The issue of national identity is taken seriously by Balkan people – including the least serious among them.
Studenica
Belgrade | 29 June 2009 | By Simon Cottrell
Studenica
The committed monastery fan has a lot of choices in Serbia. The fall of communism, the restoration of property rights to the church and a renewed interest in religion means that the Serbian Orthodox Church is affluent and it’s spending a lot of cash on restoration work at the hundreds of monasteries spread throughout the country.
So, with all that choice out there, where should you go? A detailed tour would take many weeks, taking in tens of examples from the 12th to the 19th centuries, taking you from the far north of the country to the far south of Kosovo. But let’s assume that what you’re looking for is one of the most culturally significant and pretty examples of the genre, in a beautiful setting, accessible from Belgrade by car.
If so, Studenica definitely fits the bill.
It’s possible to squeeze Studenica into a day trip, but if you do, make sure you share the driving with someone else. Otherwise you’re going to be pretty tired on the return trip. Count on a minimum of 3½ hours driving in each direction.
However, if you want to make a weekend of it, perhaps taking in the Zica monastery and maybe a scramble up to the bleak, beautiful and unvisited Castle ruins at Maglic, then there are one or two reasonable places to stay. We recommend The Tadz Hotel which is down the road in Novi Pazar, but which offers a good standard of accommodation at a reasonable price.
If the kids are in the car, you’re going to hear an awful lot of “are we there yet” in the early part of the journey as you pass down the highway and through the unremarkable cities of Kragujevac and Kraljevo, but almost as soon as Kraljevo is behind you, you come to the Zica Monastery. Constructed from the 13th century in the Raska style, the monastery sits in pretty surroundings, just off from the main road.
Much unsympathetic reconstruction however, can give the place a feeling of pastiche – almost a Disneyland monastery.
A little further down the road, is a great place to stop for lunch or a snack. Kod Mira is 100 metres from the main road at Bogutovac. The food’s traditional Serbian, well executed and phenomenally cheap. What’s more, the children will be fascinated with the bathtub full of live fish.
On a kilometre or two more, high on a promontory over the Ibar Gorge, is Maglic Castle. Approached across a rickety rope bridge across the river, the path to the top will take even the most unfit no more than half an hour, running clockwise around the bluff. At the top you’ll be rewarded with a fabulous castle dating from the 15th century, all to yourself.
Some of the stairways are a little rickety and I’m sure there are European directives that would forbid anyone from climbing them, but fortune favours the brave and the views from the top are fantastic.
Which brings us on to Studenica.
High up above the Ibar, the monastery is approached on a twisting 12 kilometre climb from the main road. The route is signposted clearly from the town of Raska and the complex will appear on your left – you can’t miss it.
Surrounded by high walls, the complex nestles high up on a hillside, with fabulous country views on all sides – farmland, forests and pastures, as far as the eye can see.
The Studenica Monastery was established in the late 12th century by Stefan Nemanja, founder of the medieval Serb state, shortly after his abdication. It is the largest and richest of Serbia’s Orthodox monasteries. Its two principal monuments, the Church of the Virgin and the Church of the King, both built of white marble, enshrine priceless collections of 13th and 14th century Byzantine painting.
The King’s Church houses beautiful frescos painted by Michael and Eutychios.
In the early 14th century they painted a cycle of the Life of the Virgin Mary which is among the leading works of Byzantine art.
The primitive Church of the Virgin Mary served as a model for the churches of Raska, which constitute a distinct branch of the great Orthodox family. This royal funeral church was imitated in Banjska, Decani and the Holy Archangels of Prizren.
The frescos painted in 1208-1209, are among the first examples of the “monumental style” which emerged in various different regions following the fall of Constantinople in 1204 to the Crusaders.
The atmospheric refectory is unusual in that the refectory tables have also been cut from the same marble used to fashion the walls of the churches.
Restoration here has been sympathetic and one still feels the ghosts of centuries past as you wander around the complex or peer inside the churches and other buildings on the site.
The grounds are pretty without being fussy. Not wild, but not manicured either, with organised beds of flowers amongst long grass and wild flowers.
No mess, and no over-commercialisation. There is a gift shop, but it’s unobtrusively hidden away and for the most part concentrates of religious icons and symbols. There’s no entrance charge and as long as you are appropriately dressed (no shorts or short skirts and covered shoulders) you’re free to roam the complex without hinderance.
It is perhaps serendipity that one of the Orthodox church’s most revered sites should contain so many beautiful objects, buildings and frescoes and also be set in magnificent unspoilt countryside.
