The Ljubostinja Monastery ( sr, / , ) 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 ...

near Trstenik,

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 ...

. Located in the small mountain valley of the Ljubostinja river, the monastery is dedicated to the Holy

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

History

The monastery was built from 1388 to 1405. In Ljubostinja were buried

Princess Milica Princess Milica Hrebeljanović née Nemanjić ( sr, Милица Немањић Хребељановић · ca. 1335 – November 11, 1405) also known as Empress (''Tsaritsa'') Milica, was a royal consort of Serbia by marriage to Prince Lazar, ...

, Lazar Hrebeljanović's wife and Nun Jefimija, which after the

Battle of Kosovo The Battle of Kosovo ( tr, Kosova Savaşı; sr, Косовска битка) took place on 15 June 1389 between an army led by the Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović and an invading army of the Ottoman Empire under the command of Sultan ...

became a nun along with a number of other widows of Serbian noblemen, who lost their lives in the battles on the river

Maritsa Maritsa or Maritza ( bg, Марица ), also known as Meriç ( tr, Meriç ) and Evros ( ell, Έβρος ), is a river that runs through the Balkans in Southeast Europe. With a length of ,Kosovo Polje Fushë Kosova ( sq-definite, Fushë Kosovë), or Kosovo Polje ( sr-Cyrl, Косово Поље, "Kosovo Field"), is a town and municipality located in the District of Pristina in central Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the town of Fushë Ko ...

. Today, Ljubostinja is a female monastery, which preserves and maintains about fifty nuns. During the rebellion of Kočine, the people were invited on rebellion from the Ljubostinje monastery. After the collapse of rebellion, Turks burned the monastery to revenge the Serbs, and most of the frescoes were destroyed. Also, when the monastery was set on fire, a secret treasure was discovered hidden in the monastery wall behind icons in which the Princess Milica hid their treasure. Among the stolen treasure was located Crown of Prince Lazar, which is now in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Architecture and painting

Monastery Ljubostinja has one dome and narthex. It was built with trimmed stones, while the facade was re-plastered and painted to imitate masonry of

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

s. The monastery was built in the

Morava Style Morava architectural school ( sr, Моравска школа архитeктуре/Moravska škola arhitekture), also known as the Morava style (Моравски стил/Moravski stil), or simply as the Morava school (Моравска школа/M ...

. The builder is master Rade Borović, whose name is on the threshold of the passage from the narthex to nave. Paintings are only partially preserved, and it was built on two occasions. In the narthex are portraits of Prince Lazar and Princess Milica made by

Hieromonk Makarije Hieromonk Makarije ( sr, Јеромонах Макарије; 1494–d. after 1528) is the founder of Serbian and Romanian printing, having printed the first book in Serbian and the first book in the territory of Walachia (part of modern-day Rom ...

. From the painting works are still preserved: "Great Holidays," "Passion," "Miracles" ... The church also has a very valuable

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 ...

, which was painted by

Nikola Marković Nikola Marković (born 7 July 1989) is a Serbian professional basketball player for CSM Oradea of the Romanian Basketball League. He is a 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) tall power forward-center. He won one Championship with Oradea, and one SuperCup ...

in 1822. Ljubostinja was declared a

Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance Immovable Cultural Heritage of Exceptional Importance ( sr, Непокретна културна добра од изузетног значаја/) are those objects of Immovable cultural heritage that enjoy the highest level of state protection ...

in 1979, and it is protected by

Republic of Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

External links

Serbian unity congress

Notes and references

{{Serbian Orthodox Church Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Serbia Cultural Monuments of Exceptional Importance (Serbia) Medieval sites in Serbia Medieval Serbian Orthodox monasteries 1388 establishments in Europe 14th-century Serbian Orthodox church buildings Christian monasteries established in the 14th century Christian monasteries established in the 15th century

History

Architecture and painting

See also

External links

Notes and references