Only a week after an unforgettable visit to Vranje, I was given the opportunity to embark on another fantastic journey through medieval Serbian history with the Smederevo High School…

I have already mentioned that the Middle Ages were Serbian Golden Age. It was the time of the establishment of the Serbian state and its expansion to a dimensions of a powerful empire which in the middle of the 14th century covered as much as 250,000 square kilometers. We went deep into the past, in the footsteps of the Nemanjić dynasty, following the monuments of Serbian rulers from that age.

The first stop was the ancient monastery Končul, dedicated to Saint Nicholas, which was first mentioned in the Tipik of Studenica at the beginning of the 13th century. However, the monastery is much older, since the Tipik mentiones that it was renovated by Stefan Nemanja, which means that it could be from the early Byzantine era.

The monastery is located in a beautiful area in the valley of river Ibar, somewhat indented from the road and marked with a scaled model on the access road.

The history of the monastery was described to us by a nun, mother Minadora.

At one time, Končul was the seat of the episcopate, and at the time of Đurađ Branković, it seems to be the seat of the metropolitanate. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Končul had its greatest rise. Don’t be fooled by the appearance of the monastery residence and the modern building looks of the facade of the monastery church. For its long history, this ancient monastery has been demolished several times, rebuilt and even transferred to the other bank of the Ibar river. This is evidenced by the artifacts that are kept in the monastery church itself.

The church iconostasis and throne icons are from more recent times and mostly date from the 19th century.

The most holy objects that this monastery preserves are the miraculous icon of the Most Holy Mother of God ‘Kikotysa’ (Serbian language) saved from the terror of Albanian separatists who burned the monastery of Mušutište, and a part of the relics of St. Jakob the Persian.

To continue the story of the monastery, we moved to the summer house, which leads to a staircase decorated with mosaics with motifs from the Holy Bible.

This shrine dedicated to Saint Nicholas is today a nunnery where nuns sew and embroider priestly equipment, engage in calligraphy and paint icons.

When it comes to painting, this time we had a real artist among the students. This is Nina Pavković, who – instead of a camera or a smartphone – recorded her impressions from this trip with quick pencil sketches and watercolors. We will follow her in the sequels of this story. We will follow her in the sequels of this story.

And one last quick memory from this beautiful place before we move on…

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Stay with us, in the following text we return to Old Ras!

All photos taken with the Fujifilm X-T20 camera with the Canon EFs 18-135mm f3.5-5.6 IS USM nano lens adapted to the Fuji body using Fringer adapter.