My peaceful adventure - Manasija Monastery

Beautiful day. Spring woke up in February. Which means it's time to go on a trip. This time I visited really beautiful and interesting places. One of those places was the Manasija Monastery. A beautiful monastery surrounded by a fortress, this monastery has a turbulent history. It is a history that is interesting to hear, and as always I steal a source from the Internet and tell you the history, so it will be this time as well :D The sun warmed it on this wonderful day. The monastery looked magnificent.

As you can see, beautiful isn't it? The sun's rays warmed it, clean air circulates through this beautiful realm, and the smell of spring in the middle of winter is incredible. I have a feeling in my chest that I can conquer the world with my camera :D I'm digressing a bit, from the topic of this beautiful monastery that was built in the 15th century. It was built by Stevan Lazarević and this monastery is his endowment. The monastery was built from 1407 to 1418.

The Manasija Monastery is also known as Resavska Manasija and is located near Despotovac in central Serbia and is considered one of the most important and beautiful cultural and historical monuments in Serbia.

Manasija Monastery was built in the style of Serbian Moravian architecture, with strong influences of Byzantine art. In the central part of the complex, there is a church dedicated to St. Trojica, which was built of crushed stone and brick, and is characterized by the fact that its entire length is decorated with a rich cycle of frescoes, made in the style of the Raška school. The frescoes in Manasija are one of the most beautiful and best preserved in Serbia.

In addition to the church, there are other buildings in the monastery complex, such as a chapel, lodgings, dining room, and monks' quarters. Numerous manuscripts, books, icons, and other valuable artistic and historical objects are kept in the monastery itself.

Manasija Monastery is significant not only as a religious building but also as a historical monument that testifies to medieval Serbian culture and art. For this reason, in 1979, it was declared a cultural asset of exceptional importance and entered the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage.

Today, the Manasija Monastery is a popular tourist attraction and place of pilgrimage, and visitors can enjoy the beautiful surroundings, visit the museum, and buy souvenirs and products that the monks make themselves, such as honey, wine, and brandy.

Unfortunately, it is forbidden to take pictures inside the monastery itself. But I'll try my best to show you the inside. The monastery is decorated with frescoes that have unfortunately been destroyed. This monastery was in flames twice. As the border moved, the Turks came, and since this monastery had no significance to them at that time, they burned it. After each fire, it was renovated, but the frescoes were difficult to restore, today they are in a very bad condition, but the plan is to restore it, which has started, but it is going very slowly.

Inside the monastery itself, there are bones and relics that are believed to belong to Stefan Lazarevic. You can't see them, but you can see his grave.

Monastery souvenir shop

In this beautiful fortress, besides the monastery, there are other interesting buildings, one of them is this souvenir shop. Beautifully and stylishly built to match the medieval look of the fortress and everything in it. You can buy nice souvenirs that will smell and remind you of this place. It is customary when you come to the monastery to light a candle, which I respected. The candle is lit right across the street from the monastery. Everything is neat, the grass is mowed green, and there is no trash anywhere, it would be really inappropriate to find a piece of paper on the floor in a place like this.

Monk's building

This fortress was used for the life of the monks, so there were a lot of buildings there, such as hospitals. Those buildings were built of light materials, so they easily burned and disappeared. There are no such buildings, but their existence is recorded by the walls of this fortress and records from that era. What is new and what serves life is this white house. Monks and nuns live there. At that place, it is believed that there was a building built of stone and wood and that it had two floors. Now there is this house in that place, which in my opinion stands out quite a bit from everything else in this fortress, but I kind of like it.

_{Coat of arms of Nemanjić}

Monastery dining room

Next to this church, south of it, there is a refectory. It is the only one that has been preserved this well and did not need restoration. The dining room is the best-preserved building of this fortress and, in my opinion, the most interesting for both painting and enjoyment. When you go inside through the windows of this building, you can see a church that looks magnificent. The entire building is inspiring. This dining room could accommodate up to 300 people. It consisted of two levels. There was food on the ground floor of this dining room, and eating was done on the first floor.

The entire tour of this monastery, the fortress church, the dining room, everything is amazing and beautiful. It's an understatement, even though I've said it 200 times :D But I really mean it, if you ever come to this part of Serbia, you won't regret it. Be sure to visit this monastery, and besides it, you can find many other interesting places, such as waterfalls and caves, that await you in the next posts :)
Greeting!

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