The Krupa Monastery ( sr, Манастир Крупа, Manastir Krupa) is a
Serbian Orthodox
The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.
The majority of the population in ...
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
on the Krupa River in
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
.
It is the oldest Orthodox monastery in Croatia.
Location
It is located on the southern slopes of the
Velebit
Velebit (; it, Alpi Bebie) is the largest, though not the highest, mountain range in Croatia. The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior. Velebit begins in the nor ...
mountain,
halfway between the towns of
Obrovac and
Knin
Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...
.
History
According to the folk story, the monastery was built in 1317 by monks from
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
, with the financial support from the
Serbian king Milutin Milutin ( sr, Милутин) is a Serbian masculine given name of Slavic origin. The name may refer to:
*Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia (1253–1321), king of Serbia
*Milutin Bojić (1892–1917), poet
*Milutin Ivković (1906–1943), football ...
.
However, the monastery has older
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
windows and Orthodox monastery was probably founded by immigrating monks only around 1642.
Supposedly during the reigns, King
Stefan Dečanski
Stefan Uroš III ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош III, ), known as Stefan Dečanski ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Дечански, ; 1276 – 11 November 1331), was the King of Serbia from 6 January 1322 to 8 September 1331. Dečanski was the son of ...
and
Emperor Dušan
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
renovated the monastery.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the monastery was endowed by
Saint Angelina of Serbia
Angelina Branković ( sr-Cyrl, Ангелина Бранковић, sq, Angjelina Arianiti,; ca. 1440–1520), née Arianiti, was the Albanian Despotess consort of Serbian Despot Stefan Branković (r. 1458–1459), and a daughter of Prince Gjergj ...
.
Georgije Mitrofanović
Georgije Mitrofanović ( sr-cyr, Георгије Митрофановић; 1550–c. 1630) was a Serbian Orthodox monk and painter, remembered best for his work on the Morača monastery church and the frescoes (wall paintings) inside the Kru ...
painted the walls in 1620–22. In the 1760s, Serbian writer and educator,
Dositej Obradović
Dositej Obradović ( sr-Cyrl, Доситеј Обрадовић; 17 February 1739 – 7 April 1811) was a Serbian writer, biographer, diarist, philosopher, pedagogue, educational reformer, linguist, polyglot and the first minister of education ...
, lived and worked in Krupa, while in the 1860s, major Serbian
realist author,
Simo Matavulj
Simo Matavulj ( sr, Симо Матавуљ, 14 September 1852 – 20 February 1908) was a Serbian writer.
He was a representative of lyric realism, especially in short prose. As a writer, he is best known for employing his skill in holding up ...
, lived and was educated in the monastery.
Gerasim Zelić
Gerasim Zelić ( sr, Герасим Зелић; 1752–1828) was a Serbian Orthodox Church archimandrite, traveller and writer. His chief work is ''Žitije'' (Lives), in three volumes. They are memoirs of his travels throughout western Europe, ...
also lived there in the 18th century. It was completely renovated in 1855.
The surrounding
konaks were burnt to the ground by the
Ustaše
The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
during the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, who also destroyed the interior of the monastery turning it into their military post. In the 1950s the construction of the large belfry began but was never finished. After the outbreak of the
Yugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia from ...
in 1991, the well-known monastery treasury was displaced from Krupa. During the
Operation Storm
}) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state R ...
the monastery sustained damages in September 1995 and the local Orthodox Serbs, so as the priests, went into exile in
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
. The
belfry and the bells were damaged, so as the chapel while the interior was looted and partially demolished. Since 2000, partial reconstruction of Krupa began. It included numerous works, such as the construction and painting of the small additional church (''paraklis'') and the partial adaptation of the unfinished belfry. Some of the artifacts were returned in 2010. Since the mid-2010s, the government of the Republic of Croatia also helped with the renovation of the monastery.
History of the monastery was written in the 18th century chronicles of the Bishop of Dalmatia,
Simeon Končarević
Simeon Končarević ( sr-cyr, Симеон Кончаревић; about 1690 – 26 August 1769) was a Serbian Orthodox bishop in Venetian Dalmatia, serving from 1751 to 1757, before emigrating from Dalmatia to Imperial Russia with Jovan Horvat, t ...
.
Characteristics
The church of the Krupa monastery is dedicated to the Feast of the
Dormition of Theotokos
The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches (except the East Syriac churches). It celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the ''Theotokos'' ("Mother of G ...
. In the monastery there are beautiful frescoes, a valuable collection of icons and parts of
iconostasis
In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis ( gr, εἰκονοστάσιον) is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand t ...
and the collection of the several centuries old books.
See also
*
List of Serbian Orthodox monasteries
This is a list of Serbian Orthodox Christian monasteries in Serbia and near areas (Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, and Kosovo), also Romania, Hungary, Greece, Germany, United States of America, Canada, and Australia. ...
*
Serbs of Croatia
The Serbs of Croatia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", Срби у Хрватској, Srbi u Hrvatskoj) or Croatian Serbs ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, separator=" / ", хрватски Срби, hrvatski Srbi) constitute the largest national minority in Croa ...
*
Krupa on Vrbas Monastery
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krupa Monastery
Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Croatia
Christian monasteries established in the 14th century
Christian monasteries established in the 17th century
14th-century Serbian Orthodox church buildings
17th-century Serbian Orthodox church buildings
Medieval sites in Croatia
Buildings and structures in Zadar County