 July 2007 - Pec, Kosovo & Metohija - For the past 10 years, the BLAGO (Treasure) Fund established by the Serbian Unity Congress has been preserving and promoting Serbian cultural heritage. Creating computerized virtual-reality libraries of the interiors and exteriors of our monasteries, we give people around the world -- Serbs and all others -- a chance to visit these faraway gems of our culture. The center of these treasures historically and in terms of sheer richness, is in the southern Serbian province of Kosovo-and-Metohija, a place that people can today only visit with a heavily armed escort of NATO troops to protect against Albanian attack.
Having already recorded virtual libraries of the monasteries of Gracanica (gra-cha-nee-tsa) and Decani (de-cha-nee) our BLAGO (Treasure) team set out this summer for the Patriarchate of Pec (pech), a Serbian crown jewel and beacon of Christianity in Kosovo-and-Metohija.
A single glance at the church complex and courtyard lets you know instantly why you have come. The essence of being Serbian and the repository of our nation's collective memory is all rooted here in the history, Christianity, culture and architecture. Our project aims to share this window on our
soul across the world, just as we cherish and admire the wonders of other nations' historical
treasuries.
The Patriarchate of Pec, the historic seat of the patriarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, is a complex of four churches built over the eras of a succession of monarchs and patriarchs starting around the year 1230 AD. The three main churches share a common narthex entry or lobby, while the fourth and smallest has a separate entrance. As the center of Serbian Christianity for ages, the complex is the final resting place of a parade of patriarchs and royals, their tombs and sarcophaguses tended by monastic under the dim light of candles burning across the millennia.
It was in this surreal atmosphere, surrounded by the sweet smell of incense that we began our work.To avoid setting up major scaffolding but to still get the perspective needed to photograph the church, we used a remote-control camera mounted atop a 30-foot telescoping pole with a flash on a
second pole. We raised the poles from a 10-foot pedestal that we had to build to reach the top of the main dome.
Using the very latest digital photographic equipment, we worked from 42 virtual-reality observation points, taking 5,000 high-resolution photos over seven days of work. The result is 100 gigabytes of data to be processed into a seamless virtual space that visitors around the world will stroll through in wonder, using the computer screens in their homes. We started our work right after each morning's 9 AM service, continuing uninterrupted till as late as 2 AM the next morning.
Each team member had a role: supporting and building the observation structures, checking the photos on screen, or writing down the details of each shot.
In addition, our two experts in Serbian medieval art put together a detailed history of each fresco as we went along.
The nuns and others in the complex supported our efforts. A couple from the nearby Serbian village of Gorazdevac (go-razh-de-vats) prepared our meals in the finest tradition of first-class hosts typical of Serbia. Gorazdevac nestles quietly by the Bistrica (bis-tree-tsa) Stream where Serbian children frolicking in the water to cool off in a hot August four years ago were machine-gunned to death by an Albanian sniper hiding in the trees with an AK-47 automatic weapon. Their lifeless small bodies were given their last blessings in the glow of our other martyrs buried in the ancient patriarchate.
Check our Web site www.srpskoblago.org for the images of our threatened heritage and please donate what you can to preserve it.
This BLAGO team included Igor Jeremic, Zoran Jovanovic, Gordana Kelic, Ljubomir Medenica, Sasa Sekulic and Nenad Vukicevic.
BLAGO team on the way out of Pec
Map of the trip to Pec
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