A hypothesis about the earliest phase of Žiča katholikon

Abstract

Based on the results of the archaeological research of the oldest horizon of the katholikon of Žiča Monastery, this paper brings the hypothesis that the initial model for its spatial arrangement was the main church of the Archbishopric of Kalocsa. Documented by the historical arguments that give the indirect validation, this hypothesis is considered from the perspective of cultural interactions which left a mark on the artistic creations of liminal geographical and historical zones of the Christian world during the twelfth and thirteenth century. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177015: Hrišćanska kultura na Balkanu u srednjem veku: Vizantijsko carstvo, Srbi i Bugari od IX do XV veka i br. 177036: Srpska srednjovekovna umetnost i njen evropski kontekst]

Keywords

• Medieval Serbia
• Žiča monastery
• syncretic architecture
• Stephen “the First-Crowned”
• Kalocsa Archbishopry
• Constantinople
• transept basilica
• visual culture
• appropriation
• Jerusalem