If there were anything understandable about the Serbs' despair at losing Kosovo, it would be their grief over the medieval monasteries that now remain outside the country's borders. For with their splendour, the Orthodox sites in Gračanica, Dečani and Peć are arguably the most exquisite part of the nation's remarkable heritage from that époque.

The dynasty of Nemanjići ruled over a Serb, predominantly Christian kingdom from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. In the ever shaken by conflicts Balkans, it miraculously managed to create enough space for creativity. Several distinctive fine arts and architectural styles developed one after the other in a spur which almost matched the Italian Renaissance in inventive energy, although not in spirit.

The monastery in Peć, built in the Raška style, embodies the aesthetics of the early Nemanjici rule, while three other important edifices in Kosovo – the monasteries of Gračanica and Dečani and the Bogorodica Ljeviška Church, mark the peak of the second period’s achievements, those of the Serbo-Byzantine school.

Dečani: a Blind Prodigal King in a Sea of Frescoes

King Milutin's son Stefan built this remarkable Balkan monastery to commemorate a royal family drama, which Shakespeare himself could have hardly thought up better. As a young prince, Stefan rose against his father. As punishment, he was blinded, sent into exile, and excluded from the family tree as it was presented onto the walls of the Gračanica Monastery.

Expelled from his homeland, Stefan spent a substantial part of his life in the Pantocrator Monastery in Constantinople. His father summoned him back only shortly before dying. Eventually succeeding King Milutin to the throne, Stefan built the monastery of Dečani in remembrance of his years of banishment, dedicating it to Christ the Pantocrator. In the meantime, according to the chronicles, he miraculously regained his sight. MORE

Peć: Wild, Barbaric Colours against the Dark Prokletije Mountains

The contemporary convent of Peć once hosted the medieval Patriarchate of Serbia and it is one of the earliest preserved Orthodox edifices in Kosovo. As headquarters of the Serbian church from around 1250 till 1766, it was created as the most representative example of the Raška aesthetic school.

Its group of thirteenth and fourteenth century churches, situated on a plane at the beginning of the Rugova gorge, several kilometres from the town centre of Peć, is secluded from the road by high walls. The churches’ light-coloured masonry shines against the dark silhouette of the austere Prokletije Mountains in the background, offering a majestic emotional introduction into the spirit of Balkan Orthodoxy. MORE

Gračanica: Heavens Made of Stone

The monastery was built by king Milutin at the beginning of the fourteenth century and is the epitome of the Serbo-Byzantine style.

If it were not for its monumentality and crosses, adorning the cupolas, it resembles a somewhat eccentric French villa. Its vestibule's high-arched windows let in a quantity of light unusual for a Balkan monastery and add a delicate beauty not typical for the region. MORE


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