The Liplje Monastery ( sr, Манастир Липље, Manastir Liplje) 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 ...

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 whic ...

dedicated to the

Annunciation The Annunciation (from Latin '), also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Annunciation of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the biblical tale of the announcement by the ang ...

and located in the Municipality of Teslić in northern

Republika Srpska Republika Srpska ( sr-Cyrl, Република Српска, lit=Serb Republic, also known as Republic of Srpska, ) is one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is located ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina 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 ...

. It stands at the widest part of a narrow gorge through which a little river named Bistrica flows. The earliest mention of the monastery is found in a chronicle dated to the second half of the 15th century. During the 17th century, the monks of Liplje were active in transcribing religious books. At some point during the

Great Turkish War The Great Turkish War (german: Großer Türkenkrieg), also called the Wars of the Holy League ( tr, Kutsal İttifak Savaşları), was a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League consisting of the Holy Roman Empire, Pola ...

(1683–1699), the monastery was burned down by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. Surviving monks fled north across the

Sava River The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...

and found refuge in the

Orahovica Monastery The Orahovica Monastery ( sr, Манастир Ораховица, Manastir Orahovica) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery in the village of Duzluk of Orahovica, Croatia. It is mentioned in 1583 when it was a seat of the Požega metropolitanate an ...

Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Bar ...

. They brought with them a number of their manuscript books, which thus became part of the Orahovica library. Unlike the nearby

Stuplje Monastery The Stuplje Monastery ( sr, Манастир Ступље, Manastir Stuplje) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery dedicated to Archangel Michael and located in the village of Gornji Vijačani near the town of Čelinac in north-western Republika Srpska ...

, Liplje was not razed to the ground. Its church was partially repaired so that it could serve as the parish church for the surrounding area. After Ottoman authorities permitted it, the church was restored between 1867 and 1879. The works were mostly funded through donations by the Serb population of the area. Remains of the church's old frescoes were carefully collected and buried beside its wall. In 1922, a

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tow ...

was added at its western side. Almost three hundred years after the monastic community ceased to exist at the church, the Liplje Monastery was re-established in 1965. It was renovated in the 1980s, when the bell tower was removed.

References

{{coord, 44.625278, N, 17.570278, E, type:landmark, display=title Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Bosnia and Herzegovina 15th-century Serbian Orthodox church buildings Teslić 15th-century establishments in Bosnia and Herzegovina Christian monasteries established in the 15th century Buildings and structures in Republika Srpska