A staurotheke of Serbian provenance in Pienza

Abstract

The paper discusses the virtually unpublished reliquary of Serbian provenance now kept in the Museo Diocesano in Pienza. It tackles the issue of the typology of the staurotheke, its decoration and symbolic significance. Based on its Old-Serbian inscription, “Sava, the first archbishop and patriarch of the Serbs”, the reliquary is dated to the last quarter of the fourteenth century and related to the programme of the Serbian Patriarchate. The surviving sources make it possible to reconstruct the road the staurotheke travelled from the treasuries of Žiča and the Patriarchate of Peć to Pienza. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 177003: Medieval heritage of the Balkans: Institutions and culture

On two lost medieval Serbian reliquaries the staurothekai of King Stefan Uros I and Queen Helen

“…33 Among the prestigious examples of staurothekai in the shape of a double-armed cross are certainly the reliquary with the name of Sava of Serbia kept in Pienza, Italyrefurbished in the last third of the fourteenth century -and the staurotheke of King Milutin and Bishop Gregory II of Raška, which underwent a thorough renovation in Ragusa in the first half of the sixteenth century. 34 Although now lost and only known from written sources, the staurothekai of King Uroš I and Queen Helen are a precious testimony to the popularity of this reliquary type in medieval Serbia.…”

The staurotheke of the church of Sts. Peter and Paul in Ras, Serbia. A contribution to research

“…Although its decoration, which dates from the time of its renovation in the late fourteenth century, is much more sumptuous than the Dubrovnik one, the two are similar in shape, proportions and, most particularly, in having an inscribed handle. 22 The original decoration of the staurotheke of King Milutin and Bishop Gregory can only be a matter of conjecture. Except for the openwork rosettes at both intersections-undoubtedly dating from the time of renovation-the main feature of the reliquary as it is today is an austerity of form and an almost complete absence of ornamentation.…”