The Beška Monastery ( sr, Манастир Бешка, Manastir Beška) 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 in ...

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 Beška island on

Skadar Lake Lake Skadar ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Скадарско језеро, Skadarsko jezero, ; sq, Liqeni i Shkodrës, ) also called Lake Scutari, Lake Shkodër and Lake Shkodra lies on the border of Albania and Montenegro, and is the largest lake in Southern ...

built in the

Principality of Zeta The Principality of Zeta ( sr, Кнежевина Зета, Kneževina Zeta) is a historiographical name for a late medieval principality located in the southern parts of modern Montenegro and northern parts of modern Albania, around the Lake of ...

of the

Serbian Despotate The Serbian Despotate ( sr, / ) was a medieval Serbian state in the first half of the 15th century. Although the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 is generally considered the end of medieval Serbia, the Despotate, a successor of the Serbian Empire ...

(modern-day

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

). It has two churches within its complex, the ''Church of St. George'' and the ''St Mary's Church''. This church was uninhabited and owned by a local mosque until a negotiation led to ownership falling into the hands of the Serbian Orthodox Church. This church doesn’t represent the local communities who are majority Albanian Muslims.

Church of St. George

The ''Church of St. George'' ( sr-cyr, Црква Светога Ђорђа) was built at the end of the 14th century by

Đurađ II Balšić Đurađ Stracimirović ( sr-cyr, Ђурађ Страцимировић; 1385 – April 1403), or Đurađ II, was the Lord of Zeta from 1385 to 1403, as a member of the Balšić noble family. He was the son of Stracimir Balšić, and succee ...

the

Lord of Zeta The Principality of Zeta ( sr, Кнежевина Зета, Kneževina Zeta) is a historiographical name for a Late Middle Ages, late medieval principality located in the southern parts of modern Montenegro and northern parts of modern Albania, a ...

from 1385 to 1403. His widow

Jelena Balšić Jelena, also written Yelena and Elena, is a Slavic given name. It is a Slavicized form of the Greek name Helen, which is of uncertain origin. Diminutives of the name include Jelica, Jelka, Jele, Jela, Lena, Lenotschka, Jeca, Lenka, and Alena. No ...

reconstructed it before she built St Mary's Church in 1439/1440.

St Mary's Church

The ''St Mary's Church'' or ''Church of Holy Mother'' ( sr-cyr, Црква Благовештења) was built in 1439/1440 as the legacy of Jelena Balšić which is also confirmed by the inscription on the monastery. Jelena died in Beška monastery and was buried in the St Mary's Church. The sacred bones of Jelena Balšić were placed in new relic case made of stone after the Church of Holy Mother she built on Beška island was reconstructed in 2002 by the

Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral The Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr, Митрополија црногорско-приморска Српске православне цркве, Mitropolija crnogorsko-primorska Srpske pravoslav ...

. By the decision of the 'Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral' in 2006 she was titled ' Blagovjerna' and named ''Blagovjerna Jelena Lazareva Balšić''.

Church of St. George

St Mary's Church

Notes

See also