Raca Monastery

Just next to the Raca river, in the close proximity of Bajina Bašta, there is Medieval Raca Monastery. Raca Monastery was built in the 13th century as the probable endowment of the Serbian King Dragutin Nemanjić, who later became a monk named Teoktist. Raca Monastery was destroyed by Turks in the late 17th century to be restored and demolished again several times, during its long history. The present day Raca Monastery church, dedicated to the Ascension of Jesus Christ, was reconstructed in 1795 having Saint Achilles’ church in Arilje as a model. The church of Raca Monastery has been built of limestone and provides an impression of an accurate craft work as it is example of the old Serbian Raška school of architecture.

The basis of the Raca Monastery Church is the free cross shape with a 22 meters long spacious semi-circular apse, while the transverses comprising choirs are 13,7 meters wide. Including its dome, the Raca Monastery church is about 20 meters high. The iconostasis and fresco paintings of Raca Monastery have got all features of church paintings which had their roots in the post Byzantine tradition, but also by western art school, obtain a whole impression of harmony. The quite large and impressive iconastasis of Raca Monastery was painted in 1840 and contains 38 oil icons and the frames carved in linden wood. Next to the royal door, there is a part of the Holy relics of monk Teoktist /actually the right upper arm of the King Dragutin Nemanjić/. In a new guest-house, there is Raca Monastery Treasury where visitors can admire the manuscripts and copies dating from the 17th and the 18th centuries. However, the most important exhibit is a model of the “Miroslavljevo jevandjelje” – the Gospel Book of Prince Miroslav’s (a manuscript of priceless value and the most significant monument of the Serbian literature from the 12th century) whose original was saved from destruction in the World War II by the prior Platon Milojević, who dag it under the stone plates in the Raca Monastery Church altar.