The path to redemption: Reconsidering the role of the image of the virgin above the entrance to the church of the Virgin Hodegetria at the Peć Monastery

Abstract

The church complex of the monastery at Peć achieved its final form with the projects undertaken by archbishop Danilo II (1324–1337). He began with the church of the Virgin Hodegetria (circa 1330) that would house his tomb. His sarcophagus was placed in the northwestern corner of the church below the vault of a small, elongated space. A shared narthex was added to the three monastery churches included in the Peć complex in the early 1330s. The western façade of the church of Hodegetria displays a monumental image of the Mother of God above the entrance that leads from the narthex to the interior. The iconography of the Virgin in Peć has been compared to that of the Virgin as the Fountain of Life as well as with that of the icon of the Mother of God Zoodochos Pege from the homonymous monastery in Constantinople. Such imagery was not, however, associated with the sacrament of baptism and its role in salvation and resurrection. This paper argues that a shared association with the rite of baptism links the image of the Virgin Mary with the funerary function of the church and the tomb of Danilo II, reflecting Danilo II’s personal concern with the Last Judgment and salvation.