Page 45 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(2) (2024)

Analysis of the Sense Perception in the Fresco Painting of the Dečani Monastery
Analiza čutnega zaznavanja na freski v samostanu Dečani

Bojana Beuk
Aeronautical Museum, Ministry of Defense, Serbian Armed Forces, Serbia
bokapavlov@gmail.com

Abstract
This study explores the visual paradigm of art in the Middle Ages as a carrier of narrative media through
sensory perception, particularly in the context of religious and ontological representations. The analysis
focuses on the frescoes of the Dečani monastery as an authentic manifestation of written narrative con-
textualization. In medieval painting, there is a tendency to faithfully depict biblical words, inviting the 45
viewer to participate through sensory perceptions, thus leading to the adoption of an exegetical mes-
sage interpreted today through phenomenological archaeology. The frescoes of the Dečani monastery
represent a monument of late Byzantine art in Serbia, characterized by a rich oeuvre of painters who
merge liturgical word and image into a unique symbiosis aimed at the believer’s “co-signing” and com-
plete acceptance and understanding of the liturgical word through often personified representations
and abstract painting, which was not an isolated case among Byzantine artists. We believe the percep-
tion of specific artistic expression in the Orthodox monastery of Dečani abounds in sensory sensations
and theological-mystical reflections. Through a detailed analysis of various aspects of fresco painting in
the monastery, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the medieval Orthodox tradition’s
artistic, religious, and cultural elements and their influence on the perception of spirituality and faith
during that period.
Keywords: perception of the senses, fresco painting, Dečani Monastery, religion

Izvleček
Raziskava raziskuje vizualno paradigmo srednjeveške umetnosti kot nosilca pripovednih medijev preko
čutnega zaznavanja, zlasti v kontekstu religioznih in ontoloških reprezentacij. Analiza je osredotočena na
freske samostana Dečani, ki predstavljajo avtentično manifestacijo pisne pripovedne kontekstualizacije.
V srednjeveškem slikarstvu je opazna težnja po zvestem upodabljanju svetopisemskih vsebin, ki
gledalca spodbuja k aktivnemu sodelovanju preko čutnega doživljanja. To vodi k sprejetju eksegetskega
sporočila, ki ga danes interpretiramo s pomočjo fenomenološke arheologije. Freske v samostanu Dečani
so pomemben spomenik poznobizantinske umetnosti v Srbiji, za katero je značilen bogat opus slikarjev,
ki liturgično besedo in podobo združujejo v edinstveno simbiozo. Ta simbioza verniku omogoča
»sopodpisovanje« liturgične besede in njeno polno sprejemanje ter razumevanje. Umetniki pogosto
uporabljajo personificirane upodobitve in abstraktno slikarstvo, kar med bizantinskimi ustvarjalci ni
bil osamljen pojav. Menimo, da zaznavanje specifičnega umetniškega izraza v pravoslavnem samostanu
Dečani prekipeva od čutnih zaznav ter teološko-mističnih razmišljanj. S podrobno analizo različnih
vidikov freskoslikarstva pričujoča raziskava prispeva h globljemu razumevanju umetniških, verskih in
kulturnih elementov srednjeveške pravoslavne tradicije ter njihovega vpliva na dojemanje duhovnosti
in vere v tistem obdobju.
Ključne besede: zaznavanje čutov, freskoslikarstvo, samostan Dečani, religija

https://doi.org/10.26493/2350-5443.12(2)45-64 © author/authors