Description of the attraction
Sopochany is an active Orthodox monastery in the south of Serbia. It is famous for its 13th century frescoes. The monastery is located near the city of Novi Pazar and the ancient walled city, the ancient capital of Serbia, Stari Ras. The central temple of the monastery is the Church of the Holy Trinity.
The founder of the monastery in the valley of the Rashki river was King Urosh the First, who decided to make the monastery a burial vault for himself and other members of the royal family. The monastery was founded in 1263; a little later, the Church of the Holy Trinity was erected - an example of the architecture of the Rash period with later extensions (late XIII - early XIV centuries).
During its heyday, the monastery was considered the center of spiritual life, and the number of its inhabitants was about a hundred.
At the end of the 14th century and in the following centuries, the monastery repeatedly suffered from fires: in particular, in 1389 it was set on fire by the Turks, but was later restored by the then reigning despot Stefan Lazarevich. After another fire, which occurred three centuries later, the monastery was deserted, and its restoration took place only in the late 1920s. In the last century, the monastery was restored again, after the end of the Second World War. There was also a short period in the history of Sopochan when the monastery became female - before World War II, and then it was again transformed into a male one. And in the 90s, the monastery acquired the relics of the holy unmercenaries Kozma and Damian, who were transferred to Sopochany from another monastery, Vysokie Dechany. In the late 70s, the monastery was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The frescoes, which are considered one of the main decorations of Sopochany, were painted on the walls of the Trinity Church in 1265 in the tradition of Byzantine painting - in a calm manner, using light, transparent colors. These frescoes depict biblical images - the Mother of God and the Child, angels and apostles, martyrs, as well as figures of several Serbian archbishops. The most famous of these frescoes is the Dormition of the Theotokos, recognized as a masterpiece of Serbian painting of the medieval period.
