Regalia of Serbia
The Royal Crown of Serbia (Serbian: Српска краљевска круна, romanized: Srpska kraljevska kruna) is a royal regalia that existed during the Serbian monarchy.
Serbia, like most former monarchies in Europe, has had crowns once worn by its rulers. The various Serbian principalities and kingdoms were organised around a number of different royal dynasties. Many of these invested in symbols of royalty which has led to a number of distinctive crowns, jewels and other treasures of incredible wealth surviving to the present day. As far as is known, there are four royal crowns once worn by Serbian kings or princes that have survived to the present day, of which just one is kept in the modern Republic of Serbia today.[1]
Nemanjić Crowns
The
The 14th Century Crown of
At the
There are accounts that the crown of Hohenstaufen in Germany, also of Byzantine design, has Serbian origins and that it might have belonged to one of Serbia's medieval rulers. Due to the impossibility of testing, it is impossible to prove it.[1]
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Stefan Uroš III Dečanski Nemanjić in Cetinje Monastery in Montenegro
Karađorđević Crown
The
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Karađorđević Crown
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Coat of arms of Serbia on the crown
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King Peter I wearing the regalia, 1904
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King Peter I's coronation, 1904
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Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Serbia
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Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Kingdom of Yugoslavia
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Prince Peter holding the Karađorđević Crown (2013)
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Prince Philip placing the Royal Orb near the Karađorđević Crown, 2013
Regalia
The Karađorđević Royal Regalia consist of the following:
The crown, scepter, and orb are decorated with gemstones found in Serbia and enameled in the national colours of red, blue, and white. The royal mantle is made of purple velvet, embroidered with gold and lined with ermine fur.[4] Unlike in most European countries' regalia, there is no sword of state.
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Serbian Crown Jewels, Karađorđević Crown, Royal orb, and Royal Mantle buckle
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Serbian scepter
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Serbian Royal mantle
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Serbian Royal mantle
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Ermine fur on the Serbian Royal mantle
Replica Crowns
By the initiative of dr Dušica Bojić , the director of the Historical Museum of Serbia, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Serbia, several crowns of medieval Serbian rulers were ideally recreated by the filigree artist Goran Ristović Pokimica (co-operated with other jewellers, filigree artists and goldsmiths) and aided by Dragan Vojvodić , historian and professor of medieval artwork and the corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The crowns were made of silver, which were gilded with nickel and gold. All the pearls are genuine from freshwater sources, while the precious stones were grown from dust under artificial conditions. About 13 techniques were used during the construction and everything was done the old-fashioned way. Each crown is worked between four and six months. They were officially revealed to the public in December 2022. The crowns were temporarily displayed in the Historical Museum of Serbia between February and March 2023. They are planned to be permanently displayed at the newly planned museum location, previously the Belgrade Main railway station.[5][6]
The first crown recreated was of King Stefan Uroš II Milutin Nemanjić, recreated from the fresco depictions in the King's Church of Studenica Monastery. Weighing in at 1.6 kilograms, the crown is adorned with 26 rubies, 18 sapphires, 23 amethysts, 4 lapis lazulis and 407 pearls. The production of the crown took four months, and the author used 13 techniques: rolling, cutting, forging, twisting, granulation, hand engraving, filigree, riveting, soldering, polishing, gilding, stone processing and faceting. Special care was given to make the crown of Stefan Dušan more elaborate and richer compared to Stefan Milutin′s, more fit for his Emperor status. Serbian rulers had several crowns during their reign, with Stefan Milutin′s crown as depicted in the frescoes in Gračanica Monastery being the most elaborate from all the depictions of the ruler.[6][5][7]
Second crown recreated was of Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan Nemanjić, recreated from the fresco depictions in Lesnovo Monastery. Weighing in at 1.7 kilograms, the production of the crown took six months, also using the same 13 techniques.[6][5][7]
The third crown recreated was of Prince Stefan Lazarević, recreated from the fresco depictions in Manasija Monastery. Weighing in at 1.4 kilograms (1434.37 grams), the crown is adorned with 3 obsidians, 13 tourmalines, 3 aquamarines, 3 garnets, 4 amethysts, 26 rubies, 29 sapphires and 69 pearls. While the original crown was most likely made of gold or glam silver, the replica was made of gilded silver.[6][5][7]
The crown of
There are plans to ideally reconstruct crowns of over 20 medieval Serbian rulers, starting from
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Crown of Serbian Queen Helen of Anjou (recreated)
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Crown of Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin Nemanjić (recreated)
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Crown of Serbian Queen Simonida (recreated)
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Crown of Serbian Empress Helena of Bulgaria (recreated)
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Crown of Serbian Prince Stefan Lazarević (recreated)
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Recreated crown and scepter of Emperor of Serbia Stefan Dušan displayed in Historical Museum of Serbia
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Recreated crown and scepter of Empress of Serbia Helena of Bulgaria displayed in Historical Museum of Serbia
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Српске круне - Сачуване и нестале круна краља Стефана Дечанског". dinastijanemanjic.weebly.com (in Serbian). 19 January 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ Cetinje
- ^ Fessler, Ignaz Aurelius (1815–1825). Die Geschichten der Ungarn und ihrer Landsassen. Leipzig.
- ^ "The Regalia". Royal Family of Serbia. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- ^ a b c d e f Petrović, Milana (6 February 2023). "Kako su izgledale krune srpskih vladara iz srednjeg veka? Istorijski muzej Srbije oživljava slavnu prošlost". nationalgeographic.rs (in Serbian). Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f "Krune srpskih vladara kriju raskoš i bogatu istoriju". rts.rs (in Serbian). 21 January 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- ^ a b c "Srbija i istorija: Kako su izgledale krune srednjovekovnih vladara". bbc.com (in Serbian). 10 January 2023. Retrieved 30 September 2023.