Monastery of the Mother of God in Hvosno

Old bell of the Mother of God Monastery in Hvosno

Monastery of the Mother of God in Hvosno (Serbian: Богородица Хвостанска/Bogorodica Hvostanska, Albanian: Manastiri i Virgjëreshës së Shenjtë të Hvosnos) was a Serbian Christian monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the historical region of Hvosno. It was situated at the foot of Mokra Mountain, nearby hamlets Vrelo and Studenica, some 20 kilometers (12 mi) north of the city of Peć, in modern Kosovo. The Monastery was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance on 10 July 1967, and Republic of Serbia claims to have it under protection.

In the third decade of the 13th century, on the foundations of an older basilica, a new church dedicated to the Dormition of the Theotokos was erected in order to serve as a cathedral seat of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Hvosno. The single-nave church had a dome and an altar apse, semi-circular on the inside, rectangular on the outside. On the northern and southern sides of the narthex, there were two parecclesia, whose outside was masked with a flat surface. The chapels were topped by two towers of greater height than the church dome. The church is in compliance with the Rascian architecture. In the mid-14th century, another single-nave building with a semi-circular apse on the east, and a barrel-vault was adjoined to the church. The second half of the 16th century is a period of artistic thrive of the monastery. Debris of the monastery complex were first researched in 1930, and then from 1966 to 1970, when remains of the church and the monks dwelling-house, together with segments of the fortification, were preserved.

History

The monastery is one of the only known churches dating from the 6th century in northern Illyrica (Province of Dardania), assumed to have been built by Justinian I. It is one of the earliest structure dating from the mid-6th century, i.e. pre-Slavic migration, and therefore constructed in the early Eastern Roman style. Within its Byzantine fortification were two three-nave basilicas with its narthex belonging to the early Byzantine Period. The semi-circle apse of the main church relates to the early reign of the Emperor Justinian and the first decades of the 6th century, as later churches were built with outer three-sided apses, under the influence of the Constantinople construction style.

When the autocephalous Serbian Archbishopric was founded in 1219, seat of the newly created Eparchy of Hvosno was placed in the Monastery of the Mother of God in the region of Hvosno, and a new church was built within the monastery complex. A century and a half later, after the creation of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć (1346), the Eparchy of Hvosno was raised to the honorary rank of a Metropolitanate, and as such it is mentioned in written sources in 1473, 1566 and 1635. The last metropolitan Victor is mentioned in 1635. During the Great Serbian Migrations, the Monastery became deserted and dilapidated.

Literature

• Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 9781405142915.
• Đorđević, Života; Pejić, Svetlana, eds. (1999). Cultural Heritage of Kosovo and Metohija. Belgrade: Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia. ISBN 9788680879161.
• Ferrari, Silvio; Benzo, Andrea (2014). Between Cultural Diversity and Common Heritage: Legal and Religious Perspectives on the Sacred Places of the Mediterranean. London & New York: Routledge. ISBN 9781317175032.
• Ivić, Pavle, ed. (1995). The History of Serbian Culture. Edgware: Porthill Publishers. ISBN 9781870732314.
• Janićijević, Jovan, ed. (1998). The Cultural Treasury of Serbia. Belgrade: IDEA, Vojnoizdavački zavod, Markt system. ISBN 9788675470397.
• Јанковић, Марија (1985). Епископије и митрополије Српске цркве у средњем веку (Bishoprics and Metropolitanates of Serbian Church in Middle Ages). Београд: Историјски институт САНУ.
• Krstić, Branislav (2003). Saving the Cultural Heritage of Serbia and Europe in Kosovo and Metohia. Belgrade: Coordination Center of the Federal Government and the Government of the Republic of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohia. ISBN 9788675560173.
• Pavlovich, Paul (1989). The History of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Serbian Heritage Books. ISBN 9780969133124.
• Popović, Svetlana (2002). "The Serbian Episcopal sees in the thirteenth century" (PDF). Старинар. 51 (2001): 171–184.
• Subotić, Gojko (1998). Art of Kosovo: The Sacred Land. New York: The Monacelli Press. ISBN 9781580930062.
• Вуковић, Сава (1996). Српски јерарси од деветог до двадесетог века (Serbian Hierarchs from the 9th to the 20th Century). Евро, Унирекс, Каленић.
• Živković, Tibor; Bojanin, Stanoje; Petrović, Vladeta, eds. (2000). Selected Charters of Serbian Rulers (XII-XV Century): Relating to the Territory of Kosovo and Metohia. Athens: Center for Studies of Byzantine Civilisation.