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September 3, 2009

Monastery Krka in Republika Srpska Krajina

The third serbian orthodox monastery we visted on our trip through Croatia is hidden in a National Park and is called: Monastery Krka. In the same area we visted also Monastery Gomirje (here the post) and Monastery Krupa (here the post).
It takes a nice off-road ride to reach from where you have stunning view to the landscape.

The Krka National Park
is adorned with seven picturesque travertine falls created by the passage of the Krka River through the limestone foundation whereby the process of travertine creation evolves.

Ten species of endemic fish have been found in the river and due to spring and autumn migrations of birds this area is among the ornithologically significant regions of Europe. Also in the Park are the remains of an ancient water supply system, the
Burnum military camp and a medieval old Croatian fortifications from the 14th century. While among the sacral structures the most valuable are the Franciscan monastery, the Church of the Lady of Mercy on the islet of Visovac and the St. Archangel’s Monastery also called Monastery Krka.

Monastery Krka is situated at the broad, calm part of the river Krka, it was erected on the foundation of an older hermit monastery and was founded in the 14th century and is dedicated to St. Archangel Michael.
In 1345, this monastery was mentioned for the first time as the endowment of princess Jelena Subic, the wife of prince of Skradin and Bribir.
Under the main monastery church, there are old Roman catacombs, which represent significant evidence that St. Apostle Paul preached Christianity in this region.




The church of monastery was built in several stages. The oldest part of the church is the narthex – the entrance part.

The Monastery was devastated and burned during the wars between Turks and Venetians.
After these wars, the monastery was renewed and the altar in a present-day form was built in the eight decade of the 18th century.



Standing in front of the monastery-entrance.

The belltower of this monastery was built in the Romanesque style.

The iconostasis was made of composite icons. Main icons are works of an unknown Venetio-Cretian artist; and the upper part of the iconostasis consists of icons brought from Russia during the 17th century.

The monastery has always been spiritual and educational centre of orthodox Dalmatian eparchy that is seated in Sibenik. Throughout its long history, this monastery gave many archibishops and sheperds of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

In 1615, Theodore Dabrobosnian Metropolitan, founded the first organized theological school in the Serbian Church.



Except the main church, there is a small chapel of St, Sava, which was built by Dalmatian Bishop Stefan Knežević. In 1890, Bishop Stefan died and he was buried in this chapel.
Besides that, monastery Krka has a very rich treasury and two libraries.
Also, in 2001 the reconstructed Semminary Holy Three Hierarchs, again started with its work.


The icons in the entrance part




10 comments:

  1. Divan manastir! U njegovoj sam blizini provela veliki deo detinjstva i mladosti, lepe me uspomene vežu za njega, reku Krku i njene slapove, a posebno Roški slap.

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  2. Hej draga!! I think we must meet someday in Milesheva :-) or Fruska Gora maybe!!!
    will post soon another special for you!!
    :*

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  3. @emo-serpica:hvala za lep komentar. Porastela si onda u okolini Krke?

    @Ms Larsen: Absolutely!!!

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  4. Sa malim zakasnjenjem odgovaram: da, ja sam rodjena u Sibeniku i rano detinjstvo sam provela kod dide i none u Drnisu, odakle mi je mama (Drnis je u neposrednoj blizini manastira). Najlepse uspomene nosim iz tog kraja. Ovog sam leta posle 20 god opet isla na par dana i (obavezno) otisla na Roski slap. Nazalost, do manastira nisam mogla otici.

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  5. Why is the title "...monastery in Republika Srpska Krajina"? Last I checked, there's no such place in existence. It would be like a Croat talking about a Catholic church in Zemun as a "...church in the Independant State of Croatia"...

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  6. As long as it's OK to say "Republic of Kosovo" it feels really OK for me to consider Krk Monastery in "Republika Srpska Krajina".
    The Zemun question is however a little different: NDH was a fascistic state .... that needed to be erased!

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  7. Likewise, "Republika Srpska Krajina" was an authoritarian puppet state (as was NDH), which also needed to be erased....
    Your analogy of Kosovo/a to RSK is poor; RK exists at present, like it or not. RSK does not. Even when it existed, it was recognized by no one except it's puppet master, Serbia. Still, when it was around, you could get away with saying calling the area RSK. To do so now is just silly- like calling Zemun part of NDH in 2010.

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  8. Guess what? For me it's silly, that from this beautiful post about an important monastery you just waste your time on discussing a question that is clear for you and for me. For you it's wrong to call this RSK and for me it's right. You will never change your opinion and so do I.
    So I hope you enjoy on the architectural aspect of my blog, I found so many fantastic things in South Eastern Europe!

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  9. (person from croatia here) wtf is up with all the nationalist crap on this otherwise excellent blog? on both sides. but the title of this post in particular is ridiculous. it just seems deliberately provocative and in a very bad taste. there is no such thing/place/entity as "republika srpska krajina"... arguing about these things is silly, i agree. but then, it is rather insincere to claim that this is nothing but a "beautiful post about an important monastery". it is a deliberate and silly provocation - hence the title. it is sad to see some people still desperately clinging on to the ideas of imaginary ethnically-cleansed "republics" of the past (Herceg-Bosna, Srpska Krajina, NDH, etc etc)... Declaring the Krka monastery as a part of Srpska Krajina is equally retarded as a Croat declaring Zemun as a part of "Velika Hrvatska" or something.... Get a grip, seriously.

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  10. Dodo and Qwe,
    Seriously, you get a grip. How dare you compare NDH with Republika Srpska Krajina? Serbs of Croatia were forced to protect themselves from Nazi Croats by proclaiming their own state when Croats erased Serbs from the constitution as an equal nation. By the way, that was a criminal act. NDH commited many crimes in the Second World War. I presume you are of Croatian origin, and if I were you, I'd be ashamed. It's soooo typical for Croats to lie. You are Nazi puppets! Jasenovac, the biggest conc. camp was set by you, not Serbs. Your priests personally killed thousands of Serbian children, Pope proclaimed Stepinac a saint! Republika Srpska Krajina was my attempt to protect myself from Nazis of Croatia. We weren't strong enough 'cause USA and the West were involved in this war, but it won't stop me from telling the truth. Bare in mind, it's not over yet. I still have land in Croatia.

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