Studenica Monastery, Serbia

Studenica Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox Monastery located about 11 km from the town of Usce in central Serbia. The monastery was built between 1183 and 1191 on orders of the founder of the medieval Serb state Stefan Nemanja who abdicated in favor of his middle son Stefan in 1196 and moved to the monastery where he lived as monk Simeon. Shortly afterwards he joined his son Saint Sava at the Mount Athos and established the monastery Hilandar where he died in 1199.

Studenica Monastery is within fortified walls and encompasses three churches:

• the Church of the Virgin (built in 1191),
• the Church of the King (built in 1314)
• and the Church of St Nicholas which is the smallest from the three churches.

Both principal monuments the Church of the Virgin and the Church of the King were built of white marble. The Church of the Virgin is a domed single-nave basilica and a splendid combination of Byzantine and Romanesque styles which is typical for the Raška School.

Under Saint Sava the monastery became political, cultural and spiritual center of Medieval Serbia. The monastery flourished under the Nemanjic Dynasty until the fall of the last Serbian medieval state which was followed by often assaults of the Turks on the monastery. The first restoration works of the damage were carried out in 1569, while an earthquake and a fire in the 17th century destroyed the historical documents and a part of the artistic heritage.

The monastery houses important artworks which represent masterpieces of Byzantine-style art in the Balkans: the Crucifixion from 1209, representation of the Last Judgment, the portrait of Nemanja's wife Ana as the nun Anastasija, the Virgin taking Nemanja, the portraits of Nemanja, Stefan the First Crowned and King Radoslav with his wife Ana, the portraits of the three dignitaries of the Serbian Church - the archbishops Sava, Arsenije and Sava II (Radoslav's brother).

Studenica Monastery is considered one of the most important spiritual and cultural sites in Serbia and was also inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1986.

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