New Collection: Staro Nagorichane

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 1318 by Serbian King Stefan Milutin. The architecture masterfully blends two phases: the monumental stone walls of the 11th-century structure form the lower part, while Milutin's reconstruction added the five-domed, cross-in-square superstructure in the characteristic late Byzantine style of stone and brick. The church's greatest treasure is its extensive fresco cycle, painted between 1316 and 1318 by King Milutin's court painter, the celebrated Thessaloniki master Michael Astrapas, whose signature is found within the church. The vast iconographic program includes cycles of the Life of Christ, the martyrdom of St. George, a full Menologion (calendar of saints) in the narthex, and a significant donor portrait of King Milutin and his wife Simonis. The church also retains its original stone iconostasis featuring unique fresco icons of St. George Diassoritis and the Virgin Pelagonitissa.