Gračanica

Gračanica Monastery is located in Serbian southern province of Kosovo and Metohija about 480 km away from Belgrade and 10 km away from Pristina. The monastery is devoted to Holy Virgin Assumption and was built in 1321 as endowment of Serbian king Stefan Milutin and his wife Simonida and son Stefan.

The Church of Gračanica is a building with 5 domes and a cruciform foundation which was quite an advanced building for that time. The Church is built from stone in Serbian-Byzantine stile.

Frescoes of Gračanica were painted by Greek painters from Thessaloniki, famous Mihailo and Eutyches, that finished the painting in 1321. Frescoes are well preserved and belong to narrative paintings that were characteristic for Serbian and Byzantine art of the first half of XIV century. The specific fact about Gračanica is that for the first time a genealogical tree of Nemanjić was painted here and it included 16 portraits. At the church entrance King Milutin and his wife Simonida are depicted, Simonida’s eyes are damaged. This motive inspired outstanding Serbian poet Milan Rakić and he wrote one of the most beautiful poems of Serbian modern literature called after Simonida: “They plucked your eyes out, beautiful painting!”

Gračanica was in 2006 included in the UNESCO List of World Heritage along with Pećka Patriarchy, Mother of God Ljeviška Church and Dečani that belong to “Medieval Monuments in Kosovo”. Also in 2006 Gračanica was listed as World Heritage object in Danger because of unstable situation in Kosovo and Metohija, nowadays it is under control of UN Mission in Kosovo, and visits to the Monastery are only possible with Kosovo Force (KFOR) convoy. Nearby Gračanica an archaeological site “Ulpiana” or ”Justiniana Secunda“ is located: it was a part of former Roman province Moesia Superior to which Viminacium on Danube belonged.