BLAGO Blog

Zaum, or the Church of the Mother of God of Zahumlje, is located on the eastern shore of Lake Ohrid, at the foot of Mount Galičica. Owing to a fresco inscription in Greek on the western wall of the church, we learn that the church was built by Kesar Grgur, and painted in 1361 by Grigorije, bishop of Devol, "during the reign of Stefan Uroš". The que...

Holy Savior Church in Kučevište, once dedicated to the Presentation of the Mother of God, is one of the oldest preserved foundations of the Serbian nobility. Located about 15 km north of Skopje, the church was endowed by a noble family—Asen, Radoslav, and Vladislava—whose names appear in the inscription above the south door of the nave. The narthex...

The BLAGO Fund continues its mission of preserving and digitizing the heritage of Orthodox nations. This summer, with the blessing of the hierarchs of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Stefan and Metropolitan Grigori, our team headed to the heart of Macedonia, to the region where the histories of many nations and empires converge. This yea...

We have published the collection of the St Nikitas church in Skopska Crna Gora, North Macedonia. The church is the only remaining visible structure of the former monastery, which is assumed to have been founded between the late 10th and late 12th centuries, possibly by Serbian Grand Župan Stefan Nemanja. However it may have been built earlier ...

Last week, the BLAGO Fund had the opportunity to present their work at the international online conference organized by the University of Bamberg. The two-day conference, entitled "Islamic Medieval Wall Paintings: Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach," brought together scholars and professionals from diverse disciplines and fields, covering a wide...

We have published the collection of the St George Church in Staro Nagorichane. The Church of St. George in Staro Nagoričane is a masterpiece of Byzantine art, renowned for its architecture and frescoes. Initially founded in the 11th century, possibly by Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes (1068–1071), the church was rebuilt between 1312 and ...

We have published the collection of Monastery Ravanica. The collection includes over a thousand pictures taken during our visits to the monastery in June 2024. The Monastery of Ravanica is located in central Serbia, near the town of Ćuprija, in the foothills of the Kučaj mountains. The monastery church dedicated to the Ascension is the foundat...

Last week, our associate, Dr. Ivana Lemcool, gave a lecture at Stanford University. The lecture titled "Making Sacred Spaces Virtual: The Role of Digital Tools in Preservation and Demarginalization of Ecclesiastical Art of Southeastern Europe" was held within the "Global Approaches to Sacred Space" Workshop organized by Prof. Bissera...

We have published the collection of Monastery Koporin. The collection includes over a thousand pictures taken during our visits to the monastery in June of 2024. It is situated near the town of Velika Plana, in the valley of the Koporin River. The church presently dedicated to Saint Stephen (originally to Holy Archangels) is an endowment of an unkn...

After two field trips in 2021 and 2023 and extensive post-processing work, we have published the collection of Monastery Grachanica. The collection includes over five thousand pictures out of the fifteen thousand taken during our visits to the monastery. The panorama movie walk offers a unique view of the monastery church interior, showcasing the s...

The Sisojevac Monastery, located at the source of the Crnica River near Ćuprije and close to the Ravanica Monastery, has a rich history. Its origins are linked to the priest Sisoj, mentioned in a charter by Princess Milica from 1398 when she was known as nun Evgenija. It is believed that the monastery church of the Transfiguration was built during ...

The BLAGO Fund-sponsored session took place at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, UK. The Congress organized by the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds is Europe's largest annual gathering of medievalists worldwide. This year's thematic focus of the Congress was 'Crisis', and it was attended by approx...

Our new collection of the Naupara monastery is available on our website. The church was built, most probably, in the 1370s, modeled after the palatial church of Prince Lazar in nearby Kruševac. It has a trefoil plan, with a dome above its central area and a bell tower above the narthex. In addition to sculptural decoration which is characteristic o...

Our new collection of the Rudenica monastery is available on our website. Last summer, we visited this exceptional monument of the Morava school of architecture, foundation of  nobleman Vukašin and his wife Vukosava. Their portraits have been preserved in the nave of the church, alongside the portraits of Despot Stefan Lazarević and his b...

Our new collection of the Monastery of Ljubostinja is available on our website. This summer, we visited this beautiful late 14th-century foundation of Princess Milica in Central Serbia, and after completing our work on editing and organizing the material we created, we have posted hundreds of high-quality photographs along with the VR tour of the C...

We are extremely saddened by losing our dear friend and colleague, Operation Director and BOD President of BLAGO Serbia, Ljubomir Medenica. Meda, as he was known to most of his friends and associates, has been a part of our organization since its inception. His background as an electrical engineer, technical knowledge and practical mindset, and org...

A new collection of the Budisavci Monastery is posted on our website. This summer, we visited the small female monastic community living in this 14th-century foundation that is 17 km away from the Patriarchate of Peć. The church of Holy Transfiguration preserves 16th-century painting that was made owing to the efforts of Makarije Sok...

We are excited to announce that we are preparing a BLAGO Fund-sponsored session for the next International Medieval Congress in Leeds, 1-4 July 2024.   Crisis, Accessibility, and Preservation:Digitizing Medieval Heritage in a Changing World ___ BLAGO Fund Sponsored Session The current global crises, such as climate change, political instabilit...

Besides Kosovo and Metohija, this year's field trip included central Serbia, more precisely, the area surrounding the city of Kruševac. With the blessing of His Grace Bishop David, our small team made complete collections of the Monasteries Ljubostinja, Rudenica, Naupare, and Drenča. Ljubostinja Monastery is an Orthodox monastery near the town of T...

On Friday, May 26, 2023, our BLAGO Fund team set out on a journey from Belgrade to Gračanica to photograph the Serbian medieval cultural heritage of Gračanica and Budisavci monasteries, as well as the churches in Lipljan and Crkolez. Three-member team left Belgrade in a rented van and arrived in Jagodina, where other team members joined them. ...