Page 47 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 12(2) (2024)

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Figure 1: The exterior of Dečani Monastery, Courtesy of BLAGO Fund, Inc Analysis of the Sense Perception in the Fresco Painting of the Dečani Monastery

Through a historical-comparative method, we tion in the previously discussed representations
will analyse the iconographic representations to identify sensory experiences in the interpreta-
from different cycles of the monastery concern- tions of ontological depictions.
ing biblical sources to uncover deviations and
highlight specific artistic expressions. Given that Monastery of Dečani
the narratives of the Old and New Testament of- The development and flourishing of architectur-
fer multiple sources on certain scenes, this study al, artistic, and craft skills, influenced by East-
will focus on particular scenes from the rich ar- ern and Western ecclesiastical art and reach-
tistic corpus such as The Creation of Adam, An- ing their zenith under the Palaiologos dynasty
nunciation, The Birth of Christ, The Baptism of (ruled between 1261 and 1453), gave rise to re-
Christ, The Transfiguration, The Betrayal of Ju- markable achievements in the construction of
das, The Resurrection, and The Second Coming as Serbian spiritual centers – churches and mon-
isolated examples of a rich artistic oeuvre. In our asteries – particularly at the beginning of the
view, the iconographic solutions of these exam- 14thcentury (Đurić and Babić-Đorđеvić 1997,
ples demonstrate a refined freedom in the artis- 48). The construction of the Dečani Monas-
tic interpretation of the written word. Following tery started under the patronage of King Stefan
this, the analysis will explore the sensory percep- Uroš III Dečanski Nemanjić, his future mauso-