Moravska škola

In the Morava Serbia of Prince Lazar, in the late 14th century, a special style of church and monastery building was developed – the Morava School. In that period, fleeing from the Turks, the best of the master builders came to Serbia from the east. And although the builders of the churches were foreigners, the Morava School is considered the very Serbian autochthon and original style of the mediaeval architecture. There were some special characteristics – the church ground plan was of a trefoil shape, the buildings had either one or five domes, sometimes a narthex, also with a dome. What was particularly eye-catching was their exterior look – the wals were built of alternate courses of red brick and greyish mortar, and were lavishly decorated with garlands, pilasters, arches, chess squares, so the impression was of beautiful colourful surfaces. The churches were also decorated with rosettes – roses, sculptured round tracery. The best known Morava School churches are Ravanica, Lazarica, Manasija, Kalenić, Ljubostinja, Naupara, Nova Pavlica, Vraćevšnica.

GEOGRAPHY

Most of the Morava School churches were built in the vicinity of Kruševac, the Lazar’s capital.