Kaona Monastery

Kaona Monastery, 100 km south-west of Belgrade, in the vicinity of Draginje village. Tradition has it that the Kaona Monastery was built as legacy of Ikonia, the sister of Milos Obilic, famous Serbian hero who was killed in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Since the end of the 11th century, when the Kaona Monastery was for the first time mentioned, the church was destroyed end reconstructed several times. The witness of the ancient time, today Kaona Monastery is fully rebuilt and became spiritual nest, pilgrimage center and gathering place of the Orthodox population.

Kaona Monastery had school in 1827 and there are some records that testify of the school dating from 1793. During the First Serbian Uprising in 1804 Kaona Monastery was hospital. The Church of Kaona Monastery was destroyed in the First World War when the archive was set aflame and church bells were taken away. In the surrounding of the beautiful landscape and plentiful greenery, nearby the Baptistery there is a healing water spring (with water as one of the best quality in Serbia) passing through the monastery field and creating the specially tranquil lakes of magnificent beauty. The present church of Kaona Monastery was built in early Christian stile of architecture, the first in Serbia after the seven centuries as a prototype of Baptistery from Theba of Thessaly. In 1992 the 100 years of the new church was celebrated as well as the six centuries of Kaona Monastery.