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66

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67

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68

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69

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Judgment, detail: the River of Fire

5. Church of St. Nicholas at Grahovo, Last Judgment, detail: Satan with

Judas in the River of Fire

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70

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71

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72

Svetlana Peji}

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73

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detail: Death of the Righteous Man (photo Viktoria
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74

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, A. Nicolads, Le Jugement dernier de l`glise da la
Panagia de Moutoullas Chypre une peinture indite de la seconde moiti du XIVe
sicle, , . , .
( 1995), 74, fn. 29.
31 G. Dennis, Death in Byzantium, DOP

55 (2002), 6, fn. 57.

32 J. Cotsonis, The Virgin and Justinian

on Seals of the of Hagia Sophia, DOP 56 (2003), 4155,
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75

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of Diliou Monastery Katholikon, Monasteries

of the Island of Ioannina, Ioannina 1993, 223,
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76

Svetlana Peji}

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77

Svetlana Peji}

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78

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9. Church of St. Nicholas at Nikoljac, Last Judgment:

arrangement of frescoes on the vault and the north wall
of the west bay of the north aisle

79

Svetlana Peji}

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detail: figures of venerable women, female martyrs
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80

Svetlana Peji}

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81

Svetlana Peji}

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82

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Svetlana Peji

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THE LAST JUDGMENT AT NIKOLJAC

The Church of St Nicholas at Nikoljac (today in Bijelo Polje) is a
two-aisled domed building, the aisles of which are covered with
an atypical form of barrel vaults. The composition of the Last
Judgment, part of a large ensemble dated into the 1570s, is here
presented and analyzed in its entirety for the first time.
The scene is divided into two unequal parts: the larger portion
is in the west bay of the south aisle, and the second, smaller part
is on the vault and north wall of the west bay of the north aisle
(Fig. 1).
Folding Back of Heaven is adjusted to the available wall surface on the north side of the west bay of the south aisle, between
the west arch and the vault (Fig.2). On the vault of the west bay
is depicted the Deesis, the lower zone shows the angels keeping
guard while the apostles take part in the judgment (Fig. 3). Below
these friezes, on the south wall and east of the window, was

83

Svetlana Peji}

THE LAST JUDGMENT AT NIKOLJAC

painted the Prepared Throne and next to it, in the proskynesis, are
shown Adam and Eve in a kneeling position. West of the window
are represented sinners in the River of Fire, including Judas in the
jaws of a monster (Fig. 4). This detail replaces the demonic figure
of Satan, which is usually shown in other representations of the
Last Judgment (here illustrated by an example from Grahovo, Fig.
5). Below the zone showing the River of Fire are scenes depicting
collective torments. The ones that have been preserved include
the Undying Worms, the Unquenchable Fire and the Gnashing of
Teeth. Below the Prepared Throne is a rarely depicted scene of
the Death of the Righteous Man (Fig. 6). Its analysis and analogies (Fig. 7), possible sources and interpretations suggest a link
with the soteriological idea.
A representation of naked figures of sinners punished for their
individual sins covers the entire west wall of the south aisle,
which is quite unusual (Fig. 8). The peculiar punishment of the
murderer, based on the Catholic depictions of the torment inflicted by the centaur on St Sebastian, might have been conceived
only by a painter familiar with models from the Adriatic coast.
The lower zones show a selection of frequently painted categories
of sinners, such as lechers, sorcerers, calumniators, usurers,
judges guilty of bribery, dishonest inn-keepers and millers.
The second part of the composition of the Last Judgment is
painted in the west bay of the north aisle. The scenes which make
it up are painted on the barrel vault and in three zones on the
north wall (Fig. 9). On the top is a frieze showing seven choirs of
righteous men on clouds (Fig. 10). Below it is a zone with a summary depiction of Paradise. The north wall is conceived as an
integrated representation of three parallel subjects: general resurrection of the bodies on the earth, general resurrection of bodies
at sea and Just Criteria.
The position of the Last Judgment in the total programme of
paintings in the church and its division into two separate parts are
explained by the fact that the Nikoljac church does not have a
narthex, so that some of its functions had to be transferred to the
west bays of the aisles. The initial episodes and the elaborate
infernal scenes, with the addition of the rare representation of the
Death of the Righteous Man, indicate that the west bay of the
south aisle was used for funeral services and rites associated with
the dead, while the combination of a part of the Last Judgment
with the cycle of the Sermons of St John the Forerunner suggests
a link with the rites of baptism and the sanctification of the holy
water. This interpretation of the sacred topography seems to warrant direct association of the fresco with the rites performed in
this space in the absence of a narthex. This specific arrangement
cannot be credited to the anonymous painters of the wall paintings
and must be attributed to the certainly learned, but also anonymous, theologian who was the author of the programme of frescoes.