Kalenic Monastery

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Kalenic monastery is an important Serbian Orthodox monastery near the town of Trstenik in central Serbia. Built by protodaviar Bogdan (taking care of the finances of despot Stefan Lazarevic), his wife Milica and his brother Petar in the early 15th century (1407-1413), it got the name as a result of the long river of Kalenic passing through the southern side of hilly Levac, which feeds into Velika Morava River.

Church of Kalenic Monastery with Quarters

The Turkish census mentioned it in 1476/78 and 1516 as a monastery in Levce dedicated to the Mother of God. Kalenic has been destroyed several times by the Turks, and was abandoned in the late 17^th century.

King Stefan I

Since the beginning of the 18^th century, monks from the Moraca monastery came to Kalenic and began its restoration. In 1815 the remains of King Stefan I were transferred from Fenek in Srem to Kalenic monastery, to be returned to Studenica in 1839.

The monastery was significantly restored in 1766 and several times since then, and thoroughly restored between 1928 and 1930. After WWII, conservation works were carried out on two occasions – between 1968 and 1970 and during the last decade of the 20^th century.

The monastery church is dedicated to the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, built in the style known as Moravian architecture, and is one of the most beautiful buildings of its time in the Byzantine world. The architectural basis is a trefoil, with a narthex added on the west side of the nave. Over the central part of the church is a tall, elongated octagonal dome, and over the narthex is also a dome with no windows.

Kalenic's exterior is rather picturesque. This charming facade is achieved by the method of construction, where the temple was built of rows of gray stone and red brick, bound with a thick layer of white lime plaster. The facade has two horizontal outlets - cordon cornices, which wrap the building. Windows and the main portal are decorated with shallow stone reliefs, imaginatively interwoven with two-member bands, as well as with carved human and animal figures above the two-part window openings. They mostly serve as decoration, showing scenes from life, fantastic animals, an event from the Old Testament, and even the mythological centaur Chiron. The most striking is a relief with an image of the Virgin, the infant Christ and two angels. Both the figures and ornaments on the facade had once been painted, and traces of paint are still visible in places.

Wedding at Cana

The original frescoes, painted a few years after building the church, are largely preserved, except in the damaged calotte dome. Under the destroyed image of the Pantocrator was the image of the Heavenly Liturgy. Two series of frescoes of the prophets are better preserved than the faded display of the four evangelists, traditionally placed in pendentives. Between a destroyed Madonna with Child in the altar apse conch, and the compulsory Communion of the Apostles, develops the cycle of the risen Christ - including two scenes related to the Resurrection. Below is the Communion of the Apostles of the Hierarchs. Apostles and deacons are painted on the walls of the altar, pilasters and window frames. An exquisite image of the Dead Christ in the niche of the prosthesis is connected to the Communion display. The Festival Cycle was displayed in the latterly damaged vaults and the highest parts of the nave. A program dedicated to celebrating Christ's earthly life occupies, along with the cycle of miracles, the middle zone of the nave, where some scenes - like the Wedding at Cana – are among the highest achievements of Byzantine art. That can be also applied to certain characters in the lower zone, where excessive beauty and extraordinary skill are evident among the depictions of the standing figures of the saints, and especially, the Holy Warriors. Among the standing figures in the lower zone of the narthex are the presentation of Deisis, holy fathers, hermits and the portraits of the founders. All other zones up to the dome contain images depicting the Virgin’s and Christ’s childhood.

Even though the signatures of the painters of Kalenic weren’t found, it is considered that the painter named Radoslav (the author of the miniatures in the Gospel of Visarion) was the main painter of the painting group that painted the temple. His original drawing style, mastery of colour and chromatic effects, bald approach in composing of the masses, and retouching of the old iconographic schemes, are just some of the reasons why the Kalenic frescoes are considered the highest artistic achievement. These frescoes are of light colours, with stifled plasticity of human character and strong lines.

The present iconostasis originates from the great reconstruction in Prince Milos Obrenovic's time and it consists of 37 icons, displayed in 4 levels, all works of different artists.

Recently, the miraculous icon of the Virgin Gerondisa from Sveta Gora was placed on display on a special throne between the altar and south choir.

After the great fire in 1911, in which the monastic quarters from Milos’ time were damaged, thanks were owed to prior Nikon Lazarevic Tintor, who arranged for the construction of great monastic quarters, which were nationalised after WWII. It was returned to the Church in the end of the 20^th century, to be restored in 1997. New great quarters were built in 2008, right before the celebration of 600 years since the founding of the monastery.

Monastic Quarters

There’s a rich church treasury of Sumadija’s eparchy and library furnished by the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts in Kalenic monastery.

Every year, a traditional art colony also takes place at Kalenic.

Kalenic was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by the Republic of Serbia.

Novo Hopovo Monastery

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The Novo Hopovo Nunnery is located 30km from Sremski Karlovci on the Fruska Gora Mountain in northern Serbia, in the province of Vojvodina.

1751 engraving

According to several documents, the monastery was founded by either blind Stefan Brankovic (1420-76) or despot Djordje Brankovic (Bishop Maksim) between 1496 and 1502 on the site of a previous church from the 10^th century. An inscription on the well preserved stone panel (the oldest preserved stone inscription written in the Serbian Church Slavonic language in Vojvodina) above the west portal of the church witnesses that the present church, dedicated to St. Nicholas, was built in 1576, and that the patrons were Lacko and Mirko Jovsic, residents of the Upper Kovin (Ostrau Csepel in Hungary), which caused some confusion in establishing the proper founding date of the church.

Aerial view

From the very beginning the monastery was a very important cultural seat, noted by Stefan Gerlah (1573-78), who whilst travelling to Constantinople between 1573 and 157 noted that “the Serbs in Belgrade do not have schools, but come to Hopovo to learn to read and write”. During the 17^th century the monastery was also an important scribing centre.

St.Theodore Tyrone's relics

In the 16^th century Hopovo became an important pilgrimage centre, thanks to the relics of Saint Teodor Tiron which came in 1555 to the monastery, the oldest and the most complete relics in the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The altar and nave of the church were initially fresco painted in 1608, and the narthex in 1654, probably by the painters from Sveta Gora. They have copied entire compositions from the monasteries on Sveta Gora to the walls of Novo Hopovo. A distinctive example is the fresco “Massacre of the Innocents”, which had been entirely copied from Lavra monastery. The frescoes in the narthex were probably gilded, but the gilding either deteriorated or was scraped off. These were not painted in the same style as the nave, but in a more traditional way, and it is presumed that the artists were the same painters who worked on the frescoes in Piva monastery in Montenegro.

Western Wall of Narthex

Hopovo was badly damaged in 1684 and 1688 by the Ottoman Turks, and the monks (about 100 of them) had to run away to Sabac with the relics of St. Teodor Tiron, and then to Radovanstica monastery. Serious reconstructions could be done only after 1693-95. In 1728 the dining room, guest rooms and monastic quarters on the eastern side were built, while the western side was erected in 1733.

Novo Hopovo Belfry

The task of building of a belfry next to the church was given to Vencl Novak, a mason from Petrovaradin, thanks to the patronage of Bishop Sofronije Jovanovic. Although three floors of the belfry were built, it was torn down on the request of Prior Teodor Dimitrijevic, who wasn’t satisfied with the look and dimensions of the belfry. The new, satisfactory version of the belfry was built by Nikolaus Facel, between 1758 and 1760. In that period, Dositej Obradovic came to Novo Hopovo monastery, supported by the Prior himself, and stayed at the monastery for three years.

An iconostasis was cut between 1754-70 by Paul and Anton Razner in the baroque style and was gilded. It was painted in 1776 by Teodor Kracun, one of the most significant Serbian painters in the second half of the 18^th century. In the middle of that same century the school of icon painting was stationed in the monastery, lead by the Russians Jov Vasiljevic and Vasilije Romanovic, painters whose work would greatly influence the further development of Serbian church painting.

Iconostasis

From 1920 to 1943 Russian nuns were settled in Hopovo, where they found a refuge after the October revolution, and were resident there until 1943. Next to the entrance into the church is the grave of mother Jekatarina, former Prioress of Hopovo.  A Russian by birth, Jekatarina was close to the Russian Imperial court and the Romanovs; she was also personally acquainted with holy Jovan Kronstatski, the great miracle worker and prophet who foretold the Emperor Nikolaj of the fall of the Russian Empire, who also foretold  Jekatarina that she would  have a female congregation.

Teodor Kracun: The Nativity of the Mother of God,
from the choir screen at Karlowitz,
now in the Gallery of the Matica srpska

Hopovo's iconostasis, the church itself, and the monks quarters from the 17^th and 18^th century were damaged heavily in WWII. The treasury with its precious objects was looted, the library of old illuminated books was destroyed, whose pages, according to witnesses “the wind was spreading across the streets of Irig”. Outrageous vandalism hit the monumental iconostasis of Hopovo, an irreplacable work by Teodor Kracun. Witnesses from the village of Beska, who were intimidated into forced  labour by Croatian Ustase terror squads in the vicinity of Hopovo, said that the Ustase took down most of the icons from the iconostasis during the winter of 1941-42 and used them to set  fire inside the church. Of a total of 61 icons, 42 were burnt, as well as the wooden carvings of the iconostasis.

 The eventual reconstruction of Hopovo lasted more than 3 decades. Thanks to  experts from the centre for protection of cultural monuments, damaged and ruined parts of the monastery were repaired and rebuilt. In 1990 Dositej’s cell was reconstructed and the library was rebuilt, and the reconstruction of the treasury is ahead.

Novo Hopovo Nunnery - front

Novo Hopovo Monastery was declared a Monument of Exceptional Cultural Importance in 1990, and it is therefore protected by the Republic of Serbia.

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