Gračanica Monastery

The pinnacle of art

Gračanica Monastery, dedicated to the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, was built in 1321 as the last monumental endowment of King Milutin. With its five domes rising rhythmically towards the sky, Gračanica represents the pinnacle of the Serbo-Byzantine school of building and one of the most beautiful works of medieval architecture in general.

Tradition has it that King Milutin fell asleep before a battle and dreamed of an angel who told him he would be victorious if he promised to build a church. Upon waking, he saw a cloud in the shape of a church above the spot where the monastery now stands. Thus Gračanica came into being, a structure of perfect proportions, built of stone and brick.

The frescoes and Simonida

The interior of the church holds some of the most beautiful frescoes of Serbian painting, including the famous fresco of Queen Simonida, whose beauty and tragic fate (the damaged eyes on the fresco) inspired the poet Milan Rakić.

Because of its exceptional value, Gračanica Monastery was inscribed in 2006 on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Even today it stands as a witness of the centuries, a guardian of identity and the spiritual centre of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija.