Page 221 - Kosovo Metohija Heritage

The Church of the Holy Savior (the Church of the as- cension) is a Serbian Orthodox church located in Priz- ren. The endowment of landowner Mladen Vladojević
with his parents, at the time of Stefan Dušan’s rule, it was built around 1330 and in 1348 given as a gift to the nearby monastery of Holy archangels. The medieval church is of small dimensions, with the foundation in the shape of the shortened cross with octagonal dome and the apse three- sided from outside. it was decoratively built with neat al- ternate layers of limestone and brick and with ceramoplas- tic ornaments.
The frescos were painted in two phases: firstly, in the altar, around 1335, where the paintings are of poorer qual- ity, and then in the rest of the church until 1348, when a part of the altar area was repainted. The original paintings on the altar were painted by one painter, a member of the
workshop which also painted the church of St. Nicholas, endowment of Dragoslav Tutić. Small dimensioned fres- cos from the second phase were painted by local painters educated by the good traditions of the Byzantine art who had a sure and prominent drawing. a third painter painted Christ and the Mother of God Chapel in exonarthex, most probably after 1348. The paintings were greatly damaged and a fire in the 19th century changed their palette. Conser- vation works on architecture and frescos were carried out in the 1953–1963 period.
The church was declared a Monument of Culture of exceptional importance in 1990, and it is protected by the Republic of Serbia. Nevertheless, it was heavily damaged by a Kosovo albanian mob during the 2004 unrest in Ko- sovo and Metohija.
The Church
of the Holy Savior
Church of the Ascension of Christ (Holy Savior), Prizren, northeast view
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