The Coronation of Serbian Tsar Stefan Dusan

The Serbian tribes took long to unite. They lived in valleys separated from each other by high mountains and it was not until late twentieth century that they broke free from Byzantine domination. Their largest group in the Drina River basin and in Montenegro was united by Stefan Nemanja into a state that strengthened its position in the 13th and 14th centuries. Stefan Dušan added southern Macedonia, Albania, Thessaly, the vicinity of Belgrade and other places to Serbia. He created a large empire ranging from the Danube to the Gulf of Corinth. In 1349 he published a Code codifying the rights of Serbian feudal lords while enserfing the subjects and taking away some rights from free peasants.

At Easter 1346, Stefan Dušan was coronated as the Emperor (Tsar) of the Serbs and Greeks. The painting shows the moments immediately after the coronation ceremony. The procession is headed by noblemen carrying the Tsar’s helmet, shield and sword, and his chancellor with the great seal. The Tsar, wearing a sumptuous coronation robe is holding the symbol of his power – the sceptre. Girls with branchlets are strewing the road in front of him and his wife with blossoms. The Tsar is followed by his son Stefan Uroš V, who was crowned as the king of all Serbian and coastal territories on the same day. Behind him we can see the Serbian patriarch and the final part of the procession consists of priests, the envoys of all important European courts, and the nobility. He is being greeted by ladies and gentlemen on raised pla�tforms, wearing beautiful garments, and the knights are paying tribute to the new tsar by the sides of the temple.

The procession also includes an envoy of Bohemian King and Roman Emperor Charles IV, who ended his written congratulations to Tsar Dušan with these words: “I am happy to see that at this time all Europe is in Slavic hands.”

The painting is completed with the figure of a girl – typical of Mucha’s detailed Art Nouveau work – with a headband and a long plait in the central part of the canvas.