Serbian medieval legacy is a source of national pride. Yet, Serbian medieval heritage is almost invisible in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. The Serbian Medieval courts and monasteries were located southwest of Belgrade. Previously held by the Hungarians and Byzantines, it wasn’t until 1405 that Belgrade became the seat of the Serbian court.
The centuries after Belgrade’s fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1521 brought discontinuity and destruction, as the Ottomans were frequently fighting the Habsburgs over the strategically important Belgrade Fortress.
Still, there is a treasure trove in Belgrade that can tell you about some of the decisive moments of Medieval Serbia. It is the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, one of its best-kept secrets, hidden in the building of the Seat of the Serbian Patriarch, right across the street from the entrance to Belgrade’s Cathedral.
On our tour of Orthodox Icons in Belgrade we visit the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church for its collection of the late-medieval icons.
In this post, however, we’re highlighting another type of Serbian medieval legacy you wouldn’t want to miss – the precious objects owned or made by the Serbian medieval royalty and high nobility.
Open the big wooden door and immerse yourself in the Serbian Middle Ages. The Medieval Serbian state, a superpower in the Balkans in the 13th and 14th centuries with the Nemanjić family at its helm, developed a high culture. The artefacts of Serbian medieval art displayed in one of Belgrade’s best-kept secrets, the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, will show you how refined that culture was.
Icon of Christ in Gold on Silk, Medieval Legacy of Serbian King Milutin
King Milutin ruled Serbia from 1282 to 1321. He significantly expanded its territory by conquering today’s Northern Albania and North Macedonia. Politically and culturally, Milutin made Serbia closer to the Byzantine Empire.
As a devoted patron of arts and architecture, King Milutin built 40 Serbian Orthodox monasteries and churches, as well as in North Macedonia, Mount Athos in Greece, Jerusalem and the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. Some of them, like Gračanica in Kosovo or The King’s Church in Studenica in Western Serbia, belong to the artistic and architectural highlights of the entire Orthodox Medieval legacy.
For one of the 40 churches he built, probably for his mausoleum church, Banjska in Kosovo, Milutin ordered this precious Epitaphios. Epitaphios is an icon in textile that symbolises the cloth in which Christ’s body was wrapped after the Deposition. Within the Orthodox Easter ceremonies, the Epitaphios is carried around the church and then kissed by the faithful.
Milutin’s Epitaphios is a rare remnant of Medieval Serbian culture, presenting a refined image of Christ’s dead body, embroidered in gold, silver and precious stones on scarlet atlas silk. The mastery of the composition and rendering makes Milutin’s Epitaphios a masterpiece of Byzantine art, probably produced at workshops working for the imperial circles in Constantinople.
Robe of the Serbian Leader of the Epic 1389 Battle of Kosovo
Next to Milutin’s Epitaphios, you’ll see a silk court robe that once belonged to the Serbian Prince Lazar, the heroic leader of the Serbs against the Ottomans in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. The Battle of Kosovo, which ended in Serbian defeat and loss of sovereignty, remained the nation’s defining myth. Some sources claim Lazar was buried in this robe.
One of the key figures of the Serbian medieval legacy, Prince Lazar, decided to stand up against the invaders, whose army was twice as big. He was captured and beheaded. The Battle of Kosovo slowed down the Ottoman progress towards Central Europe for a couple of decades.
Why is the Battle of Kosovo still important for the Serbs? Deciding to fight despite having the lesser physical power, as Lazar did, became the symbol of virtue for the Serbian people. The loss of the state and the lives of those who bravely fought remained a symbolic wound over generations. The courage and the capacity for uncompromising acts have since solidified as the key traits of the Serbian national identity.
Poem in Goldwork by the First Serbian Poetess Jefimija
For his heroic demeanour and martyrdom, Lazar became a saint much worshipped by the Serbs shortly after his death. The first Serbian poetess, nun Jefimija, produced a unique piece of Serbian Medieval art, The Praise to Prince Lazar. She wrote and wove it around 1400, in gold work on red silk. In the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, The Praise is displayed next to Lazar’s robe.
Jefimija intended this beautiful and subtle work of poetry and embroidery to serve as a pall for Lazar’s casket. The poem praises Lazar for leaving the ephemeral earthly dignity for eternity with God. It’s also urging him to pray to God for his sons Stefan and Vuk, who, as vassals, had to fight alongside the Ottoman Sultan against the Mongols. Some of the verses are about the oppression and despair in Serbia after Lazar’s death. The final verses express Jefimija’s love and respect for Lazar.
Jefimija’s own destiny was also tragic yet heroic. Of Serbian royal descent, born into a noble family as Jelena, married to an important Serbian lord, she lost her infant son and later her husband, in another important battle against the Ottomans, preceding the Battle of Kosovo. Widowed, Jelena became a nun Jefimija and lived at Prince Lazar’s court as a friend of Lazar’s wife, Princess Milica.
Mitra Made by Hand of Serbian Princess
Another Serbian noblewoman shared a destiny of loss and endeavour. Princess Kantakuzina, a daughter of Serbia’s last ruler, Despot Djuradj Branković and Byzantine princess Irina, was married to Ulrich, the last Count of Celje (Cill).
All of Kantakuzina and Ulrich’s five children died at a young age. After her husband’s death in 1456 Siege of Belgrade, where the Papal forces defeated the Ottomans, Kantakuzina became an active diplomat between Venice and Constantinople, as her sister was married to the Ottoman Sultan.
Although she became a member of the Western European nobility by marriage, Princess Kantakuzina remained a devoted Orthodox throughout her long life.
As part of Serbian historical tourism, in the Museum, you can see Princess Kantakuzina’s handwork in a precious and meticulously embroidered mitra, in gold work and pearls on blue silk.
From the inscription Kantakuzina embroidered, we learn the mitra was a gift for the Belgrade Metropolitan (Orthodox equivalent to an archbishop). The Metropolitan’s seat was the Belgrade’s first Cathedral, the Church of the Holy Dormition, at Belgrade Fortress. The Cathedral existed from the mid-12th century, when the Byzantines built it, until the mid-18th century, when it was destroyed in an explosion during a battle between the Ottomans and the Austrians.
If you liked the story of Serbian medieval legacy, you’ll want to check out private guided tours of Belgrade to find your favorite.