. Although the interior still has the earlier decorative stones in yellow, pink and grayish color, architectural conception, the Banjska mausoleum like the churches in Italy of that time. Architectur- from the outside had the appearance of the true Ital- ally, it was the most important royal mausoleum ian three-nave basilica. It is quite obvious that the ever built in Kosovo and Serbia. The mausoleum mausoleums in Banjska and Dečani, as well as the of St Stephen in Banjska was the culmination of the abbey churches in Ratac, Sts. Sergius and Bacchus development of the series of the royal mausoleums on the Bojana River near Skodra and the Cathe- in medieval Serbian state. dral of St. Tryphon in Kotor together with the Ko- The Banjska mausoleum was built a single tor series of churches have the common origin, the -nave basilica with the transept, while the apse on Kotor builders school and stonemasons workshop the east was flanked with altar chapels, and the nave whose most prominent member eventually became and narthex on the west were flanked with a pair of Fra Vita, protomaster in Kotor. There are many ex- burial chapels. The monumental mausoleum origi- amples which can prove this theory. For example, nally had two high towers at the west, which are it should be noted that the building technique of now almost completely destroyed. The narthex of mausoleums in Banjska, Dečani and holy Archan- the mausoleum was divided in two bays, the eastern gels is very similar, and their architectural details was square and twice larger that the western where are very close. The internal concept of the Banjska a gallery connected the towers whose walls were mausoleum was a cruciform nave with the dome on at the same time the side walls of the western bay. the crossing of nave and transept, again an original As judged by the remains of the ribbed vaults in architectural idea deriving from Studenica mauso- the nave, both bays were vaulted with cruciform leum, but it was supplemented with the burial chap- vaults. There were three portals at this part of the els and the true transept and from the outside it gave mausoleum. The present study is a result of a long the appearance of the Italian 13/14 century three- identification of the great number of the preserved nave basilica with the dome over the crossing of the fragments of the sculpture which are scattered in nave and transept. This allows the possibility of the and around the present day monastic complex of presence of the rose window on the western front. It is quite obvious that the Banjska mausoleum can be 1 This article could not be finished without the precious attributed to the architectural workshop of Fra Vita, help from the numerous friends and collegues. In the protomaster of Dečani mausoleum, which was built first place mr Bojana Borić Brešković, director, Ivana Vijatov, and the curators of the National Museum in a little later. The language of the architecture of Belgrade: mr Bojan Popović, head of the Gallery of frescoes, Nataša Ceranić, head of the Medieval depart- 2 About the latest research and the new reconstruction ment, Branka Ivanić and Aleksandra Nitić; Siniša Te- of the mausoleum of the holy Archangels see: S. merinski, Marija Radan Jovin , Dimitrije Madas, and ŽIVKOV - B. MLADeNOVIć, The new architectural Pavle halupa who prepared all the graphic documen- reconstruction of the Churches of the Holy Archangels tation. and of St Nicholas near Prizren, Kosovo. Split, 2012. Stanislav živkov Evidence for the architectural reconstruction of the royal Mausoleum in Banjska, Kosova Dečani mausoleum was the same: the facades were built with the alternating layers of polished breccias and onyx blocks. The sculpture placed at the portals is romanesque, but on the windows is both roman- esque and gothic. The gothic tendency towards the verticality was fully applied at the central part of both Banjska and Dečani mausoleums. Although the Dečani mausoleum is a five-nave basilica with a dome over single roof over the entire central core of the building the outermost naves actually take the place of the burial chapel of the Banjska mauso- leum which in turn is a single-nave basilica with the outer appearance of the three-nave basilica like the Fig. 1. Plan of the Mausoleum before the works in Dečani mausoleum. 1938 (P. Popović). 207 In the tradition of the Italian Romanesque styli- Fig. 2. The plan of the royal mausoleum in Banjska zation, the polychromatism of the facades was after the works in 1938 (Đ. Bošković 1938.). combined into a harmonious blend with the archi- tectural plastic which adorned the portals, windows and arcaded frieze under the roofs. however, the in- terior was completely decorated with the frescoes, known from the historical sources as the Banjska Gold which was a medieval name for the fresco decoration with the use of the gold. unfortunately only very little was preserved of these frescoes, but enough to show that the fresco decoration was ex- ecuted in the Byzantine tradition. Banjska was also known as one of the richest medieval monasteries in Serbia, but today are only Fig. 3. Reconstructed plan of the Banjska Mausoleum preserved two golden rings discovered in illegal ex- with the windows of the nave included cavations in 1915. Most probably, the complex was (S. Živkov & P. halupa). 208 Fig. 4. The south side of the royal mausoleum in Banjska before the works in 1938 (Collection of National museum in Belgrade). heavily damaged soon after the Kosovo Battle in um into a much smaller fortress, and the narthex 1389, and the remains of King Milutin were moved and the burial chapels were used as the dwellings. to Trepča, and later to Sofia where they still stand Fragments of the sculpture were scattered around, today. Already in 1419, the Mausoleum was dev- or reused as a building material and were discov- astated, dwellings burned, books and the treasury ered for the most part accidentally and now are plundered3. The complex was abandoned for a very housed in the collections of the National Museum long time and had suffered heavily. even before in Belgrade, Archaeological Museum in Skopje5, 1530, by direct order of the Sultan, the complex City Museum in Kosovska Mitrovica6 while those was deliberately demolished because it was used as discovered during the protection works in 1938, a shelter for escaped Serbian slaves4. The walls of were built into the new walls, but unfortunately too the medieval fortification, the keep, and the dining many are even today scattered among the excavated room were almost completely destroyed, as well as walls.

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