The Grgeteg Monastery is located on the southern slope of Fruska Gora Mountain in northern Serbia, in the province of Vojvodina. The monastic church is dedicated to Saint Nicholas. According to tradition, it was founded by Despot Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk (Vuk Brankovic) in 1471: the intention was to place his blind father Grgur, a monk from Hilandar monastery, there, and the monastery got its name in reference to his father. However, Grgur died in 1459, and was buried under his monastic name of Father German; therefore the story remains just a legend.
The first reliable historical records come from Turkish documents dating from 1546.
The monastery was abandoned at the end of the 17th century, during the Austro-Turkish wars, and remained deserted until the Great Serbian Migration in 1690, when it was inhabited by the monks who fled from Serbia.
The old stone church was replaced by the new baroque edifice between 1766 and 1771 when the bell tower was also built.
There were two iconostases in the church: the first one, which remained in the church till 1901, was painted by Jakov Orfelin in 1774. The other, still present today, was designed by Herman Bolle and painted by Uros Predic in 1902. Of Orfelin’s work, only two icons were preserved – one of St. Nicholas and another of St. John the Baptist. Herman Bolle also designed a small wooden iconostasis for the chapel, upon which the icons were painted by the famous painter and cartoonist Pjer Krizanic in 1911.
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| Iconostasis |
Monastic quarters were built in the second half of the 18th century, and were renewed together with the church in 1901.
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| St.Nicholas church surrounded by monastic quarters |
In WWII the monastery suffered great destruction – the Croatian Ustase destroyed the monastic library, the archive and other cultural, historical and artistic works. Almost 2000 rare old books and the entire archive, collected from the late 17th century up to the war years, were used as fire fuel. German troops, together with the Ustase, threw huge numbers of grenades into the monastery on 22nd September 1943, then mined and destroyed the bell tower.
Demolition of the monastery continued even after the war – mainly by the peasants from the nearby villages who stole the bricks, and communist youths, who shot the images of the Saints on the iconostases, which still bear the bullets - especially the composition “The Annunciation” and the image of Christ.
Conservation and restoration have been under way since 1987.
| Three Handed Virgin |
Today, the monastery complex consists of the church, quarters on all 4 sides, and administrative buildings. There is an icon of the Three Handed Virgin, thus the monastery is visited by many pilgrims.
Grgeteg Monastery was declared a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and it is protected by the Republic of Serbia.
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