Аn architectural workshop from the 2nd decade of the 15th century in the border regions of Bulgaria and Serbia

Abstract

The Monastery of St. John Theologian near Pirot (Poganovo), best known for the icon of Miracle of Latomos (now in Sofia) and wall decoration from the end of the 15th century, was well examined and treated by conservators as a building complex, but is still insufficiently studied. The time of the creation of the monument and the identity of its founders, Constantine and Helena, whose names were engraved on the west facade, were variously interpreted, and the largest number of scholars were of the opinion that they were Constantine Dragas (Dejanovic) and his daughter Helena, wife of Emperor Manuel II (1391-1425). However, the persons in questions were members of the nobility of despotes Stefan, who got these areas from Sultan Mehmed I, after the Battle near Sofia in 1413. Architectural drawings and watercolors made by architects Mihailo Valtrovic and Dragutin Milutinovic, who visited the area around Trn after its liberation from Turkish rule in 1877-1878, made it possible to detect relationships with other monuments in the valley of Jerma, the Monastery of Archangel Michael in Trn and the Monastery of the Virgin in Mislovstica. Characteristic features of these churches - seven-sided dome and a manner of construction with stone, brick and mortar in the distinctive decorative type that cannot be found elsewhere - show that they were built by the same masters, members of an architectural workshop, in the second decade of the 15th century.