Konce Monastery

The Konče Monastery is the Serbian medieval Orthodox monastery in the village of Konče, some 20 km south of Radoviš, located in the foot of the Konce Mountain in the Vardar Macedonia. The monastic church is dedicated to the great martyr Saint archdeacon Stephen and belongs to the medieval heritage of the Nemanjic Dynasty on the territory of present North Macedonia. The Konce Monastery with the Saint Stephen church was erected in 1366 by grand duke Nikola Stanjević who served Emperor Dusan and Emperor Uros the Fifth. The tzar Uros gifted the Konce church as the metochion to the Hilandar Monastery in May 1366 as per appeal of the grand duke Nikola Stanjevic. Hilandar Monastery then received in its possession over 14 villages along with the Konce monastic church. This estate consisted of the duke legacy, and the collected harvests and buildable lands where he settled his ‘otroci’ residents. The metochion of the Monastery included larger area than the Arhiljevica estate which testified on the power of the grand duke Nikola Stanjevic. At the end of his life grand duke Nikola gifted the Konce Monastery to the Hilandar Monastery and probably spent his last years in the monastery. The Serb-Byzantine princess Katarina Brankovic Kantakouzena – daugher of the Serb depot Djurdje Brankovic also spent her last years in the Konce church, where she is buried. Source Srpstvo u Makedoniji –Hadži Miloš Marinković

“Not much remained from the original monastery because of numerous repeated destructions by fires and renovations and reconstructions during time, and later demolitions… Only fragments remained from frescoes that are found in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the altar. There was also a specific structure of the tower /kula/ that was used for defense, but also served as the administrative seat for this area”. Source Željko Fajfrić