Decorative elements characteristic of this artistic school typically consist of geometric arabesque with stylized floral ornaments and interlaces, which include only scarce figurative details.
The katholikon of Ravanica Monastery, built in the 1370s, may be considered the inaugural statement of this style, which drew its characteristics from Mount Athos, from Serbian architecture itself of the 1340s and 1350s, and from other still unclear sources.
Evident on a large number of buildings, from Lazarica in Kruševac to Naupara, Rudenica, Veluce, Ljubostinja, and Milentija, the style of decoration displays affinities with Armenia and Georgia, the world of Islam, and even Venice and the West.
Its persistence into the fifteenth century, on church facades such as that of Kalenić Monastery (built 1413–1417), reveals the vitality of this new medium, which in its later stages began to incorporate human and animal forms, often related to mythological themes presumably drawn from manuscript illuminations.
Endowed by the Serbian despot Stefan Lazarević, the strongly defended Manasija became not only his final resting place but also the last major center of cultural activity in Serbia before its fall to the Ottomans in 1459.