The iconostasis in Dečani: the original painted programme and subsequent changes

Abstract

The history of the iconostasis in the central nave of the church in Dečani can be divided into two periods. The icons of Christ, the Mother of God, John the Baptist and St. Nicholas on the original altar screen, painted around 1343, were related to the relics of King Stefan Dečanski and with the wall painting in the church space in front of the altar. The removal of those icons at the end of the sixteenth century and their replacement with new ones explains the strengthening cult of St. Stefan Dečanski. In 1577 an icon of St. Stephen was placed over the king’s portrait depicted in the fourteenth century fresco painting, and by 1593/1594, the new despotic icons of Christ and the Virgin were painted for the iconostasis, then an expanded Deesis that was placed above them, with a large cross fixed on the top. The central icons were painted by the painter Longin, and the cross is attributed to Andreja, a painter known for his frescoes from the seventh and eighth decade of the seventeenth century.

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