Serbian Orthodox Monasteries

Serbian Orthodox Monasteries

Serb Orthodox monasteries are found throughout Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Romania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Hungary, Italy, Austria, Germany, France, England, Canada and the United States. This foundation of monasteries followed the forming of the first semi-independent Serbian states (under Byzantine rule) starting in the 10th century. The first monasteries were built in the Raška region, in the Southwestern Serbia, then Kosovo and finally in Central Serbia. Fleeing the Turkish tyranny, the majority of Serbs migrated to the North. Shortly thereafter, the first monasteries on the Fruška Gora Mountain were established. The modern-day monasteries in North America are the result of the general ebb and flow of emigration itself.

All the Serbian rulers were very religious and instead of building palaces, they established monasteries as their endowments and mausoleums. Monasteries used to be the place where important decisions were made. The first books were copied here and thus literacy was spread and the culture of the Serbian people was formed. The walls were illuminated by frescoes reflecting the artistic styles of the time. Some of this frescoes are extremely valuable art treasures like the frescoes in the Sopocani monastery and the Frescoe of the White Angel ("Beli anđeo") from the 13th century in the Monastery of Mileševa now under the protection of UNESCO. Dečani Monastery, Patriarchate of Peć, Gračanica Monastery, and Our Lady of Ljeviš are also listed in UNESCO World Heritage Site list, as "Medieval Monuments in Kosovo".