Raška architectural school

Raška architectural school (Serbian: Рашка школа архитeктуре), also known as the Raška style (Рашки стил, Raški stil), or simply as the Raška school, is an ecclesiastical architectural style that flourished in the Serbian Middle Ages (ca. 1170–1300), during the reign of the Nemanjić dynasty. The style is present in several notable churches and monasteries: Studenica, Peć, Sopoćani, Morača, Arilje and many others. This style combines traditional Slavic architecture with early Christian church-design, and often utilizes a combination of stone and wood material.

Raška has the only extant significant, historical monument from the time of the acceptance of Christianity -- Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Ras -- in Novi Pazar. Meanwhile, the other state, Zeta, had characteristics of the early Romanesque period, Latin in style.

Towards the end of the 12th century, however, Stefan Nemanja united Raška and Duklja. When his young son Sava founded the independent church in 1219, all these cultural bridges connected Serbia to the best-known centers of world art, Salonika and Constantinople one the one side and Venice and the Adriatic coast on the other.