Morača Monastery

Morača Monastery is one of the best known medieval monuments of Montenegro. The founding history is engraved above the western portal. Stefan, a son of Vukan Nemanjić, the Grand Prince of Zeta (r. 1190-1207), founded the monastery in 1252, possibly on his own lands (appanage). The region was under the rule of the Nemanjić dynasty.

Monastery was burned by the Ottomans for the first time in 1505, during a turbulent period of insurgency in Montenegro. The monks took shelter in Vasojevići. It was abandoned for the next seventy years. Thanks to moderate political climate established by Sokollu Mehmed Pasha rebuilding started in 1574 and ended in 1580.

The assembly church is a big one-nave building in the Rascian style (The style spanned 1170-1300 and differs from the seaside churches), devoted to the Assumption of Mary, including a smaller church devoted to Saint Nicholas, as well as lodgings for travellers. The main door has a high wall which has two entrances, in the romantic style.

Beside the architecture, its frescoes are of special importance; the oldest fresco depicting eleven compositions from the life of the prophet Elias date to the 13th century, while the rest, of lesser condition, date to the 16th century. The 13th-century fresco shows conservative traits, with late-Comnenian figure-schemes, with architectural motifs of heavy and solid blocks, similar in manner to the frescoes of Sopoćani. Out of the later frescoes, Paradise and the Bosom of Abraham and Satan on the Two-Headed Beast are notable Last Judgement depictions, dated to 1577-8. The Ottoman Empire annexed the region in the first half of the 16th century, and the monastery was occupied and damaged, including most of the art.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

E65, Kolašin, Montenegro

Details

Founded: 1252
Category: Religious sites in Montenegro