Novo Hopovo Monastery

View Larger Map

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.