Studenica monastery

Interesting facts

Around 1208 Saint Sava wrote the Studenica Typikon here, a rule for the monks that opens with a life of the founder, Stefan Nemanja.

Sava's Typikon placed Studenica's abbot above all other Serbian abbots and gave the ruler no authority over the monastery beyond protecting it.

Beside the south portal of the Church of the Virgin is the oldest Serbian sundial, whose shadow falls on letters rather than numerals.

The Church of the Virgin served as a dynastic mausoleum, holding the relics of Nemanja, his wife Anastasia, Stefan the First-Crowned and King Radoslav.

The masons, probably from the Adriatic coast, left an inscription in Serbian Cyrillic on the tympanum of the west portal.

While the outer walls are faced with white marble, the interior of the Church of the Virgin is lined with blocks of tuff.

Remains of a painted family tree of the Nemanjić dynasty survive on the outside of the narthex.

The narthex frescoes of 1569 include a Last Judgment and a portrait of Nemanja's wife Ana as the nun Anastasia.

Saint Sava became abbot of Studenica in 1206, and under him the monastery also served as a centre of healing for medieval Serbia.

The monastery stands on the northern slopes of Mount Golija, in country that old sources describe as a hunting ground for wild beasts.

Why it is worth it

Studenica is the mother church of medieval Serbia. It was founded by Stefan Nemanja, the ruler who united the Serbian lands in the twelfth century, and the first phase of building was finished by 1196, when he abdicated and became a monk there. He died on Mount Athos, and his son Sava, the future first archbishop of the Serbian Church, brought his relics back to Studenica, which under Sava's guidance became the political, cultural and spiritual centre of the state. The monastery was placed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986.

The main church, dedicated to the Virgin, is one of the finest buildings of the Middle Ages in the Balkans. It is a single-nave domed church faced entirely with slabs of white marble, and it blends Romanesque form, visible in the carved portals and windows, with a Byzantine dome and interior: the mixture that became known as the Raška school. The masons probably came from the Adriatic coast, perhaps from Kotor. The west portal is the finest of the four carved doorways, and a window under the dome carries medallions with eight fantastic animals, symbols of the Virgin's virtues.

Inside, the frescoes painted in 1208 and 1209 include the Crucifixion on the west wall, set against a deep blue background, a work of such power that it is counted among the high points of Serbian art. A founder's composition shows the Virgin presenting Nemanja, holding a model of the church, to Christ. In the 1230s King Radoslav added a spacious exonarthex, and in 1314 King Milutin built the small King's Church, dedicated to Saints Joachim and Anne, whose frescoes are among the most refined of the Byzantine world. The small church of St Nicholas, a thirteenth-century bell tower, an old refectory and an eighteenth-century residence housing the monastery treasury complete the walled compound.

Studenica suffered repeated raids after the Ottoman conquest, and an earthquake and fire in the early seventeenth century destroyed much of its archive. The monastery museum in the old residence shows what remains of the treasury after centuries of wars and looting. Dress modestly when visiting the churches.

Getting there

The monastery is about 39 km by road southwest of Kraljevo. From the Ibar valley road, turn off at Ušće and follow the 12 km side road up the Studenica valley. Morava Airport (KVO) near Kraljevo is about 37 km away by straight line.

Studenica monastery

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

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