Our Lady Levishka: iconographic program of dome painting and a general overview of decoration of five-dome churches
The article focuses on the iconographic program of dome paintings in the church of Our Lady Levishki in Prisren (1307-1313) built by the Serbian king Milutin. The central dome carries the image of Christ the, while the paintings on the four minor domes represent Christ in four different iconographic images: (...) This type of decoration, so simple and logical when applied to a five-dome structure, was peculiar to the churches of the Komnin period (church of St.Panteleimon in Merezi (11640). In the five-dome churches of the Milutin period, however, a different pattern of decoration is used: in Grachanitsa and Staro-Nagorichino, the paintings in the four domes depict the evangelists. Paintings of the central domes become more complex and profound from the theological perspective - for example, in the Kralyeva church in Studenitse (1314) the scene of the Heavenly liturgy is depicted. While the painting program of the Levishki domes remains true to the Byzantine tradition, it still has its unique features: Christ the Pantocr is depicted in a similar to " "; the visions of Isaya the Prophet with a seraphim carrying a piece of coal, in the central dome does not have any analogues in monumental paintings of earlier periods.