One of the most valuable monuments of Serbian medieval culture is located on top of an Old Ras hill 4 km northwest of Novi Pazar – monastery of Djurdjevi stupovi.

The monastery was built by the founder of the Serbian state, Stefan Nemanja, and dedicated to St. George, as a sign of gratitude for the miraculous deliverance from the dungeon. He did so in the first years after ascending the throne of the great prefect, in the period 1170-1171.

The location of the monastery was carefully chosen on the hill that dominates the valleys of Raška and Deževa, and from this place there is a magnificent view of Novi Pazar:

Today, a pine forest has grown around the monastery, but at the time of construction, viewed from the valley, it seemed as if the church was in the clouds. One can only imagine how the church with two mighty pillars (stupovi) that served as bell towers worked for the people.

The monastery church dedicated to St. George is the first building of the famous Raška school or Raška style group in Serbian medieval architecture. The characteristics of this style are reflected in the solutions of uniting the Byzantine concept of interior space with exterior forms of Romanesque architecture. It was the first ruling endowment of the Nemanjić dynasty.

No, it’s not a matter of image distortion due to the wide-angle lens – the cube is octagonal on the outside and the dome is really elliptical on the inside!

As the first royal endowment of the Nemanjić dynasty, the church was richly painted, the nave in the period 1170-1175. and the narthex in the time of the second founder, King Dragutin. During the 13th century, the monastery was one of the “royal monasteries” and played a significant role in the life of the country. Unfortunately, with the Ottoman invasion and its demolition at the end of the 17th century, only traces of the rich frescoes remain…

Group photos for a long memory of this trip.

The other founder of the monastery is St. King Dragutin – monk Teoktist, who added to the monastery church and painted its narthex. He turned the entrance tower of the monastery complex into a chapel and dedicated the function of a tomb church to it, which he dedicated to St. Nicholas.

Here the frescoes are much better preserved and some of the most important moments in the history of Serbia are recorded: Four convocations – the convocation of Stefan Nemanja, the convocation that enthroned King Stefan Uroš I, the convocation where King Dragutin himself took power and finally the convocation in Deževa. The idea of ​​a hereditary monarchy and dynasty was woven into the founder’s composition of the first Nemanjićs (the so-called horizontal tree of the dynasty), led by Stefan Nemanja, Saint Simeon. King Dragutin is also shown in the chapel with a model of the church in his hand.

There will be a lot of work around the renovation of the monastery, because some parts are still hardly recognizable:

How to describe the impressions from this place where the centuries have been archived? For example, as Nina does…

The rest of us will have to use handy technology:

And now let's hurry. Another pearl of medieval Serbian culture awaits us:

Monastery of Sopoćani

See you there!

All photos taken with the Fujifilm X-T20 camera with the Canon EFs 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5, Canon EFs 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM nano, and Canon EFs 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM lenses adapted to the Fuji body using Fringer adapter.