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Decisions on Designation of Properties as National Monuments

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60th session - Decisions

Church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna (the Tavna monastery church), the historic monument

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Status of monument -> National monument

 

Published in the “Official Gazette of BiH”, no.40/10.

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 8 to 14 September 2009 the Commission adopted a

 

D E C I S I O N

 

I

 

The historic monument of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna (the Tavna monastery church), Municipality Bijeljina, is hereby designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: the National Monument).

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 601/1, title deed no. 145/0, Land Register entry no. 31, cadastral municipality Banjica, Municipality Bijeljina, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The protection measures prescribed by this Decision do not apply to the konak (monastery residence) to the north and west of the National Monument or to the gatehouse to the east of the 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 Republika Srpska no. 9/02, 70/06 and 64/08) shall apply to the National Monument.

 

II

 

The Government of Republika Srpska shall be responsible for providing the legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary for the protection, conservation and presentation of the National Monument.

The Commission to Preserve National Monuments (hereinafter: the Commission) shall determine the technical requirements and secure the funds for preparing and erecting signboards with basic details of 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:

-       on the site consisting of part of c.p. 601/1, cadastral municipality Banjica, on which the monastery church stands, all works are prohibited other than research, conservation and restoration works, works designed to ensure the sustainable use of the property, and works designed to display the property, with the approval of the Ministry responsible for regional planning in Republika Srpska and under the expert supervision of the heritage protection authority of Republika Srpska;

-       works that could be detrimental to the National Monument or have the effect of altering the landscape are prohibited;

-       during interventions on the properties, materials and building methods forming part of the recognizable landscape must be used.

 

IV

 

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

 

V

 

Everyone, and in particular the competent authorities of Republika Srpska, 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 Government of Republika Srpska, the Ministry responsible for regional planning in Republika Srpska and the heritage protection authority of Republika Srpska, 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 – V of this Decision, and the Authorized Municipal Court shall be notified for the purposes of registration in the Land Register.

 

VII

 

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.

 

VIII

 

On the date of adoption of this Decision, the National Monument shall be deleted from the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Official Gazette of BiH no. 33/02, Official Gazette of Republika Srpska no. 79/02, Official Gazette of the Federation of BiH no. 59/02, and Official Gazette of Brčko District BiH no. 4/03), where it featured under serial no. 70.

 

IX

 

This Decision shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Gazette of BiH.

 

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

 

No: 06.2-2-40/09-54

9 September 2009

Sarajevo

 

Chair of the Commission

Amra Hadžimuhamedović

 

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.

The Commission to Preserve National monuments issued a decision to add the church and monastery of the Holy Trinity in Tavna, Municipality Bijeljina, to the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina under serial no. 70.

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.

 

Statement of Significance

The monastery church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna is the spiritual centre for the Orthodox congregations of the Zvornik and Tuzla eparchy and the whole of Semberija. The absence of documentary evidence makes it impossible to date it accurately, but archaeological finds suggest that the fabric of the church could date from the 14th century. Furthermore, local tradition has it that the church in Tavna was founded and built in the late 14th century by Vladislav and Uroš, the sons of King Dragutin. The earliest written reference to the church is in a Turkish census of the Zvornik sanjak for 1533, probably a reference to the mediaeval parish church. From its style, the present-day church could date from the latter half of the 16th century, making it contemporary with Trnoša monastery in Serbia (built in 1559), which this church closely resembles. The establishment of the Peć patriarchate in 1557 was followed by a period of renovation and reconstruction of Orthodox churches, which could well have included the present-day church in Tavna. Vestiges of murals dating from that period reveal its former glory and importance.

 

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:

-       Documentation on the location and current owner and user of the property (transcript of the title deed from Bijeljina Municipality with copy of cadastral plan).

-       Details of legal protection to date.

-       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.

-       Pursuant to Article 12 of the Law on the Implementation of Decisions of the Commission to Preserve National Monuments Established Pursuant to Annex 8 of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the following procedures were carried out for the purpose of designating the property as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina:

-         A letter ref. 06.2-35-127/08-1 of 6 May 2008 requesting documentation and views on the designation of the church and monastery of the Holy Trinity in Tavna was sent to Bijeljina Municipality, the local authority organ responsible for urbanism and cadastral affairs, the Serbian Orthodox Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zvornik and Tuzla Eparchy, the Ministry of Regional Planning, Civil Engineering and the Environment of Republika Srpska and the Institute for the Protection of the Cultural and Natural Heritage of Republika Srpska

-         A letter ref. 21-12/952-51/08 of 12 May 2008 and another ref. 02/2-118/08 of 2 June 2008 from Bijeljina Municipality supplied the Commission to Preserve National Monuments with the following documents for Holy Trinity church in Tavna:

1. Transcript of title deed

2. Copy of cadastral plan

3. Amendments to the spatial plan for Bijeljina Municipality, 2003 (textual section)

4. Excerpt from the amendments to part of the spatial plan for Bijeljina Municipality of 30 May 2008

-         A letter ref. EYOBR.110 of 9 June 2008 was received from the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla supplying the Commission with a copy of the Land Register entry and a copy of a Certificate from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of BiH of 20 September 1977

-         A letter ref. 06.2-35.8-4/09-206 of 12 November 2006 was sent by the Commission to Preserve National Monuments to the Ministry of Regional Planning, Civil Engineering and the Environment of Republika Srpska to enquire whether approval had been granted for the building works being carried out on the plot where the Holy Trinity church in Tavna stands

-         A letter ref. 26.090/362-3216-2/09 of 16 February 2010 from the Republic Inspectorate of Banja Luka notified the Commission that an open-air altar had been built on the site, in the same place and of the same size as formerly, and that in its ruling it had ordered that approval be obtained for rehabilitation works.

 

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 church of the Holy Trinity, together with the complex of the konak and outbuildings and the gatehouse under construction, are in the village of Tavna, in the foothills of Mt Majevica, 25 km south-west of Bijeljina. The approach to the monastery complex is from the local road to the south-east. Almost the entire site is surrounded by a high stone boundary wall of recent date.

The National Monument is located on a site designated as cadastral plot no. 601/1, title deed no. 145/0, Land Register entry no. 31, cadastral municipality Banjica, Municipality Bijeljina, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Historical information

            The majority of Orthodox churches and monasteries of northern and north-eastern Bosnia date from the mid 16th century. The first reliable written sources and material evidence of monastery churches in north and north-east Bosnia date from the years immediately following the restoration of the Peć patriarchate in 1557. Local tradition has it that many of these monasteries date from the 13th or 14th century, and for some there is archaeological or written evidence that corroborates this. Churches built in the latter half of the 16th century rarely have a founder’s inscription that could shed light on their date of origin, and the mediaeval tradition of building persisted in their architecture, usually as a revival of the 13th century Rascian style.

The monastery church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna is the spiritual centre for the Orthodox congregations of the Zvornik and Tuzla eparchy and the whole of Semberija. It is believed to have been built in the late 16th or early 17th century, but has yet to be accurately dated. Written historical sources provide little accurate information on the origins of the church. A legend recorded in the Peć and Tronoša chronicle has it that the church in Tavna was founded and built by Vladislav and Urošić, the sons of King Dragutin, which would mean that the church dates from the late 14th century. Another legend is that it was of rather later date than the Papraća church, and was built as an endowment of hajduk [outlaw, brigand] Grujo Novaković.

The earliest written reference to the church is in a Turkish census of the Zvornik sanjak for 1533. In the 1548 census, it is referred to as a monastery. A note in a copy of the Gospels in the Cetinje monastery dating from 1627 records that Gavrilo, bishop of Zvornik, died that year in the Tavna monastery.

Over the past hundred years, five scholars have studied the history of this church, followed by a sixth, the archaeologist Mirko Babić of the Semberija Museum in Bijeljina. The first to write about it was Vasilije Đuković, in 1898, with the publication of an article in the Sarajevo periodical Istočnik, followed in 1927 by Petar Jovanović, who published a piece in Glasnik, the gazette of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The most comprehensive article about the monastery church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna was published in 1948 by Milenko Filipović and Đoko Mazalić in Spomenik, the journal of the Serbian Academy of Sciences. In his Zidno slikarstvo u Bosni i Hercegovini, published in 1971, Zdravko Kajmaković gave an account of the history and the remains of the murals in the Tavna monastery church, and in 1976 the church historian Dušan Kašić published a tourist guidebook on the church (Babić, 1995, 153-159).

Filipović and Mazalić are of the view that the church could date from the latter half of the 16th century, which would make it contemporary with the Tronoša monastery in Serbia. The church in Tavna is just 8 km from the river Drina, and closely resembles the Tronoša church in Serbia, on the other side of the river, which was built in 1559 and bears a remarkable resemblance architecturally to the Tavna church.

In 1995 archaeologist Mirko Babić published an article in the Bijeljina periodical Srpska vila on the results of the excavations conducted in the monastery church in Tavna. These were the first excavations to be carried out there, and revealed two transverse foundations, from which Babić deduces that the church was built in three stages, the first in the 14th century, the second in the 16th and the final stage in 1884, when the bell tower was built. In Babić’s view, the church initially had an apse, and the entrance front would have been in the middle of the present-day church. The existing narthex was built in the second stage, and the bell tower in the third (Babić, 1995, 153-159).

There are also some later documentary references to the church in Tavna. In 1697, just after the Austro-Turkish war, Metropolitan Jevtimije of Buda stayed in Tavna, which indicates that the church was not damaged or destroyed during the war. The Jesuit priest Rudolf Bzenski, who stayed in Zvornik from 1688 to 1699, when the town was under Austrian rule, also refers to Tavna, noting that the Orthodox had a very fine church decorated with frescoes (Ševo, 2002, 111).

Very little is known of the complex of buildings forming the konak (monastery residence). The only record of its date is that given by Marica Šuput, who says that it was built after the bell tower was erected in 1848. According to prioress Marta, the buildings constituting the konak were destroyed by fire in 1943, during World War II, and were rebuilt after the war, being completed in 1954. In 2005 major building works were carried out on the konak complex.

Between 1984 and 1997, minor building works were carried out from time to time on the church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna.

 

2. Description of the property

The Orthodox churches and monasteries of northern and north-eastern Bosnia built in the 16th century or earlier are all architecturally similar, usually showing the influence of the Rascian school (in which Moštanica and Papraća are the exception). In stylistic features, the church in Tavna belongs to the type of single-aisled church with dome, rectangular choirs by the north and south walls of the domed space, and reinforcing arches abutting against the side walls, making them appear cruciform in plan on the outside and seemingly triple-aisled on the inside. The churches in Ozren, Vozuća and Lomnica also belong to this type.

The architectural and stylistic features that distinguish the church in Tavna from this group are that it is relatively low-built and has a low, wide dome. The church in Tavna has archaic stylistic elements that suggest it was built rather earlier than the others. Further evidence for an earlier date for the Tavna church than others in north-eastern Bosnia, with the exception of Papraća, lies in the ashlar stone blocks on the façades, which are also to be found inside the church (Kajmaković, 1973, 149-156).

The church of the Holy Trinity belongs to the type of single-nave church with a longitudinal barrel vault, a dome over the central bay of the nave, and choirs to the sides. An elongated rectangle in plan, it lies east-west, with the main entrance at the west end and an apse at the east end. It consists of a parvis, nave and sanctuary, and measures approx. 18.95 x 6.15 m on the outside.

The sanctuary and altar are in the east bay, in which shallow semicircular niches to the left and right of the apse indicate the positions of the diaconicon and proscomodion. The apse is five-sided on the outside and semicircular on the inside, with a radius of approx. 1.53 m. The ceiling of the apse is in the form of a semi-calotte.

The nave consists of two bays, of which the west bay measures approx. 4.64 x 2.04 and the central bay – the domed space that gives the impression, on the outside, of transepts – approx. 6.36 x 3.16 m. The barrel vault of the nave is approx. 5.45 m in height from floor level to apex. The central bay is covered by a dome resting on pendentives, with an octagonal drum. To the north and south of the domed crossing are choirs, which are rectangular in plan with sides of approx. 3.15 x 1.55 m, and barrel-vaulted. To the side the dome rests on the barrel vaults of the choirs, and to the east and west it rests on arches set on pilasters. The dome is 12.75 m in height from the floor of the church to the apex of the calotte. The east walls of the choirs are pierced with passages into the sanctuary.

The parvis is structurally similar to the east bay. Round arches by the side walls support the longitudinal barrel vault. The parvis was originally separated from the nave by a wall, in the middle of which was the main entrance door. The wall was later demolished, except for the end sections to the same depth as the pilasters under the dome, on which an arch was erected. The parvis measures approx. 4.64 x 4.00 m.

The bell tower at the west end of the church was built in the late 19th century. It is square in plan, with sides of 1.54 m, and is approx. 21.32 m in height. The lower stages have no openings, but the topmost stage has a single arched window on each side, above which is a small circular aperture fitted with a clock face. The walls of the bell tower are plastered and painted white on the outside. The façade walls of the bell tower above and below the windows are decorated with stone string courses and cornices, pilasters, and friezes of shallow arcades [like Lombard bands – trans.]. The roof of the bell tower is pyramidal, surmounted by an onion dome, and is clad with sheet copper.

The walls of the church are of solid stone and lime mortar. The perimeter walls are 5.45 m in height and 76-77 cm thick, and consist of a combination of local limestone and sandstone. The interior is decorated with murals of recent date. During the most recent renovations of the church, the render was stripped off the outside walls, exposing the large ashlar blocks laid in even courses. The façade walls and dome terminate in stone cornices.

The floors of the parvis, nave and sanctuary are all paved with flagstones.

The building has a gabled timber roof clad with sheet copper. It is not certain what the original cladding was.

The church has fifteen windows, all rectangular and round-headed, and all set back by 10 cm from the wall face. Three of these windows face north, two south, one west, and one east in the apse; the other eight are in the drum of the dome. The main entrance to the church is at the west end. The stone frame surrounding the double-valved wooden door projects out from the wall face by 16 cm, is approx. 68 cm wide, and terminates in the same way as the west gable wall. The door measures approx. 133 x 206 cm. On the south side of the parvis is another double-valved door, this one of metal.

Movable heritage(1)  

Descriptions of the church and monastery complex of the Holy Trinity in Tavna rarely refer to the church furnishings and murals. Since the monastery has been badly damaged on a number of occasions, including in 1943, only fragments of the murals have survived, in the form of two cherubim in the pendentives(2).

In the 1970s, Zdravko Kajmaković made a comprehensive study of mural painting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and classified the Tavna monastery among those of which the wall paintings had not survived.

In 1984, detailed restoration works began on the interior of the church, which included the church furnishings (the iconostasis, the thrones and icon stands). The murals were painted in 1995. To the right of the entrance door in the narthex is an inscription recording the painting of the murals, the date, the artists who worked on the murals, and details of the sisterhood of the church:

БЛАГОСЛОВОМ, А ЗА ВРЕМЕ АР-

/ХИЈЕРЕЈСТВА ДИЈАЦЕЗАЛНЕ ЗВ-

/ОРНИЧКО-ТУЗЛАНСКЕ ЕПАР-/ХИЈЕ Г. ВАСИЛИЈА КАЧАВЕНДЕ А ТРУД-

/ОМ БЛАГОЧАСТИВЕ ИГУМАНИЈЕ ЈУСТИНЕ

/КЕРЕКЕЗОВИЋ, ТЕ ЊЕНЕ НАСЛЕДНИЦЕ

/ИГУМАНИЈЕ СУФИМИЈЕ КРАСАВЧИЋ И

/ЊЕНОГ СЕСТРИНСТВА: ПРОТСИНЂ. ЛАЗАР,

ЕКАТАРИНА, ФЕВРОНИЈА, МАКРИНА, ХЕРУВИ-

/МА, КСЕНИЈА, АГРИПИНА, ЈЕЛЕНА, ЗИНАИДА,

АНА, МАРТА, НЕДЕЉА EФРОСИНИЈА, МАРИ-

/НА, МИХАИЛА, НАДЕЖДА, МАГДАЛИНА,

ИСКУШЕНИЦЕ ДРАГАНЕ, ОСЛИКА СЕ ОВАЈ СВ.

ХРАМ 1995. Г. ЖИВОПИС ОТПОЧЕ ЂАКОН

МАРКО ИЛИЋ И ДОВРШИШЕ ДРАГАН МАРУНИЋ И НИКОЛА ЛУБАРДИЋ. НЕКА

ГОСПОД БЛАГОСЛОВИ ОВА НАША ДЈЕЛА

И ПУТЕВЕ АМИН.

With the blessing of and during the archbishopric of Zvornik Tuzla eparchy Vasilije Kačavenda and thanks to the endeavours of the blessed prioress Justina Kerekezović and her successor prioress Sufimija Krasavičić and her sisters, archdeaconess Lazar, Ekatarina, Fevronija, Makrina, Zinaida, Ana, Marta, Nedelja Sfrosinija, Marina, Mihaila, Nadežda, Magdalina, this church was painted in 1995, begun by Deacon Marko Ilić and completed by Dragan Marunić and Nikola Lubardić, may the Lord bless this our work and all our ways, Amen.

The existing iconographic programme was painted on every free wall surface over three registers (from floor to ceiling), ensuring that the murals conform in every way with the type of church (with its low dome over the central bay). The dome, the highest point of the church, which also symbolizes the Church in Heaven, was painted with the grave figure of Christ Pantocrator, Lord of the Worlds. Below him are the eight Old Testament prophets who foretold the Word of God: Elijah, Moses, Aaron, Elisha, David, Samuel, Zacharias and Daniel.

In domed churches the pendentives usually feature the four evangelists, “for just as these four structural supports bear the dome, so too the evangelists are the fundamental spiritual supports of the faith and the Christian heaven.”(3) The immediate model for the four evangelists in the church in Tavna are to be found in miniature paintings – the evangelists are shown in frontal position, framed in architecture, holding a book on their lap in which they are writing lines from their Gospel, and with writing accoutrements on the table at which they are seated.

In both the architectural and the iconographic sense, the next most prominent position is the dome of the apse in which, following the Byzantine model, is the figure of the Virgin, as the link between the Church in Heaven and the Church on earth. In the monastery church in Tavna, the figure of the Theotokos has the iconographic features of the Virgin of the Sign, with a medallion on her bosom bearing the figure of Christ Emmanuel, and of the Virgin Vaster than the Heavens, with her maphorion spread wide. In orans pose, she shelters beneath her outspread cloak six hierarchs: St Cyril of Alexandria, St James of Jerusalem, brother of the Lord, and St John Chrysostom to the left, and St Gregory the Theologian, St Basil the Great and St Athanasius the Great to the right, in a scene of the Hierarchs praying to Christ the Lamb of God.

The presence of the Old Testament scenes of the sacrifice of Abraham and the Ark of the Covenant in the murals of the altar conch signifies the prophecy of the coming of Christ, with whom the Covenant will be renewed. To the north-east, below the scene of the sacrifice of Abraham, are the figures of St Stephen the First Martyr and St Abacum the Serbian Martyr. The south-east wall of the altar conch is decorated with the Ark of the Covenant and, below it, the Deesis.(4)  

The Annunciation occupies a prominent place in church murals, usually painted in a triumphal arch. The distance between the figures, with the Archangel Gabriel to the left and the Virgin to the right of the arch, is explained by the fact that the archangel has just descended and that the Virgin is awaiting him, and also refers to their different origins: the archangel belongs to the supernatural world, but until the moment of his arrival the Virgin was an ordinary woman “among women.”(5) In the monastery church in Tavna, this scene features at the top of the east wall of the nave.

Opposite the walls with the scene of the Annunciation are, to the right, the martyred St Sophia, St Vera, St Ljuba and St Nadežda and, to the left, the Prophet Zachariah, St Elizabeth and St John. Below these scenes, on the upper register of the north and south walls, are the Nativity of Christ and the Holy Trinity. The lower register of the north wall is painted with the figures of St Sava the Second, St Basil of Ostrog the Miracle-Worker, St Arsenius of Srem and St Petar of Cetinje; the south wall bears the figures of Serb patriarchs, St Jevstatije and St Jefrem, St Irinej of Srem and the Serbian Archbishop Maksim (Branković). On the lowest register are four figures of saints, two to the north and two to the south. Unlike the patriarchs and saints, who are portrayed frontally in half length, these four figures of saints are portrayed full length. The figures on the south wall are those of St John the Baptist and St Antony, and on the north wall St Simon the Myrrh-gusher and St Sava. The arrangement of the saints is further evidence that the artists knew their iconography, by painting the lower registers with actual historical figures associated with the emergence and spread of the Christian faith.

The scenes in the nave are from the life of Christ and the Virgin: the Nativity of the Virgin, the Visitation of the Virgin, the Transfiguration of Christ and the Presentation of Christ (in the upper register), and the Descent into Hades (Harrowing of Hell), Palm Sunday (the Entry to Jerusalem), the Baptism and the Crucifixion in the lower registers. These events are witnessed by martyrs who were charged with spreading the heavenly faith on earth: St Eumenia, St Justine, St Focca, St Euphemia the Great Martyr, the Blessed Makrina, St Catherine the Great Martyr, St Petka, St Xenia, St Pheuronia and St Agrippina the Great Martyr.

The murals have been designed to have a powerful impact on the viewer, symbolically linking scenes from the lives of the Virgin and Christ and thereby highlighting the theological background to these events (salvation, redemption). In this regard, the west wall, opposite the apse, is of particular significance; it is here that the Koimesis (Dormition, Assumption) of the Virgin is painted. This scene, the final point in the murals, also marks the end of life on this earth. In the monastery church in Tavna, the Dormition of the Virgin is depicted according to the Byzantine formula, in which Jesus is taking the Virgin’s soul in the form of an infant in swaddling clothes.

Below this scene are the Archangels Michael and Gabriel – he who announced the coming of the Son of God, and he who will be the commander of the Heavenly Hosts on the Day of Judgment.

In the arch, St Martha and St Mary Magdalene are portrayed next to the Archangel Michael, and the martyred SS Irene and Marina next to the Archangel Gabriel.

The north wall of the narthex is painted with the figures of St Abram, St John of Kroivstadt, the Apostle Peter, the Blessed Xenia of Petograd, the Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena; and the south wall with St Paul of Tiveri, the Apostle Paul, the saintly Efrosenija, the martyred St Sinaida and King Dragutin.

Above the entrance in the narthex is the Hand of God, with the souls of the righteous represented as infants in swaddling clothes, “a direct allusion to the eschatological idea of the rewards they have received from God for their lives on earth, and from whose hand none can snatch them.”(6)  

The monumental iconostasis, which measures 500 x 580 cm overall, was made in the wood-carving studio of Milić Urošević in Belgrade in 1984. It consists of 19 icons in all, which were painted by Marko Ilić, deacon of the Serbian Patriarch German, as the signature in the bottom right corner of the icon of the Last Supper reveals.

-       Marko Ilić, Archangel Gabriel (part of the Royal Doors), 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 78 x 24.5 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko Ilić, the Virgin Mary (part of the Royal Doors), 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 78 x 24.5 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

To the right of the Royal Doors are:

-       Marko Ilić, Jesus Christ, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 105.5 x 36.5 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko Ilić, St John the Baptist, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 105.5 x 36.5 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko Ilić, St Stephen the Archdeacon, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 80 x 36 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

To the left of the Royal Doors are:

-       Marko Ilić, Madonna and Child, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 105.5 x 36.5 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko Ilić, St. Sava, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 105.5 x 36.5 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko Ilić, Archangel Michael, tempera on panel, gilded, 80 x 36 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko Ilić, Last Supper, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 72 x 72 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

Top tier of the iconostasis, right:

-       Marko Ilić, the Resurrection, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 72 x 36 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko llić, the Baptism of Christ, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 72 x 36 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko Ilić, the Nativity of the Virgin, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 72 x 36 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

Top tier of the iconostasis, left:

-       Marko Ilić, the Nativity, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 72 x 36 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko Ilić, the Transfiguration, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 72 x 36 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

-       Marko Ilić, the Dormition of the Virgin, 1984, tempera on panel, gilded, 72 x 36 cm. Tavna Monastery, Church of the Holy Trinity

            The third tier, crowning the iconostasis, consists of an arched icon with the Holy Trinity and separate medallions with the figures of the Virgin and St John the Baptist. The highest point of the iconostasis is a wooden crucifix.

 

3. Legal status to date

Certification no. 03-457-9/07 of 20 September 1977 from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirms that the Tavna monastery was a protected cultural monument pursuant to Ruling no. 02-718-3/64 of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of BiH and registered under serial no. 158 in the Register of Immovable Cultural Monuments.

The Regional Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina to 2002 lists the Tavna monastery as a category I monument.

The property is on the Provisional List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the heading church and monastery of the Holy Trinity in Tavna, Municipality Bijeljina, under serial no. 70.

 

4. Research and conservation-restoration works

The church in Tavna has retained its original appearance, except at the west end, where the bell tower was added in the 19th century.

Remedial works have been carried out on several occasions on the church to try to cure rising damp, with the installation of a drainage system both inside and outside the church.

-       The first time was in 1990 when, as recorded by Mirko Babić, the foundations were dug out to a width of 2 m and filled with gravel, while on the outside a drainage channel 50 cm deep was dug and concreted. Around the altar, concrete was used instead of gravel. The 17 old graves that were discovered during these works were destroyed. Following this the plaster was laid for the new wall paintings, thereby destroying the old ones.

-       The second occasion was in 1994, when the foundations were again dug out after the first works failed to cure the damp in the church. The first archaeological investigations were carried out at the same time, headed by archaeologist Mirko Babić. These revealed two transverse foundations in the church, from which Babić deduced that the church was built in three stages, the first in the 14th century, the second in the 16th and the final stage in 1884, when the bell tower was built. In Babić’s view, the church initially had an apse, and the entrance front would have been in the middle of the present-day church. The existing narthex was built in the second stage, and the bell tower in the third.

-       Successive remedial and routine maintenance works were carried out on the church between 1984 and 1997.

 

The complex of buildings forming the konak was originally built after the bell tower was erected in 1848. According to prioress Marta, the monastery was destroyed by fire in 1943, during World War II, and was rebuilt in 1954. It is not known whether the buildings were reconstructed on the same site and to the same dimensions as the earlier konak. The present complex consists of three large wings with a total footprint of about 858 m2. Each wing consists of a ground floor, first floor and loft. In 2005 major building works were carried out on the konak complex, which was completely restored. The roof and roof cladding were replaced, new woodwork was installed, the walls were painted, and the façades renewed. The complex stands on the same plot as the church (new survey c.p. 601/1). The copy of the cadastral plan provided by Bijeljina Municipality shows that the complex consists of three interconnected buildings with the following measurements: north wing, approx. 25 x 6.4 m; south wing, approx. 54 x 8 m; west wing, between the north and south wings, approx. 33 x 8 m.

The new gatehouse, which is under construction, is on the east side of the plot, in the entrance area. It has a portico and dome which is almost identical to the dome of the church of the Holy trinity.

 

5. Current condition of the property

The findings of an on-site inspection conducted in July 2009 are as follows:

-       the church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna is in good structural condition;

-       there is no visible physical damage to the building on the outside;

-       the konak and newly-built gatehouse have seriously undermined the townscape value of the church;

-       building works on the new gatehouse are under way;

-       work is under way to built a stone boundary wall around the entire plot;

-       work is under way to pave the entire plot with flagstones.

 

6. Specific risks

-       presence of rising damp throughout;

-       the extension to the konak complex by the addition of a new gatehouse, the erection of boundary walls and the paving of the entire plot have seriously undermined the townscape value of the church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna.

 

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:

A.         Time frame

B.         Historical value

C.         Artistic and aesthetic value

C.i.       quality of workmanship

C.iv.     composition

C.v.      value of details

D.         Clarity (documentary, scientific and educational value)

D.ii.      evidence of historical change

D.iv.     evidence of a particular type, style or regional manner

D.v.      evidence of a typical way of life at a specific period

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.iii.      the building or group of buildings is part of a group or site

G.         Authenticity

G.iv.     traditions and techniques

G.v.      location and setting

G.vi.     spirit and feeling

H.         Rarity and representativity

H.ii.      outstanding work of art or architecture

 

The following documents form an integral part of this Decision:

-       Copy of cadastral plan, scale 1:5000, plan no. 3, c.p. no. 601/1, c.m. Banjica, Municipality Bijeljina, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued by the Banja Luka Department of Geodetics and Proprietary Rights, Bijeljina branch, on 21 May 2008

-       Title deed, transcript, no. 145/0, issued by the Banja Luka Department of Geodetics and Proprietary Rights, Bijeljina branch, on 21 May 2008

-       Land Register entry, no. 31, c.m. Banjica, Municipality Bijeljina, issued by the Land Registry office on 3 June 2008

-       Photodocumentation:

-         photographs of the church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna taken in July 2009 by Commission staff members Alisa Marjanović, architect, and Arijana Pašić, architect

-         photographs of the movable heritage taken by Aleksandra Bunčić, art historian

-       Technical documentation:

-         Technical drawings of the church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna by architect Arijana Pašić, trainee with the Commission

 

Bibliography

During the procedure to designate the church of the Holy Trinity in Tavna as a national monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina the following works were consulted:

 

1938     Mazalić, Đoko. “Kratak izvještaj o ispitivanju starina manastira Ozrena, Tamne, Papraće i Lomnice” (sa 4 plana i nacrtom u tekstu) (Brief Report on the Examination of the Antiquities of the Ozren, Tamna, Papraća and Lomnica Monasteries [ with 4 plans and a drawing in the text], Jnl of the National Museum of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Sarajevo, Yr. L, 1938.

 

1971     Kajmaković, Zdravko. Zidno slikarstvo u Bosni i Hercegovini (Murals in BiH). Sarajevo: Veselin Masleša, 1971.

 

1972     Kajmaković, Zdravko. “Oko datacije pravoslavnih manastira u sjeveroistočnoj Bosni sa posebnim osvrtom na Papraću” (On the Dating of Orthodox Monasteries in Northeastern Bosnia, with Particular Reference to Papraća), Naše Starine XIII. Sarajevo: 1972.

 

1984     Šuput, Marica. Srpska arhitektura u doba turske vlasti: 1459-1690 (Serbian Architecture during Turkish rule: 1459-1690). Belgrade: Serbian Academy of Science and the Arts, Faculty of the Humanities in Belgrade, Institute for the History of Art

 

1991     Šuput, Marica. Spomenici srpskog crkvenog graditeljstva XVI - XVII vek (Monuments of Serbian Church Architecture 16-17th century). Belgrade: Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Art History: Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Novi Sad : Matica srpska, Priština : Institute for the Study of the Culture of Serbs, Montenegrins, Croats and Muslims, 1991.

 

1995     Babić, Mirko. “O iskopavanjima u manastiru Tavni kod Bijeljine” (The Excavations at Tavna Monastery near Bijeljina), Srpska Vila 1. Bijeljina: 1995.

 

2002     Ševo, Ljiljana. Pravoslavne crkve i manastiri u Bosni i Hercegovini do 1878. godine (Orthodox churches and monasteries in BiH to 1878). Banja Luka: 2002.  

 

2005     Jovanović, M. Zoran. Azbučnik pravoslavne ikonografije i graditeljstva (ABC of Orthodox Iconography and Architecture). Belgrade: Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Dina, 2005.

 

2006     Badurina, Anđelko. Leksikon ikonografije, liturgike i simbolike zapadnog kršćanstva (Lexicon of the Iconography, Liturgy and Symbols of Western Christianity). Zagreb: Kršćanska sadašnost, 2006.        


(1) The protection measures prescribed by this Decision do not relate to the movable heritage.

(2) The report on the investigative works inside the church, published in the summer of 1969 by Zdravko Kajmaković, states that the remains of frescoes were found only in the semi-calotte of the dome and in the dome around the windows.

(3) Anđelko Badurina (ed.), Leksikon ikonografije, liturgike i simbolike zapadnog kršćanstva, Zagreb: Kršćanska sadašnost, 2006, 42.

(4) The Azbučnik pravoslavne ikonografije i graditeljstva defines Deesis (from the Greek meaning entreaty) in Orthodox art as a motif meaning prayers to Christ the Judge and Saviour for mercy on the Day of Judgment, the iconographic centrepiece of which is Christ with whom the Virgin and St John the Baptist are interceding on behalf of the human race. Since this concept of the Deesis constitutes the nucleus of representations of the Last Judgment, it is regarded as a possible substitute as an independent motif for the more fully developed composition of the Second Coming of Christ and the Last Judgment as its more concise variant. The Deesis in fact has the same significance as scenes of the Last Judgment, since it is the central motif of ever scene of the Judgment. Zoran M. Jovanović, Azbučnik pravoslavne ikonografije i graditeljstva, Belgrade: Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Dina, 2005, 155.

(5) Anđelko Badurina (ed.), Leksikon ikonografije, liturgike i simbolike zapadnog kršćanstva, Zagreb: Kršćanska sadašnost, 2006, 51.

(6) Zoran M. Jovanović, Azbučnik pravoslavne ikonografije i graditeljstva, Belgrade: Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Dina, 2005, 374.

 

 



Monastery church South facadeApseNorth facade
IconostasisInterior - DomeBell tower, roof and dome 


BiH jezici 
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