The Krupa Monastery ( sr, Манастир Крупа, Manastir Krupa) is a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous ( ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

on the Krupa River in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

. It is the oldest Orthodox monastery in Croatia.

Location

It is located on the southern slopes of the

Velebit Velebit (; it, Alpi Bebie) is the largest, though not the highest, mountain range in Croatia. The range forms a part of the Dinaric Alps and is located along the Adriatic coast, separating it from Lika in the interior. Velebit begins in the nor ...

mountain, halfway between the towns of Obrovac and

Knin Knin (, sr, link=no, Книн, it, link=no, Tenin) is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagr ...

History

According to the folk story, the monastery was built in 1317 by monks from

Bosnia Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and Pars pro toto#Geography, often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of Southern Europe, south and southeast Euro ...

, with the financial support from the

Serbian king This is an archontological list of Serbian monarchs, containing monarchs of the medieval principalities, to heads of state of modern Serbia. The Serbian monarchy dates back to the Early Middle Ages. The Serbian royal titles used include Knyaz ...

Milutin Milutin ( sr, Милутин) is a Serbian masculine given name of Slavic origin. The name may refer to: *Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia Stefan Uroš II Milutin ( sr-cyr, Стефан Урош II Милутин, Stefan Uroš II Milutin; 125 ...

. However, the monastery has older

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

windows and Orthodox monastery was probably founded by immigrating monks only around 1642. Supposedly during the reigns, King

Stefan Dečanski Stefan Uroš III ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош III, ), known as Stefan Dečanski ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Дечански, ; 1276 – 11 November 1331), was the King of Serbia from 6 January 1322 to 8 September 1331. Dečanski was the son of ...

and

Emperor Dušan An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...

renovated the monastery. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the monastery was endowed by

Saint Angelina of Serbia Angelina Branković ( sr-Cyrl, Ангелина Бранковић, sq, Angjelina Arianiti,; ca. 1440–1520), née Arianiti, was the Albanian Despotess consort of Serbian Despot Stefan Branković (r. 1458–1459), and a daughter of Prince Gjergj ...

. Georgije Mitrofanović painted the walls in 1620–22. In the 1760s, Serbian writer and educator, Dositej Obradović, lived and worked in Krupa, while in the 1860s, major Serbian realist author,

Simo Matavulj Simo Matavulj ( sr, Симо Матавуљ, 14 September 1852 – 20 February 1908) was a Serbian writer. He was a representative of lyric realism, especially in short prose. As a writer, he is best known for employing his skill in holding up ...

, lived and was educated in the monastery. Gerasim Zelić also lived there in the 18th century. It was completely renovated in 1855. The surrounding konaks were burnt to the ground by the

Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...

during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, who also destroyed the interior of the monastery turning it into their military post. In the 1950s the construction of the large belfry began but was never finished. After the outbreak of the

Yugoslav wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

in 1991, the well-known monastery treasury was displaced from Krupa. During the

Operation Storm }) was the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence and a major factor in the outcome of the Bosnian War. It was a decisive victory for the Croatian Army (HV), which attacked across a front against the self-declared proto-state Re ...

the monastery sustained damages in September 1995 and the local Orthodox Serbs, so as the priests, went into exile in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

. The belfry and the bells were damaged, so as the chapel while the interior was looted and partially demolished. Since 2000, partial reconstruction of Krupa began. It included numerous works, such as the construction and painting of the small additional church (''paraklis'') and the partial adaptation of the unfinished belfry. Some of the artifacts were returned in 2010. Since the mid-2010s, the government of the Republic of Croatia also helped with the renovation of the monastery. History of the monastery was written in the 18th century chronicles of the Bishop of Dalmatia, Simeon Končarević. Ikonostas Manastira Krupa

Characteristics

The church of the Krupa monastery is dedicated to the Feast of the

Dormition of Theotokos The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches (except the East Syriac churches). It celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the ''Theotokos'' ("Mother of ...

. In the monastery there are beautiful frescoes, a valuable collection of icons and parts of

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis ( gr, εἰκονοστάσιον) is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed a ...

and the collection of the several centuries old books.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Krupa Monastery Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Croatia Christian monasteries established in the 14th century Christian monasteries established in the 17th century 14th-century Serbian Orthodox church buildings 17th-century Serbian Orthodox church buildings Medieval sites in Croatia Buildings and structures in Zadar County

Location

History

Characteristics

See also

References

Further reading

External links