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64-550: The Sopoćani Monastery ( Serbian : Манастир Сопоћани / Manastir Sopoćani , pronounced [sǒpotɕani] ), an endowment of King Stefan Uroš I of Serbia , was built from 1259 to 1270, near the source of the Raška River in the region of Ras , the centre of the Serbian medieval state . It is a designated World Heritage Site , added in 1979 with Stari Ras . The monastery is located 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) west of

128-605: A crown encircling the Lamb of God . The crown is supported by four angels , and every surface is covered with a profusion of flowers, stars, birds and animals, including many peacocks . Above the arch, on both sides, two angels hold a disc and beside them a representation of the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. They symbolize the human race (Jerusalem representing the Jews, and Bethlehem the Gentiles). All these mosaics are executed in

192-577: A decision that was made by Stefan Uroš I to provide a greater sense of visual grandeur. A demand was created for portable icons due to Byzantine influence and the introduction of iconostasis in churches. The icons in Sopoćani largely represent a matriarchal ideology, depicting the life and death of the Virgin Mary , among others. The portraits of these icons incorporated techniques and symbolism from Byzantine, and earlier Roman style, which emphasizes

256-639: A golden halo, crown and jewels, and a group of court women as well as eunuchs . The Empress holds the Eucharistic vessel for the Precious Blood, and her panel differs from that of Justinian in having a more complex background, with a fountain, cupola, and lavish hangings. They are adorned with intricately patterned textiles, possibly luxurious silks imported from the Sassanian Persian Empire. One scholar has argued that Theodora

320-558: A left-to-right order of narration, needing to be viewed in a specific order to be understood. The classical art style of the church is largely influenced by late Byzantine art , such as that of the Basilica of San Vitale and other Byzantine churches. Some of the frescoes in the church exemplify a transition of Byzantine art periods, from Komnenian to Palaiologan , as many paintings were completed between 1263 and 1268. The Dormition , with its stately compositions and monumental figures,

384-484: A medallion with a cross, crowns each lunette. On the side walls the corners, next to the mullioned windows, have mosaics of the Four Evangelists , under their symbols (angel, lion, ox and eagle), and dressed in white. Especially the portrayal of the lion is remarkable in its ferocity. The cross-ribbed vault in the presbytery is richly ornamented with mosaic festoons of leaves, fruit and flowers, converging on

448-493: A western technique of hollow tubes inserted into each other, rather than bricks. This method was the first recorded structural use of terra-cotta forms, which later evolved into modern structural clay tile . The ambulatory and gallery were vaulted only later in the Middle Ages. The Baroque frescoes on the dome were made between 1778 and 1782 by S. Barozzi , Ubaldo Gandolfi and Jacopo Guarana . The main building of

512-441: A youthful depiction of Jesus Christ, seated on a blue globe, robed in purple, flanked by angels, offering with his right hand the martyr's crown to Saint Vitale, while on his left Bishop Ecclesius offers a model of the church, in his role as the symbolic donor of the church. At the foot of the apse side walls are two famous mosaic panels, completed in 547. On viewer left (but privileged right side from perspective of Christ in apse)

576-436: Is Torlakian in southeastern Serbia, which is transitional to Macedonian and Bulgarian . Serbian is practically the only European standard language whose speakers are fully functionally digraphic , using both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets. The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet was devised in 1814 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić , who created it based on phonemic principles. The Latin alphabet used for Serbian ( latinica )

640-665: Is a mosaic depicting the East Roman Emperor Justinian I , clad in Tyrian purple with a golden halo, standing next to court officials, generals Belisarius and Narses , Bishop Maximian , palatinae guards and deacons. The halo around his head gives him the same aspect as Christ in the dome of the apse, but is part of the tradition of rendering the imperial family with haloes described by Ernst Kantorowicz in The King's Two Bodies . Justinian himself stands in

704-422: Is an example of this. The period following iconoclasm brought upon a resurgence in these art styles moving forward into the 13th century, at the time of the construction of the monastery. Other motifs seen in the church (such as water-birds and use of specific lotuses) are indicative of influences from early Byzantine art dating to the era of Justinian I , although these influences are less prominently featured in

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768-527: Is based on the most widespread dialect of Serbo-Croatian, Shtokavian (more specifically on the dialects of Šumadija-Vojvodina and Eastern Herzegovina ), which is also the basis of standard Croatian , Bosnian , and Montenegrin varieties and therefore the Declaration on the Common Language of Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, and Montenegrins was issued in 2017. The other dialect spoken by Serbs

832-591: Is closer to the Kajkavian and Chakavian dialects of Serbo-Croatian ). Speakers by country: Serbian was the official language of Montenegro until October 2007, when the new Constitution of Montenegro replaced the Constitution of 1992. Amid opposition from pro-Serbian parties, Montenegrin was made the sole official language of the country, and Serbian was given the status of a language in official use along with Bosnian , Albanian , and Croatian . In

896-794: Is of extreme importance in Byzantine art, as it is the only major church from the period of the Emperor Justinian I to survive virtually intact. Like the Church of Saints Sergios and Bacchos in Constantinople , its overall design is a "double-shelled octagon." Some speculate that it reflects the design of the Byzantine Imperial Palace Audience Chamber , of which nothing at all survives. The bell tower has four bells. The tenor bell dates to

960-488: Is presumed that the fresco paintings of the church were completed, evidenced by painting styles seen in other nearby churches. In 1370–1375, the first example of repainting was evidenced in the church, and the copying of Sopoćani works created the Sopoćani style which spread and influenced other church paintings. And in the early 20th century, the art of Sopoćani served as an inspiration for modern Serbian artists. In 1689, various factors contributed to widespread damage through

1024-608: Is shown through a cycle of the Great Feasts, in the narthex the Old Testament, dogmatic and eschatological themes are presented. Through the iconographic portraits of the Nemanjić family and through historical scenes Simeon Nemanja and Saint Sava. After Gradac (about 1275), the endowment of Queen Helen of Anjou , the wife of the founder of Sopoćani - King Uroš I - whose painters were high on the scale of creativity, there

1088-530: Is shows that it was in accord with its time; for example, the Serbian Alexandride , a book about Alexander the Great , and a translation of Tristan and Iseult into Serbian. Although not belonging to the literature proper, the corpus of Serbian literacy in the 14th and 15th centuries contains numerous legal, commercial and administrative texts with marked presence of Serbian vernacular juxtaposed on

1152-645: Is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs . It is the official and national language of Serbia , one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kosovo . It is a recognized minority language in Croatia , North Macedonia , Romania , Hungary , Slovakia , and the Czech Republic . Standard Serbian

1216-476: Is the case with the Dormition , which was painted over visible division lines that are usually erased. Some historians believe this to be the result of an oversight on the part of the artist. The Dormition is another example of a late Komnenian fresco, characterized by its use of a rambling narrative linear style. Some of the more prominent frescoes in the church had gold-sheet tesserae applied in their outlines,

1280-435: Is the only general historical dictionary of Serbo-Croatian. Its first editor was Đuro Daničić , followed by Pero Budmani and the famous Vukovian Tomislav Maretić . The sources of this dictionary are, especially in the first volumes, mainly Štokavian . There are older, pre-standard dictionaries, such as the 1791 German–Serbian dictionary or 15th century Arabic-Persian-Greek-Serbian Conversation Textbook . The standard and

1344-849: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Serbian, written in the Cyrillic script : Сва људска бића рађају се слободна и једнака у достојанству и правима. Она су обдарена разумом и свешћу и треба једни према другима да поступају у духу братства. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Serbian, written in the Latin alphabet : Sva ljudska bića rađaju se slobodna i jednaka u dostojanstvu i pravima. Ona su obdarena razumom i svešću i treba jedni prema drugima da postupaju u duhu bratstva. Article 1 of

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1408-461: The prothesis and the diaconicon , typical for Byzantine architecture. Inside, the intrados of the great triumphal arch is decorated with fifteen mosaic medallions, depicting Jesus Christ , the twelve Apostles and Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius , the sons of Saint Vitale. The theophany was begun in 525 under bishop Ecclesius . It has a great gold fascia with twining flowers, birds, and horns of plenty. The apse mosaic centers on

1472-631: The Proto-Slavic language . There are many loanwords from different languages, reflecting cultural interaction throughout history. Notable loanwords were borrowed from Greek, Latin, Italian, Turkish, Hungarian, English, Russian, German, Czech and French. Serbian literature emerged in the Middle Ages , and included such works as Miroslavljevo jevanđelje ( Miroslav's Gospel ) in 1186 and Dušanov zakonik ( Dušan's Code ) in 1349. Little secular medieval literature has been preserved, but what there

1536-598: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Basilica of San Vitale The Basilica of San Vitale is a late antique church in Ravenna , Italy. The sixth-century church is an important surviving example of early Byzantine art and architecture, and its mosaics in particular are some of

1600-657: The matrimoneum , was possibly reserved for married women. A series of mosaics in the lunettes above the triforia depict sacrifices from the Old Testament: the Hospitality of Abraham (Genesis 18:1-16), and the Sacrifice of Isaac ; the story of Moses and the Burning Bush , Jeremiah and Isaiah , representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel, and the story of Abel and Cain . A pair of angels, holding

1664-457: The official script of Serbia's administration by the 2006 Constitution . The Latin script continues to be used in official contexts, although the government has indicated its desire to phase out this practice due to national sentiment. The Ministry of Culture believes that Cyrillic is the "identity script" of the Serbian nation. However, the law does not regulate scripts in standard language , or standard language itself by any means, leaving

1728-588: The 16th century. According to legends, the church was erected on the site of the martyrdom of Saint Vitalis . However, there is some confusion as to whether this is the Saint Vitalis of Milan , or the Saint Vitale whose body was discovered (together with that of Saint Agricola ) by Saint Ambrose in Bologna in 393. The central section is surrounded by two superposed ambulatories . The upper one,

1792-488: The 2023 Montenegrin census, 43.18% declared Serbian to be their native language, while Montenegrin was declared by 34.52% of the population. Standard Serbian language uses both Cyrillic ( ћирилица , ćirilica ) and Latin script ( latinica , латиница ). Serbian is a rare example of synchronic digraphia , a situation where all literate members of a society have two interchangeable writing systems available to them. Media and publishers typically select one alphabet or

1856-434: The 20th century. The church slowly decayed: its vaults caved in, its dome fell down, and the remains of the surrounding buildings were covered with rubble and earth. Finally, during the 20th century the monastery was restored and today it is settled by a thriving brotherhood of dedicated monks. The fact that most of the Sopoćani frescoes still shine with radiant beauty - surviving more than two centuries of extreme exposure to

1920-516: The Church of the Holy Trinity remains. The monastery was once surrounded by a high stone wall with two gates. The completion of the painting of the main parts of the church can be indirectly dated to between 1263 and 1270. In Sopoćani a decorative plan was carried out which was formed throughout the thirteenth century - in the chancel there are liturgical scenes, in the nave Christ's salvation work

1984-549: The Hellenistic-Roman tradition: lively and imaginative, with rich colours and a certain perspective, and with a vivid depiction of the landscape, plants and birds. The polychrome colors and shapes, as well as the preference for geometric pattern over representation is known as the jeweled style in Late Antiquity. They were finished when Ravenna was still under Gothic rule . The apse is flanked by two chapels,

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2048-881: The Latin alphabet whereas 36% favors the Cyrillic one. Latin script has become more and more popular in Serbia, as it is easier to input on phones and computers. The sort order of the ćirilica ( ћирилица ) alphabet: The sort order of the latinica ( латиница ) alphabet: Serbian is a highly inflected language , with grammatical morphology for nouns, pronouns and adjectives as well as verbs. Serbian nouns are classified into three declensional types, denoted largely by their nominative case endings as "-a" type, "-i" and "-e" type. Into each of these declensional types may fall nouns of any of three genders : masculine, feminine or neuter. Each noun may be inflected to represent

2112-410: The Latin script predominates, although both scripts are commonly seen. The Serbian government has encouraged increasing the use of Cyrillic in these contexts. Larger signs, especially those put up by the government, will often feature both alphabets; if the sign has English on it, then usually only Cyrillic is used for the Serbian text. A survey from 2014 showed that 47% of the Serbian population favors

2176-450: The Latin script tends to imply a cosmopolitan or neutral attitude, while Cyrillic appeals to a more traditional or vintage sensibility. In media, the public broadcaster, Radio Television of Serbia , predominantly uses the Cyrillic script whereas the privately run broadcasters, like RTV Pink , predominantly use the Latin script. Newspapers can be found in both scripts. In the public sphere, with logos, outdoor signage and retail packaging,

2240-587: The Virgin . In the 16th century the monks had to temporarily leave the monastery on several occasions due to the Ottoman threat. Finally, during one of the raids in 1689 the Ottoman Turks set fire to the monastery and carried off the lead from the church roof. The brotherhood escaped with some important relics to Kosovo - but did not return to Sopoćani; it remained deserted for over two hundred years, until

2304-483: The beginning of the 13th century, the entire official correspondence of Dubrovnik with states in the hinterland was conducted in Serbian. In the mid-15th century, Serbia was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and for the next 400 years there was no opportunity for the creation of secular written literature. However, some of the greatest literary works in Serbian come from this time, in the form of oral literature,

2368-439: The choice of script as a matter of personal preference and to the free will in all aspects of life (publishing, media, trade and commerce, etc.), except in government paperwork production and in official written communication with state officials, which have to be in Cyrillic. Traffic signs and directional signs, and place names, on main or international roads are to be written with both Cyrillic and Latin script To most Serbians,

2432-432: The church is laid out octagonally. The building combines Roman and Byzantine elements . The dome, shape of doorways, and stepped towers are typical of Roman style, while the polygonal apse, capitals, narrow bricks, and an early example of flying buttresses are typical of the Byzantine. The church is most famous for its wealth of Byzantine mosaics , the largest and best-preserved specimens outside of Istanbul . San Vitale

2496-422: The church. The implementation of this art can be separated into several distinct periods. In 1263–1268, various paintings, including those of the sons of Stefan Uroš I , Dragutin, and Milutin, were created. In 1331–1346, during the reign of King Stefan Dušan , the church expanded and took on characteristics of a cathedral, expanding the art and decorations seen in the exo-narthex of the church. In 1335–1371, it

2560-440: The church. War with the Ottoman Turks led to the desecration of the monastery. In addition, inclement weather and prolonged sun exposure led to damage of much of the art. There were two periods in the early 20th century (1925-1929, and 1949–1958) in which reconstruction campaigns began on a large scale. Notably, the color and clarity of the paintings were restored, but much of the gold-leaf outlines remain difficult to discern in

2624-401: The church. The figures are placed in a V shape; Justinian is placed in the front and in the middle to show his importance with Bishop Maximian on his left and lesser individuals being placed behind them. This placement can be seen through the overlapping feet of the individuals present in the mosaic. On the opposite wall, the more elaborate panel shows Empress Theodora solemn and formal, with

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2688-645: The construction of the nearby Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe at around the same time. A donor portrait of Julius Argentarius may appear among the courtiers on the Justinian mosaic. The final cost amounted to 26,000 solidi equal to 16.38 kilograms (36.11 lb) of gold. It has been suggested that Julius originated in the eastern part of the Byzantine Empire, where there was a long-standing tradition of public benefactions. The central vault used

2752-601: The development of naturalism in painting, found in other Byzantine icons and mosaics such as the Deisis in Hagia Sophia . Sopoćani , two episodes of the documentary series "Witnesses of Times" produced by the broadcasting service RTB in 1999-2000 was created by Petar Savkovića, directed by Stevan Stanić and Radoslav Moskovlović, music was composed by Zoran Hristić. Serbian language Serbian ( српски / srpski , pronounced [sr̩̂pskiː] )

2816-580: The early 19th century, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić promoted the spoken language of the people as a literary norm. The dialects of Serbo-Croatian , regarded Serbian (traditionally spoken in Serbia), include: Vuk Karadžić 's Srpski rječnik , first published in 1818, is the earliest dictionary of modern literary Serbian. The Rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika (I–XXIII), published by the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1880 to 1976,

2880-401: The elements. Sopoćani was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia . The art in Sopoćani was implemented periodically through the years following its completion in 1260. The subjects of the art include Christian Saints, national saints, as well as episcopal and illuminative narratives of Christianity. These narratives follow

2944-400: The frescoes of the church. The frescoes in Sopoćani were painted in a similar style to that of Byzantine artists, however the origins of the artists themselves remain unknown. There was a rigid set of steps (setting of plaster, designing with charcoal, application of opsis in various layers, etc.) that were usually followed by these artists. However, there were exceptions to this method, as

3008-570: The major 'levels' of language shows that BCS is clearly a single language with a single grammatical system." It has lower intelligibility with the Eastern South Slavic languages Bulgarian and Macedonian , than with Slovene (Slovene is part of the Western South Slavic subgroup, but there are still significant differences in vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation to the standardized forms of Serbo-Croatian, although it

3072-605: The matrix of Serbian Church Slavonic . By the beginning of the 14th century the Serbo-Croatian language, which was so rigorously proscribed by earlier local laws, becomes the dominant language of the Republic of Ragusa . However, despite her wealthy citizens speaking the Serbo-Croatian dialect of Dubrovnik in their family circles, they sent their children to Florentine schools to become perfectly fluent in Italian. Since

3136-430: The middle, with soldiers on his right and clergy on his left, emphasizing that Justinian is the leader of both church and state of his empire. The later insertion of Bishop Maximian's name above his head suggests that the mosaic may have been modified in 547, replacing the representation of the prior bishop with that of Maximian's. The gold background of the mosaic perhaps shows that Justinian and his entourage are inside

3200-407: The most notable form being epic poetry . The epic poems were mainly written down in the 19th century, and preserved in oral tradition up to the 1950s, a few centuries or even a millennium longer than by most other "epic folks". Goethe and Jacob Grimm learned Serbian in order to read Serbian epic poetry in the original. By the end of the 18th century, the written literature had become estranged from

3264-641: The most-studied works in Byzantine art. It is one of eight structures in Ravenna inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List . Its foundational inscription describes the church as a basilica , though its centrally-planned design is not typical of the basilica form. Within the Roman Catholic Church it holds the honorific title of basilica for its historic and ecclesial importance. The church's construction began in 526 on

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3328-415: The noun they modify, but must agree in number, gender and case with the modified noun. Serbian verbs are conjugated in four past forms— perfect , aorist , imperfect , and pluperfect —of which the last two have a very limited use (imperfect is still used in some dialects, but the majority of native Serbian speakers consider it archaic), one future tense (also known as the first future tense, as opposed to

3392-517: The noun's grammatical case , of which Serbian has seven: Nouns are further inflected to represent the noun's number , singular or plural. Pronouns, when used, are inflected along the same case and number morphology as nouns. Serbian is a pro-drop language , meaning that pronouns may be omitted from a sentence when their meaning is easily inferred from the text. In cases where pronouns may be dropped, they may also be used to add emphasis. For example: Adjectives in Serbian may be placed before or after

3456-682: The only completed etymological dictionary of Serbian is the " Skok ", written by the Croatian linguist Petar Skok : Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika ("Etymological Dictionary of Croatian or Serbian"). I-IV. Zagreb 1971–1974. There is also a new monumental Etimološki rečnik srpskog jezika (Etymological Dictionary of Serbian). So far, two volumes have been published: I (with words on A-), and II (Ba-Bd). There are specialized etymological dictionaries for German, Italian, Croatian, Turkish, Greek, Hungarian, Russian, English and other loanwords (cf. chapter word origin ). Article 1 of

3520-623: The orders of Bishop Ecclesius of Ravenna . At the time, Ravenna was under the rule of the Ostrogoths . Bishop Maximian completed construction in 547, preceding Justinian 's creation of the Exarchate of Ravenna , which followed his partial re-conquest of the Western Roman Empire. The construction of the church was sponsored by local banker and architect Julius Argentarius. Very little is known of Julius, but he also sponsored

3584-400: The other. In general, the alphabets are used interchangeably; except in the legal sphere, where Cyrillic is required, there is no context where one alphabet or another predominates. Although Serbian language authorities have recognized the official status of both scripts in contemporary Standard Serbian for more than half of a century now, due to historical reasons, the Cyrillic script was made

3648-420: The positioning of the head, as well as male and female qualities of the hands. For instance, the left hand would often be considered female, holding books or scriptures. The right hand would be considered male, holding a sword, a cross, or a spear. These qualities can be seen in icon plates of the martyrs, saints, apostle, and evangelist in Sopoćani. The portrayal of figures in these icons are also concurrent with

3712-413: The second conditional (without use in the spoken language—it should be used for impossible conditional clauses). Serbian has active and passive voice . As for the non-finite verb forms, Serbian has one infinitive , two adjectival participles (the active and the passive), and two adverbial participles (the present and the past). Most Serbian words are of native Slavic lexical stock, tracing back to

3776-433: The second future tense or the future exact, which is considered a tense of the conditional mood by some contemporary linguists), and one present tense . These are the tenses of the indicative mood. Apart from the indicative mood, there is also the imperative mood . The conditional mood has two more tenses: the first conditional (commonly used in conditional clauses, both for possible and impossible conditional clauses) and

3840-466: The spoken language. In the second half of the 18th century, the new language appeared, called Slavonic-Serbian . This artificial idiom superseded the works of poets and historians like Gavrilo Stefanović Venclović , who wrote in essentially modern Serbian in the 1720s. These vernacular compositions have remained cloistered from the general public and received due attention only with the advent of modern literary historians and writers like Milorad Pavić . In

3904-467: The town of Novi Pazar . In the 1160s, the Great Župan Stefan Nemanja consolidated his power on the throne in Raška. Although Nemanja's sons received the title of king and established the church as independent by making it autocephalous, as well as developing the economic system and coined money, the work of Stefan Nemanja remained a great model and an example to be emulated by the younger generations. Sopoćani

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3968-474: Was a hiatus in creative artwork in Serbia. Archbishop Sava II , who became the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1263, is represented in the procession of archbishops in the area of the altar . The frescoes of Sopoćani are considered by some experts on Serbian medieval art as the most beautiful of that period. On the western wall of the nave is a famous fresco of the Dormition of

4032-675: Was an endowment of the Serbian King Stefan Uroš I, son to Stefan the First-Crowned and Nemanja's grandson. It was built in 1260 by King Uroš I Nemanjić as a church which would serve as his burial place, and was extended and renovated in the mid-14th century by his great-grandson Dušan. The church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity . Of the former larger monastery complex, which comprised numerous structures (dining rooms, residential buildings and others), today only

4096-571: Was designed by the Croatian linguist Ljudevit Gaj in the 1830s based on the Czech system with a one-to-one grapheme-phoneme correlation between the Cyrillic and Latin orthographies, resulting in a parallel system. Serbian is a standardized variety of Serbo-Croatian , a Slavic language ( Indo-European ), of the South Slavic subgroup. Other standardized forms of Serbo-Croatian are Bosnian , Croatian , and Montenegrin . "An examination of all

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