The anniversary of the death of one of the founders of Studenica – seven centuries (1321-2021)
The founding inscription of King Milutin is carved on four marble slabs embedded under the roof cornice of the altar apse of the King’s Church in Studenica. From the founding inscription, it is known that the church was dedicated to Saints Joachim and Ana and was built in 1313/1314:
+ In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I, Stefan Uroš servant of God, great-grandson of the holy lord Simeon and grand son of the first-crowned King Stefan, son of the great King Uroš, king of All Serbian lands and seas, built this church in the name of the righteous saints and ancestors of Christ, Joachim and Ana, in the year 6822, indictus 22nd. And everything that I donated to this sacred temple and wrote in the chrysobull. Whoever changes this, may they be damned by God and by my sinful self, amen! + This temple was built by the efforts of archimandrite and protosyngellos hegoumenos Jovan.
Formulating the inscription, King Milutin first mentions his famous ancestors and distinguished benefactors: the great-grandfather of Saint Simeon, the grandfather Saint Stephen the First Crowned and the father King Uros I. By dedicating the church to Christ’s first parents, Joachim and Ana, King Milutin honored not only the parents of the Holy Mother of God, but also his own ancestors, whose importance he emphasized in his other endowments. When building his Studenica church, the king made sure to confirm his founding with a gift charter – a chrysobull which is highlighted in the inscription: “And everything that I donated to this sacred temple and wrote in the chrysobull”. Unfortunately, the mentioned chrysobull has not been preserved. The inscription of King Milutin is followed by another marble plaque that highlights the merits of the Studenica archimandrite and protosyngellos Jovan for the construction of the temple. Traces of red paint were found in some recesses of the letters, which proves that the inscription was originally painted. At the beginning of the 19th century, in 1803, directly above the marble slab of the inscription on the eastern side of the altar apse, the monk Nikifor wrote his name in black: “Nikifor 1803”. This monk was hanged by the Turks in Peć in 1806.
