Papraća is a Serbian Orthodox monastery dedicated to the Annunciation and located in the village of Papraća at the source of the same-named river, near Šekovići in eastern Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The date of its foundation is unknown, but contemporary Ottoman documents give evidence that the monastery existed in the first half of the 16th century.
The monks of Papraća had contacts with Russian rulers in the 16th and 17th centuries, and they often travelled to Russia to raise funds and donations. In 1551, the monks travelled to Moscow through Volhynia in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, where they received a manuscript Gospel Book from Prince Dymitr Sanguszko, who was a grandson of Serbian Despot Jovan Branković. Several years later, also in Volhynia, another group of Papraća monks received a psalter from a man named Nikola the Serb. In 1559, Papraća monks helped build a new church at the Tronoša Monastery in western Serbia. In 1645, Russian Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich granted a charter permitting the monks of Papraća to collect donations in Russia once every eight years. They managed to travel to Russia even during the Great Turkish War (1683–1699).
The monastery was abandoned and ruined after the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18. Its church was rebuilt in 1853, after the construction works were allowed by Ottoman authorities. The rebuilding was helped by funds from Serbs of Sarajevo. The church was further refurbished in the following years, and it was consecrated in 1869. Monastic life was restored in Papraća in 1880. During World War II, the monastery was ruined and its valuables were stolen. It was partially repaired in 1954, mostly through efforts by nun Varvara Božić from the Tavna Monastery. After further renovations, it was consecrated on 21 September 1975.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).