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Decisions on Designation of Properties as National Monuments

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60th session - Decisions

Palace of the Serb Orthodox Christian Zvornik-Tuzla Eparchy with its movable heritage, the historic building

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Status of monument -> National monument

 

Published in the “Official Gazette of BiH”, no. 29/08.

Pursuant to Article V para. 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Article 39 para. 1 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, at a session held from 3 to 9 July 2007 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The historic building of the Palace of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla with movable heritage in Tuzla is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The movable heritage referred to in para. 1 of this Clause consists of a collection of 36 icons.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 450/1 (new survey), cadastral municipality Tuzla II, Municipality Tuzla, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The single storey outbuilding (garage) built onto the south-west side of the Bishop's Palace is not subject to the provisions of this Decision as a national monument.

The provisions relating to protection measures set forth by the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH nos. 2/02, 27/02 and 6/04) shall apply to the National Monument.

 

II

 

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the Government of the Federation) shall be responsible for ensuring and providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary to protect, conserve, and display the National Monument.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and setting up signboards with the basic data on the monument and the Decision to proclaim the property a National Monument.

 

III

           

To ensure the on-going protection of the National Monument, the following protection measures are hereby stipulated, which shall apply to the area defined in Clause 1 para. 3 of this Decision.

-       all works are prohibited other than research and conservation and restoration works, routine maintenance works, and works designed to display the monument, with the approval of the Federal Ministry responsible for regional planning and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

-       during the course of restoration and conservation works and those designed to present the property, it is essential that the original appearance of the property be retained, using original materials and methods of treating them and original building methods.

 

The following protection measures are hereby stipulated for the movable heritage:

The display and other forms of presentation in Bosnia and Herzegovina of the movable heritage referred to in Clause 1 para. 2 of this Decision (hereinafter: the movable heritage) shall be carried out subject to conditions to be stipulated by the Federal ministry of responsible for culture.

Oversight of the implementation of the measures to protect the movable heritage shall be exercised by the Federal ministry responsible for culture.

 

IV

 

All executive and area development planning acts not in accordance with the provisions of this Decision are hereby revoked.

 

V

 

Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Canton, and urban and municipal authorities, shall refrain from any action that might damage the National Monument or jeopardize the preservation and rehabilitation thereof.

 

VI

 

The removal of the movable heritage from Bosnia and Herzegovina is prohibited.

By way of exception to the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Clause, the temporary removal from Bosnia and Herzegovina of the movable heritage for the purposes of display or conservation shall be permitted if it is established that conservation works cannot be carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Permission for temporary removal under the conditions stipulated in the preceding paragraph shall be issued by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, if it is determined beyond doubt that it will not jeopardize the movable heritage in any way.

In granting permission for the temporary removal of the movable heritage, the Commission shall stipulate all the conditions under which the removal from Bosnia and Herzegovina may take place, the date by which the items shall be returned to the country, and the responsibility of individual authorities and institutions for ensuring that these conditions are met, and shall notify the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the relevant security service, the customs authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the general public accordingly.

 

VII

 

The Government of the Federation, the Federal ministry responsible for regional planning, the Federal ministry responsible for culture, the Federation heritage protection authority, and the Municipal Authorities in charge of urban planning and land registry affairs, shall be notified of this Decision in order to carry out the measures stipulated in Articles II to VI of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

 

VIII

 

The elucidation and accompanying documentation form an integral part of this Decision, which may be viewed by interested parties on the premises or by accessing the website of the Commission (http://www.aneks8komisija.com.ba)

 

IX

 

Pursuant to Art. V para 4 Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, decisions of the Commission are final.

 

X

 

This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its adoption and shall be published in the Official Gazette of BiH.

 

This Decision has been adopted by the following members of the Commission: Zeynep Ahunbay, Amra Hadžimuhamedović, Dubravko Lovrenović, Ljiljana Ševo and Tina Wik.

 

No: 06.1-02-125/07-2

4 July 2007

Sarajevo

 

Chair of the Commission

Dubravko Lovrenović

 

E l u c i d a t i o n

 

I – INTRODUCTION

Pursuant to Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Law on the Implementation of the Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments, established pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a “National Monument” is an item of public property proclaimed by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to be a National Monument pursuant to Articles V and VI of Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina and property entered on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02) until the Commission reaches a final decision on its status, as to which there is no time limit and regardless of whether a petition for the property in question has been submitted or not.

Following a petition submitted in June 2007 by Lidija Fekeža, a Sarajevo-based archaeologist, the Commission to Preserve National Monuments began the procedure to designate the Palace of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla with movable heritage in Tuzla as a national monument of BiH.

Pursuant to the provisions of the law, the Commission proceeded to carry out the procedure for reaching a final decision to designate the Property as a National Monument, pursuant to Article V para. 4 of Annex 8 and Article 35 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments.

 

II – PROCEDURE PRIOR TO DECISION

In the procedure preceding the adoption of a final decision to proclaim the property a national monument, the following documentation was inspected:

-       Data on the current condition and use of the property, including a description and photographs, data of war damage, data on restoration or other works on the property, etc.

-       Historical, architectural and other documentary material on the property, as set out in the bibliography forming part of this Decision.

 

The findings based on the review of the above documentation and the condition of the property are as follows:

 

1. Details of the property

Location

The Palace of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla is located in the central zone of Tuzla, in the quarter of the town known as Srpska Varoš, in Đorđe Mihajlović street, east of the City Park.

It is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 450/1 (new survey), cadastral municipality Tuzla II, Municipality Tuzla, and is the property of the Serbian Orthodox parish of Tuzla.

Historical information

At the time when the headquarters of the Zvornik kaimakam was transferred from Zvornik to Tuzla, in 1852, the episcopal see was also transferred from Zvornik to Tuzla, and the eparchy became known as the eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla(1).

Since there was no bishop's residence when the see was transferred to Tuzla, Metropolitan Agatangel (1848-1858) resided in the house of hatji-priest Marko. Land was purchased from Petra, the mother of Maksim Đukić (this is the site where the Cathedral Church now stands), to build a bishop's residence within which premises would be set aside for religious worship. Materials, stone and other building materials and slaked lime, were procured. The works were carried out by a craftsman by the name of Josip Kozina, of Slimen near Travnik, while parishioners helped as labourers. The ground floor was built of stone, and the first floor of timber(2), with the building itself resting on oak pile footings. Once the property was complete, the ground floor housed a school, and later, from 1854 on, a church; the first floor had six spacious rooms for the bishop, dean, secretary and guests. After the ground floor of the bishop's residence was converted into a chapel dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin, and an altar was erected there with a consecrated antimensium, a separate wattle-and-daub cottage was erected east of the church to house the school, with four rooms, two for the teacher and two classrooms.

During the time of Metropolitan Pajsije (who moved to Tuzla from Vidin in 1868), the bricks and 300 loads of slaked lime that had been made ready in 1865 to build the church were used, despite opposition from the church commissioners, to build a new Metropolitan's palace, in the spring of 1869. After this was complete a school was also built, with an inscription on the façade: "Serb National School 1873" (this building later housed the Sokolana).

Agatangel's konak was demolished before work began on building the new Cathedral Church in 1874.

During his travels around Bosnia in 1879, Pavel Apolonović Rovinski wrote that the Orthodox church was being built and that religious services were being held in a small school. He also provided a description of the varoš in Donja (Lower) Tuzla(3).

A letter from the Metropolitan of Zvornik and Tuzla, Ilarion, sent to the Provincial Government in Sarajevo on 12 December 1915 (no. 280 x 1915) appealing for financial assistance to equip the Metropolitan's residence, reveals that Metropolitan Ilarion moved into his residence on 20 December 1915(4).

It may be deduced from a transcript of the response (Nr. 216864, 1915) from the Provincial Government to the Metropolitan that the property had not been not fully completed by December 1915(5).

A letter from Metropolitan Ilarion of Zvornik and Tuzla sent on 9 September 1916 to the Technical Department of the District Authority in Tuzla (no. 216/M. Prez) concerning a refund of a certain sum, provides a good deal of information on the furnishings of the Metropolitan's Palace, and on the traders or companies from whom the furnishings were purchased(6).

There are several invoices and estimates in German in the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the folder with documentation no. 248-166 of 1916, pertaining to the construction and furnishing of the Metropolitan's Palace in Tuzla.

The extraction of salt deposits in Tuzla led to subsidence, the impact of which is to be seen in the deformation of properties (a problem which became most marked after the 1970s). In the spring of 1987 preparations began for repairs to the Palace and church. On completion of the repair works the Cathedral Church and the Bishop's Palace were consecrated on Sunday 22 July 1990. The liturgy was led by Bishop Danilo of Buda.

 

2. Description of the property

There are some doubts as to the designer of the Metropolitan's Palace in Tuzla. In her work Arhitekt Karlo Pařik (Architect Karlo Pařik, doctoral dissertation, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb, 1989, 198-199, Vol. I, and Vol. II, Illustrations, illus. XXIX a. and XXIX b.) Branka Dimitrijević refers to drawings of the Tuzla Metropolitan's Palace dating from July 1913, compiled in the Civil Engineering Department of the Provincial Government, with the signatures of the head of the Civil Engineering Department, Kušević, and Rudolf Tennies, as well as Karlo Pařik (on the drawing of the cross section), whereas other drawings, dated January 1911, found in the holdings of the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, bear the signatures of Josip Pospišil, left-hand corner, and Karlo Pařik, close to the right-hand corner of the heading of the drawing (documentation of the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, folder with documentation no. 248-166, 1915).

A comparison between the drawings for the design of the Metropolitan's Palace in Mostar, designed by Karl Pařik in 1908, and the designs of the Metropolitan’s Palace in Tuzla dating from 19111 and 1913, indicates beyond doubt that the layout of the Tuzla Metropolitan’s Palace, with rooms around a central hall lit from above by a skylight, was borrowed from the concept of the Mostar Metropolitan’s Palace.

In her work Arhitekt Karlo Pařik (Architect Karlo Pařik, doctoral dissertation, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb, 1989, 199) Branka Dimitrijević describes and compares the Tuzla and Mostar Metropolitan’s Palaces as follows: "The façades of the Metropolitan’s Palace in Tuzla are treated as a strictly geometric composition, with shallow niches and channels in the wall face, and sharp shadows accentuating the verticals in the composition. The original geometricized details were executed with precision, accentuating the linear nature and cubism of the forms. The striking monumentality and crudely vertical nature of the main façade of the Metropolitan’s Palace in Mostar are replaced by a strict composition with its roots in the historicist style, but with a new treatment of the wall surface giving it a restrained, unemphatic appearance. Pařik’s Mostar design was the starting-point for this project, but it cannot be said that he was also responsible for the final solution for the layout and façades. Tőnnies does not list this design in the overview of his works, so that there remain doubts concerning the designer of this interesting work."

The building has a basement, ground floor and first floor. In plan it measures approx. 23 x 21.85 metres. It was built of brick, with a structural system consisting of solid transversal and longitudinal bearing walls approx. 60 cm thick. The entrance to the building is to the north, where the design was for a representative triple-flight staircase (the stairwell area measuring approx. 6.50 x 5.30 m) and a central mirrored area. The building has another side staircase of four flights (stairwell area measuring approx. 3.80 x 3.50 m) in the north-west corner. The main staircase leads to the central hall, measuring 7.60 x 8.75 m, lit by a roof light, made possible by the design of the technical solution: the central areas of the ceilings above the ground and first floors are made of glass bricks. The walls around the hall rise through the roof area to a height of approx. 5.40 metres. The daylight height of the premises are: basement approx. 5.00 m, ground floor approx. 5.00 m, first floor approx. 4.20 m. In line with the project design, the ceilings are of composed of wooden entablements. The building has a multipaned roof, with a wooden roof frame (using wooden posts in the parts of the roof surrounding the hall and a simple pent roof above the hall itself).

In terms of the treatment of the rooms within the building, the ground floor houses the offices of the Bishop's Council and Board of Administration, and the Eparchy Museum, with the Bishop's residence on the first floor: a reception room (5.50 x 8.50 m), a conference room (4.50 x 6.50 m), a dining room (5.50 x 7.30 m), a kitchen and utility rooms, a bedroom, a chapel, the Bishop's bedroom with dressing room and bathroom, a guest room and a toilet block.

The basement extends below about 2/3 of the building and contains utility rooms.

According to the axonometric drawing of the exterior treatment of the plot around the building, dated January 1911, a landscaped garden with paths, formal beds, an arbour (open kiosk) and fountain was envisaged to the south-west of the building, but this was never carried out. In 1925, instead of the terrace designed to be to the south-west of the building, a garage with a footprint of approx. 5 x 21.85 m was built(7).

There is now a parking area behind the Bishop’s Palace, on the north-west part of the plot.

THE MOVABLE HERITAGE

1. ARCHANGEL MICHAEL AND ST JOHN THE BAPTIST (PRECURSOR)

Artist: unidentified Serbian icon painter

Date: 17th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 43 x 31.4 cm

Description: The standing figures of the Archangel Michael and St John the Baptist are portrayed against a gold background. The archangel is in military garb, with a blue, short-sleeved tunic, gold breastplate and red chlamys. He is holding a sword in his right hand and an open scroll of paper in his left. St John the Baptist is wearing a blue camel-hair robe and a dark greenish himation. His right hand is on his breast, while in his left he is holding a scroll with the inscriptions: "Repent yet: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3,2) and "And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees" (Matthew 3,10).

The saints are depicted in full frontal poses, with their haloes indicated against the gold background by double punched circlets. Their names are inscribed in red above their haloes.

The border, which is somewhat wider than the central panel, has floral ornaments on all four sides – twining vines with bold green flowers with red seeds at their hearts.

The layer of paint on the icon has worn thin in places.

Judging from the skin tones, although they are in poor condition, the modelling of the wide brown shadows, the black lines indicating the strands of hair and beard, the short white highlights around the eyes, and the small mouths with white highlights above and below, this is the work of an unidentified late 17th century Serbian icon painter attempting to imitate his precursor, Georgije Mitrinović. (Rakić, 1998, 105-106)

2. THE APOSTLES IN A DEESIS COMPOSITION – PART OF THE TEMPLON OF THE ICONOSTASIS FROM MAČKOVAC

Artist: unidentified Serbian icon painter (master from Mačkovac)

Date: 17th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 43 x 94 cm

Description: The artist who made the iconostasis in Zavala also made the iconostasis for the church in Mačkovac, of which only two sections of the templon have survived, with the apostles in a Deesis composition. The central section of the templon, portraying Christ flanked by the Virgin and John, and the apostles Peter and Paul, has been lost.

The right-hand board portrays the apostles Thomas, James, Thaddeus and Luke, and the left-hand the apostles Mark, Simon, Bartholomew and John. The figures are set below relief arches, decorated on the underside with astragals, supported by uprights that are widened at the base. The treatment of the figures of the apostles in the Deesis composition is the same on this templon and on the one from Zavala. They are holding white rotuli, except for Luke and Mark who are holding the Gospels. The background is gold above and two shades of green, dark and then light, below. The names of the saints are inscribed in cinnabar red (vermilion). The draperies are for the most part in a combination of red and blue, draped with broad black pleats, and turned up at the bottom as though fluttering in the wind. The haloes are indicated by an engraved and punched circlet. The squarish faces are executed with black lines and shadows around the eyes.

The background of the gilded carving is red. At the end of the frieze is a panel painted red, upon which is painted a white rose with three buds (Rakić, 1998, 126.127).

3. THE NEVER-SLEEPING EYE WITH APOSTLES AND OLD TESTAMENT KINGS – TYMPANUM OF THE ROYAL DOORS OF THE ICONOSTASIS FROM PAPRAĆA

Artist: icon painter Stanoje Popović of Martinci

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 66 x 153.2 cm

Description: The priest and icon painter Stanoje Popović from the village of Martinci was among the finest artists of early Baroque icon painting just before it died out in the mid 18th century. In Bosnia, he made the iconostasis for the monumental church of the Papraća monastery, of which only fragments and a few icons have survived, now in Sarajevo, Visoko and Blagaj near Mostar. Stanoje's art is directly associated with the post-Byzantine tradition of iconography. He probably gained his basic craft working with an artist trained in the studios of Salonika: the baroque elements used by icon painter Stanoje resemble much more closely those of Salonika than of the Russo-Ukrainian Baroque, which was extremely popular in Serbian icon painting at that time. He painted for the monasteries of Šišatovac, Kuveždin, Vrdnik, Privina Glava, and many other churches in Srem. His signature style was fully developed to the point of precision of line and full maturity of colour palette.

The subject of the Never-Sleeping Eye is commonly used for the tympanum of an iconostasis, above the composition of the Annunciation(8) or, more rarely, the Deesis(9). Complex iconographic subjects such as the Never-Sleeping Eye entered the decorative repertoire on the altar partitions of Serbian churches in the early 14th century, under the influence of Serbian theologians from Hilandar and Salonika-based artists working for King Milutin in St Nikita in Čučero, where this subject is to be found on the painted decorations of the partition pillar even before 1316 (Rakić, 1998, 38). In Srem, Banat, Bačka and Hungary, where icon painting flourished in the first half of the 18th century, this religious subject was readily adopted, since it was at that very time, under the influence of Russian and Ukrainian Baroque literature, that moralistic and didactic ecclesiastical and lay literature was evolving at that time. This much-used motif reflected the general spiritual and artistic state of Serbian early Baroque, which adopted this literary and artistic subject, imbued with the emotion of a much earlier symbolism – the ever-watchful love of Christ.

The tympanum with the composition of the Never-Sleeping Eye flanked by the Old Testament kings David and Solomon, and the right-hand section of the templon with prophets, are the only surviving parts of the old iconostasis of the Papraća monastery(10).

The tympanum with the Never-Sleeping Eye from the church in Neštin, painted by the icon painter Stanoje in 1741, is housed in the Matica srpska gallery in Novi Sad. Its iconographic and stylistic treatment reveals all the attributes of the Papraća artist. Both icons are set in narrow gilded frames(11) carved in bas-relief with the same spiralling foliage design. The inscriptions recording the names of the figures portrayed are in lettering of the identical shape. The chequerboard floor of the interior, running in two directions and narrowing in perspective, and the simple line of the flowers in the panels, which are not hatched, are among the typical elements by which the work of the icon painter Stanoje may be recognized. He borrowed this element from the engravings of the evangelists in the Russian Bible. The archangels framing the scene on the tympanums in Papraća and Neštin are depicted in a very distinctive pose, hovering as though they had leapt in the air on one foot. On the Papraća tympanum, Stanoje painted the Archangel Gabriel with a vessel containing the instruments of the Passion – the icon painter taking iconographic liberties(12). He painted the Archangel Michael holding a cloth opposite the Archangel Gabriel. The Virgin is standing beside him. The central section of the tympanum portrays the figure of Christ in a blue robe with a gold-bordered red cloak, one hand bent below his head and the other at his side, and his right leg crossed over his left. The portrayal of Christ is set in an ochre-toned oval surrounded by a red line, with red drapery above the oval and a view of a city below. A rectangular panel beside the Archangel Michael contains the figure of King David, portrayed as a middle-aged man with grey beard and hair who is turned slightly to the left towards Christ and the archangels. He is wearing a crown, and a red cloak decorated with gold panels. He has a scroll in his left hand with an inscription (the initial red, the other letters dark), to which he is pointing with his right. Opposite King David, in a matching rectangular panel, is King Solomon, turned slightly to the right towards Christ and the archangels. He is wearing a red cloak decorated with gold panels, and a blue robe. He has a scroll in his right hand with an inscription (the initial red, the other letters dark), to which he is pointing with his left.

The decorative borders of the fabric, the bold floral ornaments woven in gold, the unusual skin tones, the shape of the hands and feet, the gold haloes surrounded by red and white lines, and the highly distinctive and daring colour harmony in a delicate balance of a number of primary colours with no variegation, are enough to remove all doubt that the priest Stanoje, one of the best icon painters in the Karlovac metropolitanate, worked in Papraća (Rakić, 1998, 149-151)

4. THE PROPHETS AARON, JACOB, EZEKIEL, HABAKKUK AND ZECHARIAH – PART OF A TEMPLON

Artist: icon painter Stanoje Popović of Martinci

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 161 x 44.5 cm

Description: This, the only surviving piece of the templon of the iconostasis, depicts five prophets from the Deesis composition, facing the missing central scene of the Deesis itself. The prophet Aaron is wearing the robes of an Old Testament priest and holding his flowering rod, Jacob is portrayed with the ladder to heaven, Ezekiel with double doors, Aaron with a bush, and Zechariah with an open scroll.

The nearest parallel to this plaque is the tripartite Deesis composition with the apostles on the templon of the iconostasis from Banoštor, now in the Matica srpska gallery in Novi Sad. The apostles from Banoštor are also set in a bas-relief carved gilded frame of small pillars with rosettes between and arcades with rope-twist and palm frond designs, like the Papraća prophets. The icon painter Stanoje portrays the apostles full-length, but the prophets are shown knee-length, cut off at the point where the coffered floor begins in the case of the apostles. The background is the same on both iconostases, blue above and marbled below. The artistic treatment is the same, and the beardless figures of the apostles Thomas and Philip are very similar to those of the prophets Avacum and Zechariah, as are those of the older men beside them; among both the apostles and the prophets they have long beards and the same facial expression (the apostle Bartholomew and the prophets Aaron and Jacob) (Rakić, 1998, 151)

5. ST STEFAN NEMANJA AND ST DEMETRIUS

Artist: unidentified Serbian baroque icon painter

Date: mid 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 24.3 x 21 cm

Description: The standing figures of St Stefan Nemanja and St Demetrius are portrayed against a gold background and dark hillock with a small tree on the summit. The Serbian inscriptions with the names of the saints are in cinnabar red above their heads (St Stefan Nemanja's inscription is missing). St Stefan Nemanja is portrayed in a monk's habit, with a monk's cowl on his head and an analabos around his neck, painted with red crosses on bases (symbol of the cross of Golgotha) and Adam's skull (symbol of human sin, redeemed by Christ's death on the cross). Christ's initials were inscribed in cinnabar red around the cross, but only vestiges now survive. He is holding an open scroll inscribed with the words: "See the enemy [the devil] has cast his net about the land." He is holding in his left hand a model of his principal and greatest architectural work – the Studenica monastery. The model also shows the tower that was erected over the west entrance to the monastery in the 13th century, and part of the massive monastery boundary wall.

St Demetrius is portrayed as a warrior with a spear in his right hand and a palm branch in his left, the symbol of his martyrdom. He is wearing a gold breastplate and dark tunic decorated with gold bead borders. He has gold boots, and over his left shoulder is a gold chlamys with red outlines and folds. The full-length cloak on his back is damaged and hard to make out. The saints' haloes were originally larger, but later indicated by a smaller red circlet. At top centre is a dove with wings outstretched – the Holy Spirit.

The faces of the saints, with their ruddy cheeks, particularly St Demetrius', where the flush extends to his neck, ears and eyelids, are already largely marked by the influence of western Baroque art. SS Simeun and Demetrius have the features of actual portraits, making them much more realistic than the Byzantine stylization that was still retained in Serbian 17th icon painting. The artistic treatment could also possibly indicate a Russian origin for this icon, although the Serbian inscriptions suggest the hand of a local icon painter (Rakić, 1998, 156-157)

6. THE VIRGIN OF THE SIGN WITH FIGURES OF SAINTS IN MEDALLIONS

Artist: unidentified Serbian Baroque icon painter

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 51 x 55.5 cm

Description: There are many signatures for the Virgin Oranta with a medallion of Christ on her bosom (several toponyms, as well as hymnal and dogmatic signatures). The iconographic formula of the mother and son with a medallion features a mother who is not holding her child but has her arms outstretched to save the world. This subject came into being as an expression of a profound theological synthesis of the incarnation of the logos – the wisdom and advocacy of the mother – the light of a parent.

Dogmatically speaking, the figure of the Virgin of the Sign pertains to the Virgin Sign of the Logis, while the poetic term Širšaja – spanning the heavens – is but an outstanding metaphor for the position of the empress of the world as the Virgin. In Serbian monumental mural art the Virgin Oranta with a medallion of Christ on her bosom, Spanning the Heavens, is often to be found in a place of honour in the conch of the apse or the altar space. In Byzantine art the type of the Virgin as advocate was quite widespread, and far more popular than any of her other variants.

The self-taught local icon painter attempted to make the subject as ceremonial as possible. The Virgin's large, wide-open eyes and the smile hovering on her lips were intended to convey the sense of both the passion and the mercy of the Mother of God. The icon is quite badly damaged, particularly the greater part of the gilded background. The Virgin's halo had a punched surround with punched floral decorations within, of which only vestiges are now discernible. The medallion of Christ was also gold-hatched. The artist modelled the drapery merely with a thick line, which still manages to convey a sense of volume.

To right and left are wide borders with medallions in imitation of Baroque cartouches interlinked by spiralling foliar ornaments and containing the figures of various saints. At the top are the archangels Michael and Gabriel, the former holding a sword and orb, the latter holding a sword and giving a blessing. In the middle, to the left and right of the Virgin, are St Nicholas and St Sava the Serb, as archpriests, holding the Gospels in one hand and giving a blessing with the other. At the bottom are military saints on horseback – to the left, St George killing the dragon, and to the right St Demetrius spearing Kaloyan (Rakić, 1998, 160-162)

7. DEESIS WITH PROPHETS AND SAINTS

Artist: Todor Stefanović Valjevac

Date: 1767

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 113 x 91 cm

Description: The central panel, accentuated by carving and gilded, depicts the usual scene of the Deesis with Christ on a Baroque-style throne flanked by the Virgin and St John the Precursor. The lower part of this central panel portrays St Nicholas, as archpriest on a throne, with to the side the figure of holy warriors on horseback – St George killing the dragon (left) and St Demetrius with a spear (right). Christ's Gospels, the haloes, arms and legs of the saints, and St Demetrius' spear are mounted with embossed silver. Above this central rectangular panel are the kneeling figures of the archangels Michael and Gabriel framed in a band, and the bust of God the Father holding a mitre, set in rays of light. The lower section contains the half-length figures of St Petka, St Sava, St Simeon Nemanje, St Stefan the First-Crowned and St Anne. It is not unusual for the figures of the leading Serbian saints to be portrayed, but it is significant in indicating the spread of their cult to all Serb-inhabited lands, including those under the Ottomans in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. To left and right are baroque medallions interlinked by roses and fleur-de-lis, six on each side, with the figures of prophets. Bottom right is an inscription in white recording that the painting Molenie raba božiega Tomi and the date (1767). The artist's signature – Teodor Stefanov pisa – is in the extreme right corner of the painting.

The work of this artist reflects a new spiritual climate and changes in the attitude of the leaders of the Serbian Orthodox Church to long-since outmoded models and proponents of iconography. In the Belgrade pashaluk, Patriarch Arsenije IV Jovanović's appeal to artists to come to Sremski Karlovci to study under the experience Russian icon painter, the gifted Jovo Vasilijevič, met with a response. Among the first artists from Serbia to study under him was Teodor Stefanović Valjevac or Gologlavac, as he also signed his works, after his birthplace, the village of Golo Glava near Valjevo. Typically, Stefanović no longer signed his works as an icon painter but as a house painter; it is also true that his work often took him away from his home to Srem, Bačka or Bosnia. His earliest works are in Srem, the iconostasis of the church in Šatrinci and the iconostasis of the Divša monastery, made in the 1750s. In the 1760s Stefanović returned home, and then worked for a while in and around Šapac, a town with strong economic and cultural links with Srem and Sremski Karlovci. A year before painting this icon of the Deesis, he made the iconostasis in the Kaoni cave-church monastery, near Koceljevo, in Brankovina, where the princes of Valjevo were based.

In about 1766-1767 Teodor Stefanović was in Bosnia, where he created a number of icons. In addition to this Deesis, he also put his name to an icon of the Virgin with Christ and St John in Tešanj. The icon dedicated to SS Cosma and Damian, also in the Tešanj collection, is also ascribed to him.

The Deesis icon was made in 1767, and falls between the iconography of the first half of the 18th century and the emergence of the first trained Serbian baroque artists, belonging wholly neither to the one nor the other style. The drapery of the figures is still modelled linear-fashion for the most part, without the restlessness of the Baroque, decorated with a dotted ornament and a network of gold stylizations on Christ's himation – a direct borrowing from the art of the icon painter. Christ's somewhat baroque-style throne, the edges accentuated by white dots, was also seen by Stefanović on the icons of early baroque icon painters from Srem. The anatomically surprisingly accurate figure of St George's and St Demetrius' horses and the first signs of a realistic treatment of the faces of the saints (in the case of Christ, the Virgin and John the Precursor), however, already hint at the influence of the western Baroque, which gradually came to dominate Serbian iconography during the second half of the 18th century as a result of the links between the Karlovac metropolitanate and the Ukraine and Kiev. This influence is also to be seen in the bouquets of flowers and the baroque-style cartouches with prophets in the bands surrounding the icon (Rakić, 1998, 165-167)

8. HOLY TRINITY WITH THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL, ST SAVA THE SERB AND JOHN THE BAPTIST (PRECURSOR)

Artist: Risto Nikolić

Date: 1861

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 117 x 83.5 cm

Description: The painted area is divided by clouds into two horizontal sections. The top section depicts the Holy Trinity: God the Son with the cross on which he was crucified, holding the Gospels, God the Father holding a baroque sceptre, and the Holy Spirit, as a dove emanating rays of light. Below the feet of Christ and the Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, is an orb topped by a cross. The Holy Trinity is surrounded by angels of various ranks and appearance.

The bottom section depicts the standing figure of the Archangel Michael as a warrior, holding a sword and scales, St Sava as the first Serbian archbishop, giving a blessing with one hand and holding his bishop's crosier in the other, and the Winged St John the Baptist with his severed head in one hand and a long cross in the other, which is raised in blessing. Between the archangel and St Sava is the donor's inscription, recording that the icon was the gift of Trifko Ristić, a merchant and resident of Zvornik, on 9 June 1861; the artist signed himself Rista Nikolić, icon painter.(13) (Rakić, 1998, 179-181)

9. THE VIRGIN AND JOHN THE BAPTIST FROM A DEESIS

Artist: unidentified Cretan artist

Date: second half of the 15th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 78.2 x 52 cm

Description: Since the middle Byzantine period (843-1204), large icons have been mounted above a marble parapet, between the pillars supporting an architrave. There were usually four icons, depicting Christ in the middle flanked by the Virgin and St John the Baptist, together composing the Deesis, calling upon God and the patron saints of the church. Above this is the templon, which since the 10th century has been adorned with paintings of the church festivals.

The icons of the Virgin and St John were brought to Tuzla from the Lomnica monastery, and are the only surviving pieces of a now lost iconostasis, where they were probably mounted among the throne icons. The central icon, portraying Christ the Judge to whom the Virgin and John are appealing for the salvation of human souls, has been lost. Even on the icon of the Virgin, all that has survived is the head; the entire lower part of the icon, as well as the topmost board with the top of the maphorion, are later additions, the crude work of a local painter. However, the part that has survived reveals the hand of a superb artist, who worked in Crete, remaining true to the finest traditions of 14th century Byzantine icon painting. The slight influence of the Italian Renaissance can be observed in the Virgin's extremely gentle, lovely face, slightly flushed cheeks and softly achieved volumes, fully moulded, with none of the linearism of the Byzantine view of spirituality. The gold tassels and zigzag decoration of the edge of the maphorion reveal a sensitive feeling for ornament.

John's thin, elongated face with sunken cheeks is also well moulded, but with a calligraphic emphasis of the musculature of the face. Pale lines are used to indicate the main highlights, while the pedantry of the linear approach is particularly noticeable in the long, wavy, tonally shaded strands of John's hair. His face, unlike that of the Virgin, is deeply contemplative, full of anxiety for the unfathomable mysteries of the Last Judgment which the human soul must face. The artistry of the unidentified Cretan master is particularly marked in John's hands, with their long, slender fingers. The colour harmony of the grey-green and light red of John's mantle and robe, underlined by the gleaming gold background, contributes to the overall harmony of the painting. The drapery is richly gathered, treated in the strict geometric stylizations of the Byzantine tradition, which completely conceal the form of John's body and creating an abstract, disembodied impression.

The Tuzla icons of the Virgin and John from the Deesis belong among the finest surviving examples of early Cretan icon painting in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Rakić, 1998, 189-192)

10. TWO HERMITS WITH SCENES FROM THEIR LIVES (ANTHONY THE GREAT AND PAUL OF LATROS)

Artist: unidentified Cretan artist

Date: 16th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 34.8 x 46 cm

Description: In the foreground are the standing figures of two famous hermits – St Anthony the Great, in a monk's cassock, and St Paul of Latros, in goatskins. In the vertical design of the composition, the background around them consists of a picturesque landscape with many small figures of monks going about their business in the desert. This typically Byzantine subject was a favourite at that time. Busy compositions with many small scenes of the life of a saint in the desert were often painted on, for example, icons depicting the death of St Ephraim the Syrian in the desert, painted in Crete from the 15th century onwards.

This icon is an example of Cretan painting remaining true in every regard to the pure Orthodox tradition. Only the small figure of a deer in the bottom left-hand corner, which is an idyllic motif adopted from Italian art, departs from the Byzantine style. In the background, the heads of hermits peering from their caves can be seen, while to the right is the figure of a hermit making some article or other. At the beginning of his life as a hermit, St Anthony used to make various articles which he sold to buy bread to feed the hungry. Beside this cave is the hovel in which St Anthony lived as an anchorite for a time. At the top of the icon is the monastery that would usually be built at the foot of an isolated rocky desert outcrop. In these monasteries lived monks who sang, read, prayed, fasted and worked so that they could distribute alms. On this icon, there are monks seated on a bench reading, and monks with tools working a patch of ground planted with flowers. The man who carried St Anthony on his back is also featured. This man was an acquaintance of his who used to bring him food; finding him once badly wounded, he thought he was dead and carried him on his back to the village. There is also a man on horseback, probably one of the many monks who used to come to St Anthony the Great for advice. A spring of water bursting from a rock is depicted in the bottom left-hand corner of the icon, along with the small figure of a monk holding a staff. It was a common miracle of the desert hermits to create water where there was none, through the power of prayer; this is ascribed to both Anthony and Paul.

At the top of the icon, against the gold background, are the vestiges of a Greek inscription in red, with the names of the saints. The technique reveals an unusually minute attention to detail, while the composition, despite the mass of details, constitutes a tightly-knit, harmonious whole (Rakić, 1998, 200-201)

11. THE VIRGIN HODIGITRIA

Artist: unidentified Cretan artist

Date: first half of the 16th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 52 x 39.5 cm

Description: The Virgin is portrayed with the infant Christ in the well-known iconographic type of the Hodigitria, though not given here in the rigidly formal variant of the erect, frontal figures of the mother and child, lacking any bond of emotion. The figures are slightly leaning towards and facing each other, and the sense of tenderness between them is created by the subtle position of the heads – the Virgin's tilted towards her child's, and Christ's raised towards hers. Christ, his left foot slightly raised, is portrayed giving a blessing with one hand and holding a scroll in the other.

The way in which the draper and skin tones are modelled, and indeed the entire artistic treatment, is strictly true to the classical Cretan tradition of the late 15th and early 16th century. The soft shadowing of the faces, and the typical punched floral ornament of the haloes, adopted from the Venetian Renaissance, are an integral part of the eclecticism of Cretan art, which nonetheless remained true in essence to the spirit of Byzantine art of the time of the Paleologi. Christ's chiton is richly hatched with gold, as is the border of the Virgin's maphorion and the fringes of the sleeves. This icon is one of the best-preserved creations of 16th century Cretan art in this part of the world (Rakić, 1998, 201-202)

12. THE VIRGIN GLYKOPHILOUSA

Artist: unidentified Cretan artist

Date: second half of the 16th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 51.4 x 39.8 cm

Description: The Virgin is portrayed in the well-known iconographic type of the Glycophilousa, created in this manner on the icons of Andreas Ritzos in the second half of the 15th century. The haloes, set against the gold background, are quite badly damaged, but can still be seen to have punched decoration, in the already familiar manner adopted from Venetian art. Only traces of the Virgin's and Christ's initials have survived.

The basic impression is created by the broad highlighted surfaces of the plump-cheeked faces with cool chestnut-brown shading. This shading gives the Virgin's face a distinctive expressivity. A profound sense of wistfulness can be seen in her dark, rather wide-set eyes, still of the almond shape of classical Cretan icon painting, with long, slightly arched eyebrows. The skill of the artistic treatment can also be seen in the subtle contrast of the cool shadows and warm, light pink skin tones. Christ's himation follows the contours of his body, revealing its roundedness (Rakić, 1998, 217-218)

13. THE VIRGIN WITH CHRIST AND THE INFANT ST JOHN THE BAPTIST

Artist: unidentified Italo-Cretan artist

Date: 16th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 92 x 75.2 cm

Description: This typically Renaissance iconographic motif of the Virgin with the infant Christ and St John the Baptist with a lamb, the children communicating with each other, is given here in a markedly Byzantine interpretation by a Greek artist who has created a distinctive symbiosis of the Venetian and the Cretan. The lamb, symbol of Christ's sacrifice, here constitutes a vivid expression of John's saying that Christ is the Lamb of God, which features in the Latin text on the scroll around John's long staff topped by a cross (Agnus Dei). In 16th century Venetian art, this was a common subject, set in a lifelike landscape with the curly-haired, plump, naked Christ standing in the Virgin's lap. The Virgin is garbed in magnificent Renaissance draperies with a deep slash at the neck, and is bare-headed. The treatment of the figures is lifelike, with portrait-like characteristics. The Greek artist who painted this icon remained within the framework of the Byzantine artistic tradition and spirituality, adopted only certain formal elements from the Renaissance milieu in which he lived. He gave the icon a gold background, and portrayed the Virgin in the manner usual for the Hodigitria, with Christ on her left arm. Their clothing – the Virgin's maphorion, covering her head, and high-necked under-robe, and Christ's chiton and himation, richly hatched with gold – as well as Christ's straight hair, are entirely true to Greek post-Byzantine art. The border of the Virgin's maphorion, with gold ornament consisting of twining vines, the white scarf over her head instead of a Greek cap, and the small gold lily-like decorations on her robe, are borrowed from Venetian Renaissance art.

The major influence of the western Renaissance, also indicating that the icon was painted in Venice, is to be seen in the treatment of the skin tones, with soft tonal shading lacking any linear strokes. This modelling gives the faces volume, free of Byzantine stylization, but is still remote from the western Renaissance style of true-to-life figures. This icon is an excellent example of the isolation of Greek art and its resistance to the powerful influences of the Renaissance environment in which Greek artists lived in Venice (Rakić, 1998, 225-227)

14. PIETÀ

Artist: Emmanuell Lambardos

Date: early 17th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 28.7 x 22.8 cm

Description: When painting this western iconographic motif, Lambardos remained true to the Italian models and to depictions of the Virgin's open maphorion and the white scarf over her head below the hood of the maphorion. His artistic treatment reveals a return to the models of 14th century Byzantine art. The artist's signature is in the lower part of the icon, by the rock on which the Virgin is seated.

The Virgin seated on a bare rock, the shape of which seems to be an extension of the outlines of her maphorion, with the dead Christ laid horizontally in her lap, is a common subject of 15th century Cretan art. Lambardos' icon reiterates the treatment of those early Cretan icons (Rakić, 1998, 228-230)

15. THE VIRGIN WITH CHRIST ENTHRONED (OUR LADY OF THE ANGELS)

Artist: unidentified Cretan artist

Date: early 17th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 118 x 80 cm

Description: The top corners of the icon features the busts of angels, hands concealed under their draperies, doing honour to the Virgin, who is seated on a wooden, Byzantine-style throne. Her hands are laid gently on the shoulders of the infant Christ, who is seated on her left knee. The Virgin's left leg is raised slightly to accommodate the child. The draping on the icon is executed with close-set, sharply angled folds. The modelling of the faces is strictly linear, with thick clusters of parallel white lines and sharp shading. The tendril-like gold ornament on the backrest of the throne is the only element typical of the Italian style, and is also the most prominent decoration on the icon (Rakić, 1998, 233-235)

16. THE TOMB OF ST SPIRIDON

Artist: unidentified Cretan artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 56.5 x 45 cm

Description: This depiction of the tomb of St Spiridon has markedly Baroque stylistic features in the usual 17th century Cretan iconographic formula, which was especially popular among Cretan artists. On many icons of St Spiridon, the saint from Corfu is celebrated as the patron saint of sailors and olive trees, depicted in archpriest's vestments in an upright sarcophagus. In this icon, the saint's relics are on display in a reliquary of western Baroque architecture, decorated with cherubim and statues. The sides of the tomb are richly decorated with gold plant stylizations. The balustrade around the tomb, shown in true perspective, is set on a coffered ground. The top corners of the icon contain typical Baroque drapes, often featured by 18th century Greek artists on icons painted by them in Venice. The tomb is flanked by two angels in flight with palm branches and scrolls in one hand, holding the glass cover of the tomb in the other. The archangels Michael and Gabriel are depicted in such paintings above the tomb, not down beside it. Their scrolls bear Greek texts. The angels' draperies are swirling and fluttering elaborately, with rounded hems. A Latin inscription on the gold background of the icon reads: Reliquary of St Spiridon (Rakić, 1998, 263-264)

17. THE VIRGIN WITH CHRIST

Artist: unidentified Italo-Cretan artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 30.2 x 30 cm

Description: The Virgin is portrayed against a gold background in the usual iconographic type of the Madre di Consolazione, with the child on her right arm. The icon is a typical example of 18th century Greek art, still true to famous Cretan models. In a Venetian typological variant, the drapery of the Virgin's maphorion is treated with sharp geometrically stylized pleats, their conservativeness only formally imitating the former linear treatment of the post-Byzantine iconographic tradition. Christ's clothing has also lost the earlier brilliance and decorative beauty. The treatment of the skin tones, however, reveals the artist's sensitivity. The faces are treated in the typical manner of Cretan icons, their softness clashing with the stiff draperies. The Virgin's face is not devoid of expression, conveying her concerned thoughts. The initials of the figures are inscribed in the usual manner. The silver haloes, with embossed decoration, are a later addition to the icon (Rakić, 1998, 264)

18. VARIOUS SAINTS

Artist: unidentified Greek artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 33 x 27 cm

Description: This unusual icon features several saints of the Eastern and Western churches in various styles, imitating the Byzantine and Western manner. The top section of the icon, set in panels separated by clouds, contains the figures of St Anthony of Padua, the Virgin Hodigitria and St Nicholas, their gold haloes with punched rims. The light background is discreetly decorated with gold rays radiating out around the busts of the figures. St Anthony of Padua is portrayed in the manner usual in Western iconography, wearing a Franciscan habit and holding the symbols of his sainthood – a lily and the Gospels bound in gold. The Virgin Hodigitria is portrayed in the manner of Cretan icons of the strictly Byzantine formula, as is St Nicholas in archbishop's robes with the Gospels in gold.

The lower part of the icon has a gold background with the standing figures of saints. To the left is the Archangel Michael, embracing with one arm a boy praying, and pointing upwards with the other. His wings are meticulously hatched with gold, and his tunic is modelled in the baroque manner of Greek artists. St George, in full warrior's garb, is shown holding a spear and shield, with the dragon at his feet. Beside him are the relics of St Spiridon and St Catherine, in the familiar, popular iconographic formula.

There are several more or less well preserved Green inscriptions with the names of the saints beside each (Rakić, 1998, 292)

19. JERUSALEM

Artist: undefined – brought back from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Date: 1835

Technique: tempera on canvas

Size: 114 x 159 cm

Description: The figures of the Virgin of Loving Kindness (Eleousa) with Christ to the left and Christ Pantocrator to the right are particularly prominent. In the middle is the temple with a typical Jerusalem scene, and beside and slightly above it are scenes of the Descent from the Cross and the Lamentation of Christ. To the left, below the temple, is the damaged donor's inscription, where the date survives - 1835 (Rakić, 1998, 298)

20. ST JOHNTHE BAPTIST

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: second half of the 17th century

Technique: tempera on canvas

Size: 31.5 x 27.5 cm

Description: St John the Baptist is portrayed in the slightly concave painted area, holding a platter containing not his severed head, as is usual, but the symbol of Christ the Lamb of God, and a scroll. With his free hand he is pointing to the paten, mutely indicating the meaning of sacrifice and repentance. The figure of the infant Christ on the platter as the symbol of the Lamb illustrates a text from the Gospel according to John: "John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1,29). This verse is inscribed on John's scroll.

In this icon, John's halo extends over the frame, as is typical in Russian 18th century mass-produced icons. His halo and paten are gilded, and the rectangular panels with initials are decorated with baroque foliar and floral ornament worked in silver. The baroque line of the spiralling foliar ornament on the paten with the Lamb and around the panels with the initials is adopted from 17th century Ukrainian icon painting, where already by the early part of the century Western influences were making themselves strongly felt. Attempts to treat the figures of the saints realistically and the gold ornament of the background were the principal innovations of Russian reformed icon painting. John's face and hands are plastically modelled, with dark skin tones and strong highlights, particularly on the hands.

This icon was brought to Tuzla from the church in Derventa (Rakić, 1998, 310-312)

21. ST JOHN THE BAPTIST WITH SCENES FROM HIS LIFE

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 90 x 75 cm

Description: The Precursor's monumental figure as the angel of the desert, occupying the central part of the icon with smaller scenes from his life in the background, was a familiar and popular iconographic variant in Russian icons, especially in the 18th century.

Four scenes from St John's life are depicted in the background of the central figure. The top section contains compositions of the Precursor baptising the people and the First Finding of the Head of St John the Precursor. The lower section of the icon depicts the Nativity of John with Elizabeth lying on a bed and Zacharias seated beside them, writing ("And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John" – Luke 1,63), while a woman is showing him his infant son. Alongside this scene is the Beheading of St John the Precursor, with Christ looking on.

This icon, with its basically dark palette broken up by the light ochre areas of the haloes and the uncovered parts of the bodies of the figures, reveals the sure hand of a draughtsman who treats form in linear fashion, and skin tones with sharp shadows (Rakić, 1998, 315)

22. ST NICHOLAS WITH SCENES FROM HIS LIFE

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 52 x 43 cm

Description: St Nicholas, the patron saint of Russia, was the subject of a very widespread cult among Russian artists. In the 17th and 18th centuries he was often the subject of monumental portraits flanked by scenes from his life, as in this icon. The saint's hand, giving a blessing, is disproportionately small in relation to his head, which dominates the entire icon. The great head is meticulously drawn with white strokes indicating the strands of the hair and beard, and the stylized lines of the face. The post-Byzantine linear strokes of the face are by way of resistance to Western influences at that time and a conservative return to traditional elements of icon painting. On the other hand, the elaborate silver ornament, executed with engraved and punched geometric and stylized plant designs on Nicholas' halo and the bishop's vestments over his shoulders, as well as on parts of the background, reveal typically Ukrainian baroque decorative art of Western origin.

Above Nicholas' shoulders, to left and right, are circular medallions with Christ and the Virgin bestowing on him the Gospels and an omophorion. The top corners of the icon contain compositions of the Birth of St Nicholas and the Baptism of St Nicholas. The bottom section contains four scenes of his miracles: St Nicholas saving three men from the sword, the Transfer of the Relics of St Nicholas from Myra to Bari, St Nicholas and the Carpet Miracle, and the Miracle of St Nicholas and St Simeon the Holy saving Peter from the Saracen dungeon (Rakić, 1998, 321-323)

23. THE FACE OF CHRIST "NOT MADE BY HUMAN HANDS"

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 33.9 x 43.2 cm

Description: The icon depicts the Byzantine type of the divinely-wrought face of Christ, without the lines of the neck and wearing the crown of thorns. The icon retains the old iconographic type of the Mandilion, also known as Ubrus in Russian. There are no signs of suffering on Christ's face, which is of baroque-style beauty, though modelled in the traditional manner, with the strands of hair and beard drawn in linear style, as are the highlights and contours of the face. The folds of the mandilion are formulaic. The halo above him bears Christ's usual initials, and near the base of the fabric is the inscription: Uncreated Face of God.

The cloth is depicted against a silver background, held by two angels standing on clouds, their figures overlapping the band framing the icon. The faces of the angels are painted with white strokes, typical of late Russian provincial icon painting. Their reddish draperies are modelled with broad stylized areas of silver, forming a striking colour palette. The borders of the drapers and the angels' wings, the lower part of Christ's cloth, and the edges of the entire painted surface, are decorated with punched dots. The haloes of the angels bear the inscription Angels (of the Lord).

The icon belongs to the group of mass-produced Russian icons very many of which came to Serbian churches (Rakić, 1998, 324)

24. THE VIRGIN OF THE SIGN

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 28 x 21 cm

Description: The icon features the familiar type of the Virgin of the Sign – hands outspread in prayer, with a medallion seeming to hover over her bosom, containing the figure of Christ Emmanuel giving a blessing. The border and hood of the Virgin's maphorion, and the entire surface of her under-robe, are covered with decorative punched circles. The shoulders of the maphorion bear two bold symmetrical ornaments in the form of triple palm leaves emerging from Christ's medallion. This decorative motif was to become particularly popular in 18th century Russian icons, as was the magnificent decoration of the saints' draperies in Ukrainian icon painting.

The icon belongs to the group of mass-produced Russian icons very many of which came to Serbian churches. The icon belongs to the group of mass-produced Russian icons very many of which came to Serbian churches.

The icon came to Tuzla from the church in Bijeljina (Rakić, 1998, 326)

25. THE VIRGIN OF SMOLENSK

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 39.7 x 31.5 cm

Description: Russian icons of the Virgin of Smolensk are known only from the 14th and 15th century, although legend has it that the original icon of the Virgin Hodigitria was presented in the Cathedral Church in Smolensk in the early 12th century. The immediate Greek origin of this type of icon has not been identified, although another legend has it that the icon was brought from Byzantium to Russia in the 10th century. The original icon of the Virgin of Smolensk originated in the southern Slav regions, and is a combined Greek and Slav type. This iconography probably derived from depictions of the seated Hodigitria in Byzantium, which themselves were based on Syrio-Egyptian models.

The lower band of the icon bears an inscription to the effect that it shows the Virgin of Smolensk. The icon probably belongs to the same Ukrainian workshop as that of St John the Precursor in Sarajevo, since the basic decorative impression is achieved by the same means. Everything except the Virgin's and Christ's faces and hands and narrow area of the draperies painted red, ochre and blue is covered in silver, which is richly decorated with punched and engraved geometric and floral ornament. The hood and border of the Virgin's maphorion and Christ's himation are completely covered with close-set punched designs, while the bold palm leaves of the lower part of the Virgin's maphorion, combined with the ochre and red areas, give the entire icon its basic decorative effect.

The faces are modelled with soft shading and linear facial strokes with white hatching on the highlights, and are far remote from the baroque realism of the saints' figures (Rakić, 1998, 328)

26. CHRIST PANTOCRATOR

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 71 x 54 cm

Description: Icons portraying Christ in this manner belong to the Pantocrator or Lord of the Worlds type. In Russia, some of them were also given specific titles. Since Christ's eyes look straight at the observer, this icon was dubbed the Saviour with the Eye of Wrath, a term also used for other icons of Christ with a similar facial expression.

The icon depicts Christ as the supernal judge and teacher of humankind, holding the Gospels open at a text from the Gospel according to Matthew (11, 28-29): "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me." Christ is giving a blessing with his other hand. The silver, which is covered with yellowish varnish to imitate gold, is decorated with punched and engraved geometric and floral ornament.

The icon is the product of an 18th century Ukrainian baroque artist's workshop.

The icon was brought to Tuzla from the church in Bijeljina (Rakić, 1998, 329-331)

27. ST SPIRIDON THE MIRACLE-WORKER

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 71 x 56 cm

Description: This icon is very similar in size and stylistic features to the previous one, and was presumably brought to Tuzla from the same iconostasis in the church in Bijeljina.

St Spiridon is portrayed in bishop's vestments with a mitre on his head, giving a blessing with one hand and holding the Gospels open in the other at the text: "But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea; and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan, and they about Tyre and Sidon" (Mark 3, 7-8). To the left of the saint is a line engraving of the mandorla with Christ seated on clouds holding the Gospels and blessing the saints. Above is the inscription, in abbreviated form: Figure of St Spiridon of Trieste. The silver parts of the icon, with narrow painted areas, are entirely covered with engraved geometric and stylized plant ornament (Rakić, 1998, 331-332)

28. THE VIRGIN

Artist: unidentified Ukrainian artist

Date: 18th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 37 x 31 cm

Description: A bust of the Virgin addressing Christ with a text in her hand, as usual with this type of iconography: O heavenly Lord, receive . . . (the prayers of thy most loving mother).

The icon was brought to Tuzla from the church in Bijeljina and forms a set with the icons of the Virgin of Smolensk, Christ and St Spiridon, and St John the Baptist from the church in Sarajevo (Rakić, 1998, 332-333)

29. THE ANNUNCIATION

Artist: unidentified Ukrainian artist

Date: 1791

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 31.7 x 25.5 cm

Description: The slightly concave painted area of the icon contains a composition of the Annunciation. In the foreground are the bold, almost frontal figures of the Archangel Gabriel and the Virgin. The archangel is pointing with raised hand to a section of the sky with rays, while the Virgin is standing meditatively, holding a copy of the Gospels bound in gold. Between them, in a circular section, is the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, surrounded by rays descending upon the Virgin, indicating the conception of Christ. To the top right is the title of the scene, while the year when the icon was painted is inscribed in the bottom left corner.

Western baroque influences can be seen on the icon (Rakić, 1998, 333)

30. THE ENTRY INTO JERUSALEM

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: late 18th or early 19th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 35.5 x 30 cm

Description: Christ's entry into Jerusalem is depicted with just the few essential figures, without the narrative details that usually abound in this scene. Christ on a donkey, accompanied by three disciples, is at the gates of Jerusalem, where three Jews are awaiting him. The dark skin tones accentuate the white lines of the saints' faces. The surrounding band bears an inscription: Depiction of the Entry of Our Lord into Jerusalem. The icon was brought to Tuzla from the church in Bijeljina (Rakić, 1998, 335)

31. RESURRECTION OF CHRIST WITH FESTIVAL SCENES

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: late 18th or early 19th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 44.7 x 37.2 cm

Description: The central panel of the icon depicts the resurrection of Christ in two scenes – as an Angel at the Tomb and the Descent into Hades. The upper part contains scenes of the Nativity of the Virgin, the Presentation in the Temple, the Annunciation, and the Nativity of Christ. To the left are compositions of the Visitation and the Entry into Jerusalem and to the right the Baptism of Christ and the Transfiguration. The lower section depicts the Ascension, the Hospitality of Abraham, the Death of the Virgin, and the Raising of the Cross. The titles are inscribed around the scenes. The line of the basic contours is filled in with yellow, orange or dark blue, with no attempt at modelling. (Rakić, 1998, 336)

32. DORMITION OF THE VIRGIN

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: late 18th or early 19th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 38.5 x 31 cm

Description: The icon depicts the Virgin's catafalque, flanked on either side by six apostles in a vertical composition. By the catafalque is Christ with an infant, the Virgin's soul, in his arms. The folds of the draperies are indicated by lines, while greater attention has been paid to the cloth covering the Virgin's catafalque. Near the top of the icon is the inscription: Depiction of the Dormition of the Holy Virgin (Rakić, 1998, 337)

33. VARIOUS SAINTS

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: late 18th or early 19th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 39 x 33 cm

Description: A common subject among mass-produced Russian icons was a composition of three rows of saints. On this icon the top row features the Virgin of Kazansk with Christ, the Descent into Hell, and St Nicholas. The middle row depicts the Archangel Michael flanked by three saints on each side. The bottom row portrays St George on horseback, St Barnabas the Martyr, and St Demetrius.

The icon was brought to Tuzla from the church in Bijeljina (Rakić, 1998, 338)

34. CHRIST'S CRUCIFIXION WITH SAINTS

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: late 18th or early 19th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 37.3 x 31.4 cm

Description: The middle of the icon depicts the Crucifixion against a starry sky, with the Sabaoth or Lord of Hosts at the top and flanked by the Virgin and St John. The top part depicts the Virgin of Kazansk with Christ and St John, and the bottom the figures on horseback of the Archangel Michael and St George (Rakić, 1998, 339)

35. VISITATION OF CHRIST

Artist: unidentified Russian artist

Date: 19th century

Technique: tempera on board

Size: 35.6 x 30 cm

Description: The visitation of Christ is depicted in the usual manner – with St Simeon the Holy holding the infant Christ in his arms, the Virgin, the prophetess Anna, and Joseph. The colour palette, dominated by yellow and blue, and the draperies with their yellow strokes, regardless of the basic colour, are characteristic of many Russian icons of this type (Rakić, 1998, 340)

 

3. Legal status to date

By Ruling of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, no. UP-I-03-94-2 of 1970, the Bishops' Palace in Tuzla, property of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla, was placed under state protection and entered in the Register of Immovable Cultural Monuments.

 

4. Research and conservation and restoration works

The exploitation of Tuzla's salt deposits has led to subsidence, and the appearance of cracks in the walls of the Metropolitan's Palace. The experts' report of 1984 reveals that repairs to the property were carried out in 1982. The Municipal Buildings Institute appointed a commission of experts (civil engineers and geologists) which surveyed the Bishop's Palace and reported as follows in May 1984 (the following is quoted from the expert team's report):

"Over the past this property too has suffered some structural damage as a result of subsidence and deformation of the soil, which, given the limited degree of damage, was made good by a simple procedure of patching up and walling up doors and windows in the main bearing walls here and there in order to give the building additional rigidity in line with the cracks that had appeared.”

"Analyzing the soil conditions beneath and around the property revealed a very different situation from that of the church. Although the buildings are relatively close to one another, the Bishop’s Palace is on levelled ground consisting of the tip of the ridge on which the church stands, extending east-west.”

"Subsidence beneath the property has so far been almost even, but with a slight tilt of the ground, and with it the building, towards the south. This tilt, caused by subsidence in the direction of the centre of gravity of maximum intensity of subsidence), has caused horizontal vector shifts in the soil, the differential extent of which is to be seen on the building in the form of cracks with maximum values in the foundations of the building, diminishing to nothing on the upper storeys.”

"Bearing in mind that the building was repaired two years ago with no major structural interventions (sealing cracks and walling up openings) and that there were no signs of new damage at the time of this survey, the Commission was able to identify only previous damage visible on the façades in the form of vertical and diagonal cracks, the presence of which is not currently an obstacle to the normal use of the property.”

"Inside the building, the Commission observed no visible damage, which may be explained by the fact that just before the Commission conducted its survey the walls were patched up and repainted, while the ceilings were covered with prefabricated tiles and, in places, with wooden panelling.”

"Based on the state of the building as found and the extent of the damage, it may be concluded that at this stage the stability of the building is not at risk."

On the drawings of the façades of the Metropolitan’s Palace as they were in April 1985 (initial project for repairs, Current condition, drawings of façade scale 1:50, Bishop's Palace Tuzla, drawn up by the Civil Engineering Institute Zagreb, Zagreb, 30 April 1985), the position of the cracks is indicated, with their length, width and direction. According to these drawings, the west side had the most cracks, which were up to as much as 2 metres or so in length and 5 cm in width, and were located below the ground floor windows and on the window parapets of the first floor; to the north, the cracks were in the walls only, to a height of about 1 metre above ground level; on the east façade there were minor cracks about 50-60 cm long on the ground-floor parapet, and on the south façade there were racks up to about 100 cm in length below the ground-floor parapet.

According to information from the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport, in 1988 repair works were carried out on the Metropolitan's Palace: „In 1988 builders from the Tuzla company Tehnograda completed an undertaking that was unique in this country – restoring the Bishop's Palace and Cathedral Church to the horizontal. One side of the church and palace had to be raised by 65 cm and then restored to a horizontal position. That year, too, works were carried out on the façades, which were partly restored and resprayed in their entirety with hyrofoam.“(14)  

 

5. Current condition of the property

During an on-site inspection conducted on 4 June 2007 the following was ascertained:

The property is in good structural condition. No new cracks caused by subsidence were observed either on the façades or inside the building.

During the on-site inspection, works were being carried out to refurbish the interior and to make good the façades. The instructions and drawings of the Study for Repairs to the façades of the Metropolitan's Palace in Tuzla(15) provide a) a description of the condition of the façades (prior to the 2007 repair works), b) the treatment of the façades, and c) the colour palette to be applied:

a) Since the property is exposed to subsidence and various structural stresses, damage can be seen to the façades. The surface coat of hyrofoam is falling away, and the surfaces are crumbling as a result of exposure to the elements. The façade has fallen away in part and is coming away from the wall in places. Discoloration of the façade suggests the presence of salt in the wall. There is also some shrapnel damage.

b) The ground or base must be firmly bonded to the façade surfaces to be treated, and be sufficient robust to take the intended final outer coat. This requires preparation of the surfaces to be treated. The entire surface of the façades must be stripped and cleaned. All the joints of the brick backing must be cleaned by removing the mortar to a depth of 1 cm, with the remains of the mortar cleaned using wire brushes. The finish of the outside walls of the property is to consist of two coats. The first is to be applied over the areas being treated (cleaned, their solidity ascertained, and rough enough to ensure a lasting bond between the base coat and the areas being treated).

c) The façades of the property are to be painted using paints similar to ROFIX façade paints (exterior paint based on silicon resin – catalogue SOLE 814-1; 810-3, 708-1) in two colours, in line with the manufacturer's instructions. The choice of colour and shades to correspond to the drawings.

On completion of the interior refurbishment, the property will be restored to its original function as the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla, the Council and Board of Administration of the Eparchy, the Bishop's residence, and a Museum of the Eparchy on the ground floor.

Current condition of the movable heritage

The icons of the Bishop's Palace in Tuzla are housed in the Bishop's Palace in Bijeljina.

 

6. Specific risks

Subsidence.

 

III – CONCLUSION

Applying the Criteria for the adoption of a decision on proclaiming an item of property a national monument (Official Gazette of BiH nos. 33/02 and 15/03), the Commission has enacted the Decision cited above.

The Decision was based on the following criteria:

For the Bishop’s Palace

A.         Time frame

B.         Historical value

C.         Artistic and aesthetic value

C.i.       quality of workmanship

C.ii.      quality of materials

C.iii.      proportions

C.iv.     composition

C.vi.     value of construction

E.         Symbolic value

E.i.       ontological value

E.ii.      religious value

E.iii.      traditional value

E.iv.     relation to rituals or ceremonies

E.v.      significance for the identity of a group of people

F.         Townscape/ Landscape value

F.i.       relation to other elements of the site

F.ii.       meaning in the townscape

G.         Authenticity

G.iii.     use and function

G.v.      location and setting

G.vi.     spirit and feeling

 

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-       Copy of cadastral plan, scale 1:1000, cadastral plot no. 450/1, cadastral municipality Tuzla II, issued on 2 March 2007 by the Department of Geodetics and Property Affairs, Municipality Tuzla, Tuzla Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

-       Transcript of proof of title no. 1265 (for c.p. nos 447, 448, 450/1, 557, 3033), property of the Serbian Orthodox parish of Tuzla, c.m. Tuzla II, issued on 2 March 2007 by the Department of Geodetics and Property Affairs, Municipality Tuzla, Tuzla Canton, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

-       Photodocumentation

-         photographs of the current condition of the Bishop's Palace in Tuzla taken on 4 June 2007 by ethnologist Slobodanka Nikolić and architect Emir Softić using digital camera Canon PowerShot S3IS) and on 4 November 2004 (taken by architect Emir Softić using digital camera Canon PowerShot G3)

-       Project documentation

-         ground plan of basement and first floor, cross section, axonometry. Dated January 1911, and signed by Josip Pospišil, left-hand corner, and Karlo Pařik, close to the right-hand corner of the heading of the drawing: Holdings of the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, folder with documentation no. 248-166, 1915

-         ground plan of first floor and cross section, drawings dated July 1913, compiled in the Civil Engineering Department of the Provincial Government, with the signatures of the head of the Civil Engineering Department, Kušević, and Rudolf Tennies, as well as Karlo Pařik (on the drawing of the cross section), from: Dimitrijević, Branka, Arhitekt Karlo Pařik (Architect Karlo Pařik), dissertation, Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb, 1989, 198-199, Vol. I, and Vol. II, Illustrations, illus. XXIX.a. and XXIX.b)

-         initial project for repairs, Current condition, drawings of façade scale1:50, Bishop's Palace Tuzla, drawn up by the Civil Engineering Institute Zagreb, Zagreb, 30 April 1985

-         report on investigative works for repairs to the Orthodox church in Tuzla, Section 3, Civil Engineering Institute Zagreb, Institute of Geotechnology, Zagreb, 1986

-         Study: Repairs to the façades of the Metropolitan’s Palace in Tuzla, Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport, Sarajevo, November 2006

 

Bibliography

During the procedure to designate the Palace of the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla with movable heritage in Tuzla as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:

 

1915     Documentation from the Archives of Bosnia and Herzegovina, folder with documentation no. 248-166, 1915

 

1971     Benković, Ambrozije. Tuzlansko područje negda i sada: s posebnim obzirom na vjerske prilike (opus posthumum) (The Tuzla Area Past and Present, with particular reference to religious circumstances). Đakovo: 1971

 

1975     Handžić, Adem. Tuzla i njena okolina u XVI vijeku (Tuzla and its Environs in the 16th century). Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1975

 

1977     Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla, Schematism. Tuzla: 1977

 

1978     Vasić, P. “Zograf Stanoje i njegovo delo” (Icon Painter Stanoje and his Work), Proceedings for the Fine Arts, no 14. Novi Sad: 1978, 325-337

 

1980     Šelmić, L. “Novi podaci o zografu Stanoju Popoviću” (New Information on the Icon Painter Stanoje Popović), Proceedings of the Museums of Vojvodina, no. 26. Novi Sad: 1980, 175-183

 

1982     Kašić, Dušan. Saborna crkva Uspenja Presvete Bogorodice u Tuzli (Cathedral Church of the Dormition of the Virgin in Tuzla). Tuzla: 1982

 

1989     Dimitrijević, Branka. Arhitekt Karlo Pařik (Architect Karlo Pařik), dissertation. Zagreb: Faculty of Architecture of the University of Zagreb, 1989

 

1998     Hadžibegović, Iljas. Etnička struktura stanovništva Tuzle u vrijeme austrougarske vladavine (1878-1918) (Ethnic Structure of the Population of Tuzla during the Austro-Hungarian Period [1878-1918]), Papers of the Institute for History XXIII/24. Sarajevo: 1988, 131-147

 

1998     Rakić, S. Ikone Bosne i Hercegovine (16-19. vijek) (Icons of BiH [16th-19th century]). Belgrade: 1998

 

2005     Mutevelić, Šefkija. Tuzlanske historijske minijature: historijski zapisi o Tuzli i okolini od prahistorije do kraja osmanske vladavine (Historical Miniatures of Tuzla: Historical Records of Tuzla and its Environs from Prehistoric Times to the End of Ottoman Rule), Archives of Tuzla Canton. Tuzla: 2005

 

Documentation from the Archives of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Tuzla


(1) The genesis of the original Zvornik eparchy has been described as follows: “During the Turkish occupation, when the Metropolitanate of Srebrenica ceased to be, the part that fell to the Turks probably belongs to the Ariljan Metropolitan, and the part remaining under Hungarian rule became part of the Srem eparchy. When this too fell to the Turks in the late 15th and early decades of the 16th century, it became part of north-eastern Bosnia and Mačva in a new eparchy, the Zvornik eparchy, which coincided territorially with the Zvornik sanjak and was based in Zvornik, as the centre of the sanjak. The regions between the rivers Bosna, Sava and Spreča and Mt. Majevica belonged to this eparchy, with the whole of the Drina valley on the right bank of the Drina and the Brvenik kadiluk, as well as Mačva with effect from 1528-1533” (source: Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla, Schematism, Tuzla: 1977, 19; B. Nilević, Srpska pravoslavna crkva u Bosni i Hercegovini do obnove Pećke patrijaršije, Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, Cultural Heritage Series, 1990).

(2) Šeper među direke – half-timbered.

(3) “The varoš is to the north-east of the fortress. Its main street is 90 fathoms long and leads towards the čaršija, and thence down the valley. Parallel with the high street are another three intersected by shorter side streets. One of these is called Kolobara, since it runs alongside the bara (marsh). Another side street is called Pavkuša, after the brook that runs through it. The other streets have no names. The only differentiation is between the Lower and Upper varoš. The Upper varoš is at the foot of a hill, and the Lower is much built-up, with house against house and fence against fence. All that remains are two widish areas of marshy ground that never dries out. The Orthodox church, with Metropolitan's palace and a school, is located at the end of the Lower varoš, beside the marsh.” (From Pavel Apolonović Rovinski, Zapažanja za vrijeme putovanja po Bosni 1879. godina (Notes on Travels in Bosnia in 1879), St Petersburg: 1880).

(4) “Since the undersigned will be moving into the New Palace, specifically the first floor thereof, in a few days' time, namely on 20 December of this year, and since he requires furniture for that purpose for at least a few rooms, he takes the liberty of requesting that he be allocated the sum of 20,000 crowns, held here in Tuzla by the district authority, to purchase at least the essential furnishings for the following rooms:

1) the Metropolitanate office

2) a reception room

3) four rooms for the domestic staff (manservant, cook, coachman, maid)

4) linen and bed linen for the domestic staff, plus tablecloths, table napkins etc. for the dining room, and

5) kitchen fittings.

The undersigned kindly begs the eminent Provincial Government to be so good as to issue approval and order the technical department of the District Authority here to procure the above-mentioned items.”

(5) “In the response to the letter of 12 December 1915 Your Eminence was notified as follows: the Provincial Government, prompted by the wish that the residence in Tuzla be well furbished for representation as to both the exterior and the interior, finds that the time is not right for the purchase of furniture, since given the difficulties of transport the furniture would have to be ordered from local manufacturers, and thus without regard to the established system that would be appropriate to the style of the building.”

“It is therefore recommended that while Your Eminence is using only part of the premises while the building is still unfinished, these be furnished with the existing furniture being used by you. This would also avoid the new furniture being needlessly damaged or soiled, which is to be feared, since the completion of the outstanding works on the building will raise dust, and the furniture would therefore have to be moved frequently.”

“New furniture in line with the order of 1914, appropriate to the style of the building, may safely be introduced as soon as the building is fully completed. By that time the contractor would be in a position to honour in full all his obligations set forth in the contract.”

(6) “To a verbal enquiry by Mr. Schiffner, senior engineer of the District Authority in Tuzla, as to what items I would still like to be ordered for the new Palace, I hereby state:

Since the Provincial Government has still, after 9 months, not refunded:

650 crowns – account of Frank David, completion of paint works

260 crowns – account of I. R. Jovanović's company, carpets

182.80 crowns – account of Friedman, courtyard wall

166 crowns – account of Klouda, for house telephone

1,170 crowns – account of Ilarion Radonić, for bedroom

Total 2428.80 crowns.

I therefore request first of all that this sum be paid to me immediately, for it is not right that such an amount of my personal funds be held interest-free in another's building. I also note that I have been obliged in addition to pay a further 100 crowns in interest to a local tradesman, Jozef Vajs, since he has not yet received the sum for purchases from Štiglic ordered for the new Palace and for items delivered four or five months ago (linen and [articles] for the dining room). I have a further loss there of 100 crowns through no fault of my own and quite needlessly.

Only when all the above be carried out by the Provincial Government and the above sum paid to me may the following be ordered for the palace:

1 carpet for the drawing room

1 carpet for the dining room

1 carpet for the Metropolitan's bedroom

2 carpets for the two guest rooms

stair carpet for the staircase, as required

a full washstand set for the Metropolitan's office

roller blinds in the larder (upper and lower) and the closet. Also in the Great Hall for the doors and windows

short carpets in the toilets, and

carpet runners in the corridor leading to the kitchen.

If the Provincial Government were to pay the sum owing to me and was of a mind at the same time to procure the other articles, I express my warmest thanks.”

(7) Data from a copy of the Study entitled Repairs to the façades of the Metropolitan’s palace in Tuzla, Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and sport, Sarajevo, November 2006

(8) The Never-Sleeping Eye is to be found above the composition of the Annunciation in Longin's iconostasis tympanum in Lomnica, Radul's on a fragment from the treasury of the old Orthodox church in Sarajevo, and Tujković's above the diaconicon of the old Orthodox church in Sarajevo (Rakić, 1998, 38). For the development of the theme of the Never-Sleeping Eye and its iconography, with a list of older reference works, see B. Todić, "Anapeson, Iconographie et signification du thème," Byzantion LXIV, Bruxelles: 1994, 134-165

(9) Tujković's tympanum on the central tympanum of the old Orthodox church in Sarajevo. (Rakić, 1998, 38)

(10) From the mid 18th century on, the modest old churches were demolished in the Karlovac metropolitanate, to be replaced by new Baroque ones. They were fitted with magnificent iconostases with paintings by the first Serbian Baroque artists to receive artistic training, the power and directness of whose artistic expression often cannot be compared with the dismantled iconostases (Rakić, 1998, 150)

(11) The few surviving 18th century iconostasis fragments display only modest wood carving, to which  little or no attention is paid. At that time it usually consisted of simple bas-relief designs (Rakić, 1998, 54)

(12) On the Neštin tympanum the usual iconography is maintained, with the Archangel Michael portrayed here (Rakić, 1998, 150)

(13) During the second and third decades of the 19th century, two local icon painters worked in the Rudnik and Čačko region, with their workshop in Brusnica: Dimitrije Moler Prusnicki and Risto Moler Nikolić. Icons by them have been discovered in a number of other churches – in Gorobilje, Jarmenovci, Šatornja and Šopić. They reveal a close link with the late Byzantine icon-painting tradition and its schematic iconongraphic and compositional treatments. In 1837 Risto Nikolić signed his name on an icon of Christ from the church in Ostružnica, and also left numerous icons in Ripanj, Vraćešnica, Šatornja, Topčider, the Slanci monastery and other churches in Serbia. He is regarded as one of the best icon painters in the Principality of Serbia of Miloš's reign (1815 to 1848). He came from a good icon-painting workshop in which the best works of the icon-painter's art emerged at that time.  Some say he was already living in Belgrade in 1838. The icon of the Holy Trinity was brought to Tuzla from Zvornik (Rakić, 1998, 179-181)

(14) Study: Repairs to the façades of the Metropolitan’s Palace in Tuzla, Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport, Sarajevo, November 2006

(15) Compiled by the Institute for the Protection of Monuments of the Federal Ministry of Culture and Sport, Sarajevo, in November 2006

 

 

 

 



Palace of the Serb Orthodox Christian Zvornik-Tuzla Eparchy Entrance to the Metropolitan's residence  


BiH jezici 
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