Banjska Monastery in Kosovo and Metohija

Another meaningful monastery in Kosovo and Metohija is the Banjska Monastery near Zvečan a little town not far away from Kosovska Mitrovica and near the river Banjska.

Most of the monasteries of Northern Kosovo ( I wrote already about another North Kosovo Monastery: Socanica) are save and do not need military protection, because the main population in the area is represented by Serbs.
However it's very important to preserve the monasteries and to keep the Serb population in the Holy Christian land of Kosovo and Metohija, because, as emphasize Bishop Artemije:

"As long as we are physically present in Kosovo, it will remain ours. If, God forbid, we should disappear from this region, Kosovo would not be Serb even if it remains within the borders of Serbia. We don't need Kosovo without Serbs. Therefore, we must persist and persevere in hope and salvation and remain in our land. And those of us who were forced to leave from Kosovo and Metohija must return as soon as possible so that God can administer to our entire people"

This monastery with the St. Stephen's Church was built between 1313 and 1317 and was founded by the Serb King Stefan Uroš II Milutin, one of the most powerful Balkan rulers of the period and one of the most powerful rulers of the entire Nemanjić dynasty.
King Milutin built the church as his burial place and it is there that he was first laid to rest. However, following the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 his body was moved to Trepča (also near Kosvoska Mitrovica) and then in 1460 to Sofia, where it lies today in the Alexander Nevski Church.

 

The monumental building with its church, the library, the monks' quarters and the "imperial palace" began to fall into disrepair very early. At the beginning of the 15th century, a fire destroyed the library and in the second half of the same century the monastery was probably abandoned. 

So its formerly style similar to Studenica (Raska School) is not anymore recognizable.

Kuprešić, an author writing about his travels, mentions that the monastery was razed to the ground in the 16th century on the orders of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, because it served as a shelter for Christians who had fled Turkish slavery. There the Turks used it as a mosque.

 

The facade decoration was made in chess-board style with different colored marble stones. The Romanesque tradition is enforced in combination of rich architectural encrusted fragments of the portal termination, doors and windows consoles. 

Churche facades in marble where held only for Kings, and Milutin wanted to emphasize this. 

 

In the 19th century the almost totally demolished Church of Banjska Monastery was used as a mosque where Islamic prayers were performed until the First World War. Architect Dj. Boskovic took some preservation and reconstruction works in 1938.

In the 1990's some renovation works were started and in 2004 when a Liturgy was held by Patriarch Pavle and Clergy accompanied with many faithful people. Since then it's a working monastery again and a monastic brotherhood moved in  and was consecrated by Bishop Artemije (Radosavljevic) of Raska and Prizren with the clergy and monks of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren.

 

The church is an one nave basilica covered by a blind vault. 

The eastern semicircular apse was monumental and the western entrance (narthex) to the church was built in accordance to the Raska ecclesiastical style of monuments with two large towers.

The katholikon served as exemple for later built monasteries in the surrounding like Visok Decani and Sveti Arhangel and also for later churches of the moravian school.

The choice for a Raska School Style architecture in Banjska shows how the Nemanjic Family was closed to tradition (King Milutin experimented with several styles for other monasteries, but for his burrial site he wanted a clean traditional Raska School exemple).

Here the icon of King Milutin as a saint

Banjska Monastery was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia.

A good way to visit this monastery (and some of the most beautiful monastery of Kosovo and Metohija) is the 7-days tour through Kosovo and Metohija with "Spiritualserbia" , Nemanja's guided tours with focus on religion, history and architecture.

 This Photo by Peter Vanderbiesen

Fruska Gora Monasteries

Krusedol Monastery

This is a guestpost I made for the #1 site for travel deals: onetravel.wordpress.com.

 The Northern part of Serbia is called Vojvodina Region and is part of the Pannonian plain of Central Europe. The only mount in this extended flat region is the National Park of Fruska Gora which is also a well know tourist destination, and thanks to his hospitable and fertile environment around 35 monasteries were erected between the 15th and 18th century (some monasteries dates even from earlier time) in an area of 50 x 10 km.

 Krušedol  Monastery (Крушедол)

These monasteries were repeatedly protagonists of the history of the Serbian Nation, as pilgrims and refugees found places during time of persecutions. They were among the focal points of resistance against the Ottomans and also places of storage for treasures of orthodox spirituality and art over the centuries.

Today there are just 15 monasteries left and some of them were damaged during the NATO bombing campaign in 1999.
So now Fruška Gora Monasteries were declared Monuments of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and they are protected by Republic of Serbia.

Velika Remeta Monastery  (Велика Ремета)

Novo Hopovo Monastery (Ново Хопово)

Nemanja from SpiritualSerbia (a company that organizes trips to Serbian-orthodox monasteries all over South-East-Europe) gave me some pictures of the beautiful Fruska Gora Monasteries and explained the most important facts for visiting Monasteries in orthodox countries.

Nemanja tells that the monks in Serbian orthodox monastery are not really strict about behavior of visitors in the monastery, as they assume that if you dress not adequate and behave rather rude, that you’re not doing it on purpose, but that you just don’t have a clue about the rules. However it’s nice to show you arrive prepared and are willing to show your respect for their holy place.

Jazak Monastery (Јазак)

Here some tips for visiting monasteries:

Apropriate clothing: For men it’s long trousers and closed shoes, and no head coverage. For woman it’s a long skirt, long sleeves and a headscarf.

Greeting the monks: Walking toward the monk (or monks) you can nicely say: "pomaže bog" (literally: That god helps) and he will answer "bog pomogao" (literally: God helps). The monk will then hands you his hand that you will hold in your both hands and bend down your head and tell: "oče blagoslovi" (literally: Father bless me) and he will make a sign to bless you.
 
Of course you don't need to do all that, a simple greeting is fine. The monastery always will send one monk to show you around the monastery and answer your questions. Often you will be invited for coffee and cakes or exquisite monastery rakija. If you want to show gratitude leave some money or in the designated places or simply by the icons in the chapel.

Grgeteg Monastery(Гргетег)

Beočin Monastery (Беочин)

Vrdnik-Ravanica Monastery (Врдник-Раваница)

Nemanja from Spiritualtours proposes nices bed&brakfasts for overnight stays and good ethno restaurants for tasting Serbian Specialties.

Here the official site of SpiritualSerbia

Velika Remeta Monastery in Fruska Gora

 The monastery church is dedicated to St. Dimitri. Even if it's traditionally linked to king Dragutin (it's said, it's more probably founded at the end of the 15th, or in the first decades of the 16th century.)

1962 it was mentioned the first time under the name of Velika Remeta. Tursk destroyed part of the monastery in 1716.

The monastery church was built as a single-nave building with a dome and exonarthex, with a baroque bell-tower (with 38,6m the highest in the Fruska Gora region) added during renovation works between 1932-1735 by the brothers Andrija and Jakov Andrejević. 

 

Both, the exterior and interior were painted in 1567-68. Some fragments are preserved in the niches of the facade and in the altar.

The monks' quarters surrounding the church on four sides underwent renovation in the style with baroque bell-tower. 

 

The paintings on the iconostasis. which was dismantled during World War II have not been studied extensively. The iconostasis consisted of a set of icons varying in age, put together in 1850. The most important icons from the main tiere were done in 1687 by russian court drawers Leontije Stefanov, Joan Maksimov and Spiridon Grigorev.

After the damage caused to Velika Remeta in World War II (Ustashas occupied the monastery until spring of 1943 and brought all the treasuries to a museum in Zagreb).

The Monastery was renovated in 1982. 

(The pictures of this post are from Paolo Michelini's fantastic Fruska Gora album. )

Monastery Novo Hopovo In Fruska Gora

 Novo Hopovo Monastery (Манастир Ново Хопово) was erected on the end of the 15th century by bishop Maksim (despot Djordje Brankovic). On some good preserved stones behind the west door of the temple some writings confirm that the church from 1576 is dedicated to saint Nikola. It's the oldest inscript in stone of entire Vojvodina (picture above from wiki.commons)

This monastery was one of the most important centers for Serbs in the 16th century along Dunav and Sava River. A lot of Serbian scholars came to Hopovo to learn to write and to read and to learn arabic and roman numbers.

Hopovo became also a main center for pilgrims, when the relics of Theodore of Amasea (Theodor Tiro) were found in 1555.

The painted walls of the interior (photo by Paolo)

The church was not all painted in the same time. The alter was decorated in 1608 by Hieromonachos Mitrofan. The freskoes of the narthex are from 1654. The freskoes but also the architecture are in style inspired by Sveta Gora (the region of Monut Athos) as Novo Hopovo hold a very tight alliance with Hilander Monastery and Sveta Gora.

The iconostasis is from 1776 and was painted by Teodor Kracun, one of the most significant painters of the second half of 18th century. In the monastery there was also an iconografic school led by Russians like Jov Vasilijevič i Vasilije Romanovič, painters that characterized Serbian church painting.

 

The painted walls of the interior (photo by Paolo)

The walls of Hopovo's church were started by Wenzel Novak, a builder from Petrovaradin until the 3rd floor. Then it was dismantled by igumane Teodor Dimitrijević Kracun (the painter) who was not satisfied with the dimensions and look.
The four central pillars are completely painted with saints and the apsis is also richly decorated with scenes of the bible.

The bell-tower (photo by Paolo)

The new version of the bell-tower was built by Nikolaus Farzel from 1758 and 1760 by everyone's satisfaction. Monks lived already in the monastery at that time, so also Dositej Obradovic who spent years there.

Between 1920 and 1943 the nuns of the monasteries were almost all from Russia, as they had to flew during October Revolution.
In front of the entrance of the monastery is the thomb of Mother Jekaterina which was the head of the monastery of Hopovo. She was Russian and grew up near the House of Romanov family.

The iconosatse suffered damage in the WW2 and the guesthouses of the 17th and 18th century were destroyed. Icons were stolen by the attacking Ustasa regime and the church was set on fire.
The renovation took more than 3 decades. In1990 for the 300-years of Serb migration, the cell of Dositej Obradovic was renovated, a new library was founded and the monastery treasury was renewed.

The monastery in winter (picture by Dejan Knezevic)

When you approach the Monastery, the church is hidden behind the walls.

 The monastery church (photo by Paolo)

The facade of the church entirely built in bricks is structured by two cornices and ends with a row of blind arches. The narthex (entrance hall) has a barrel vault and over the naos (the main hall) is a richly panted cross-vault with an also richly painted cupola. What is also very beautiful is the terracotta floor of the naos.

Novo Hopovo was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia.

Krusedol Monastery in Fruska Gora

Photo link

Fruska Gora, the only mound of the otherwise flat Vojvodina (Pannonian Plain) has been the center of Serbian-orthodox spirituality for centuries. In an area of 50kn lenght and 10km width there are 16 monasteries built in the late Middle Age (even if legends tells that some of them were found as early as the 12th century) when Serbian culture was moving northward in response to the Ottoman onslaught. 
The monasteries were built in the style of the Moravian School and the first founders of the monasteries were the despots of the House of Brankovici (descendands of medieval rulers of the House of Nemanjic). In the 18th century many of the monasteries were rebuilt in Baroque Style, getting tall bell towers and intricate Baroque iconostases.
During WW II the monasteries suffered severe damage by the hands of the Ustashas and many valuable objects were taken. Today some of them active and are renovated, others are undergoing renovation and other are left as they are and no monks live there anymore.

photo link

In this post I'd like to show some pictures of the best-known of them, located 13km of Sremski Karlovci, it's the Krusedol Monastery (Манастир Крушедол) and is known as the mausoleum of some famous Serbs.

photo from pravoslavlje.nl

The monastery church is dedicated to the Annunciation and was errected 1504-1514 and is a good example of Moravian Style (however Baroque details were added later).

The monastery was founded between 1509 and 1516, by Bishop Maksim and his mother, Angelina Brankovic (the daughter of Orthodox Christian Prince of Albania, Skanderbeg) who were supported by Walachian Duke Jovan Njagoja Basaraba. During the final retreat of the Turks from Srem, in 1716, the monastery was damaged and the church burnt down. 

The renovation started in 1721, and was completed in the late 1760s. In 1726, a baroque bell-tower was added on to the West wing of the monks' quarters and between 1742 and 1750, the church underwent certain adaptations which did not significantly change its general original appearance. The monks' quartets were reconstructed and expanded in the same period. 

photo link

The church was originally decorated with fresco paintings in the 16th century. Its interior was covered with new oil wall paintings between 1750 and 1756, done by Ukranian painter Jov Vasilijevic and Stefan Tenecki.

  

photo link

On the West facade, there is a composition of the "Last judgment" from the end of the 17th century. The iconostasis consists of icons from between 16th and 19th century and the Deesis (from early 1500) is a beautiful example of byzantine icons.

The church is also the tomb of the Brankovic Family as well as Patriarchs Arsenije III and Arsenije IV and several members of the Obrenovic dynasty - Pricess Ljubica and King Milan.

Today Krusedol is a working woman's monastery.

Links:

Pictures of the monastery on panoramio

A description on Bill's blog with great pictures

Socanica Monastery in Kosovo and Metohija

 

In the northern part of Kosovo and Metohija, not far from the way from Raska to Kosovoska Mitrovica lays the peaceful monastery Socanica.

 the bell tower and the church

The entrance of the church

There aren’t hardly written things about the beginning of this monastery, only from a grave we know that around 1643 a priest Stefan was burried here and it looks that it then already was a monastery. The baptistery was build in 1862 on the bottom of the old distroyed church which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

 the candleholder outside the church

It’s not know when that church was build or when the Turks destroyed it, there are only signs that a lot of people always brought Slava cakes and hold gatherings, and confirm so an interrupted veneration of the church over the entire time.

the guesthouse (конак)

A story says, that a municipal forest ranger and member of the Socanica community and also patron and builder of the todays temple was Cirko Terzic of Brzanca. 

 From some writings it’s also known that the temple was build bigger than the Turks would have alowded so that the members of the church council had to stay in prison for an entire year and Cirko Terzic, seen as the responsible for that was killed.

The monks that live today in the monastery keep the entire monastery going and here I would like to share a couple of pictures from my visit at the monastery. 

 

We had coffee, juice, selfmade cakes (by the monks) and rakija on the terasse of the guesthouse in a very pleasant atmosphere and we had a very nice talk with the monks that have become good friends of my friends in Zvecan.

What fascinated me a lot is the long table in the garden. It can seat 130 - 140 people and it's located under trees with view to the valley.
The monastery has a beautiful website (in serbian) here: www.manastirsocanica.com