From all the medieval monasteries in Central Serbia, this one has retained the most impressive frescos and icons. It is considered as evidence of the potential of Serbia’s fine arts, failed during the Ottoman Empire’s rule.

Sopoćani is located near the ruins of the erstwhile capital of Raška, Ras, in the direction of the source of the river by the same name. Founded by Uroš in the middle of the thirteenth century, it spent the period between the seventeenth and the nineteenth centuries half-demolished, somehow managing to preserve a large part of its interior decoration.

The central Holy Trinity Church, like the other monasteries from the Raška School, has a Romanesque style exterior and was built with the initial construction of the monastery. The only surviving structure from the later additions is the bell tower from the fourteenth century.

Many of the paintings on the church’s interior depict scenes from the life of the Nemanjić Dynasty members, made almost god-like by their contemporaries, alongside the Christian pantheon’s saints. Stefan Nemanja appears as a monk in Mount Athos, not as a king.

The frescos near the altar are considered to be the most precious. Painted slightly before most of the church’s interior, for which painters were summoned from Constantinople, they are – according to art historians, a testament of the extraordinary processes in the local fine arts, reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance with their humanism.

Practical information: The Sopoćani Monastery can be reached by car, but if you don’t have your own transportation, you can do like the locals and hire a taxi from the centre of Novi Pazar, which should not cost more than 20 euro in both directions, including the wait.

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