Dobrićevo Monastery

Very old and beautiful monastery.

Serbian Orthodox Monastery built in 1232 by Saint Sava Rastko Nemanjic Serbian ☦☦☦

A beautiful place.

The monastery is located on the left side of the main road Bileća-Trebinje, about 12 km south of Bileća, not far from Bileća Lake, in the village of Orah. It was originally located next to the river Trebišnjica in the village of Dobrićevo. It was built on the foundations of an early Christian basilica, according to the monastery seal from 1232 ("Monograph of the Dobrićevo Monastery" by Leontija Ninković, p. 4). In 1967, at that time, it was transferred to its current location by an expensive and very complex conservation project. The transfer was carried out within the project of rescuing cultural and artistic monuments from the submerged area of ​​the river Trebišnjica, which was realized by experts from our Institute for the Protection of Monuments and Stanford University in Los Angeles (USA). In addition to the church, some auxiliary monastery buildings, graves with monuments, as well as the Church of St. Nikola from Nistihalj, which today fits into the unique architectural complex of the Dobrićevo monastery. With its architecture and frescoes, the Dobrićevo Monastery is one of the most important Serbian medieval monasteries. Probing, but not systematic archeological excavations indicate that the monastery was built before the 15th century, and the folk tradition, so present and dominant, connects it to the non-monastic period, as indicated by the modest remains of frescoes by Serbian rulers St. Simeon the Myrrh-bearer and St. Stefan Dečanski in the oldest letters of the central frescoes. Professional works and a monograph of this monastery also confirm the dating of the monastery to the non-monastic period. The monastery church dedicated to the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God. The church of the Dobrićevo monastery is especially interesting for studying the history of architecture, because it vividly illustrates the intertwining of two styles: Raška at the base of the church and Gothic in the superstructure, created under the influence of Raška's architectural school and Dubrovnik's late Gothic. The special value of this church is represented by the frescoes created one over the other by different techniques, by different painters and at different times, which made it much more difficult to remove and re-install them. The record of Teodor Zograf from 1672, which is also the earliest document on the making of frescoes and their retouching, says that the church was restored by priest Bajović (Hieromonk Moses), and that the author of the frescoes is the painter Teodor, also a retoucher of older frescoes. In the older layers made in the alseco technique, frescoes were discovered by Georgije Mitrofanović at the end of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century, who at that time was considered the most important fresco painter (fresco painted the Zavala monastery, Peć Patriarchate, Hilandar dining room). In its long and turbulent history, the monastery was a center of spirituality and literacy, and at the same time it served as a place of reconciliation of quarreling peoples and tribes under the "Dobrićevski kolo", i.e. under the monastery chandelier. That wheel, a wooden chandelier, is in fact a masterpiece by Gerasim Dobrićevac from 1754, made of wood and mother-of-pearl and decorated with icons. It is preserved today in the still living folk oath: "That's how Dobrićevski's car and Kosijerevski's dome are for me!" Among the special monastery shrines that attract the attention of numerous visitors are the miraculous relics of the unknown Saint, as well as the fresco of the Last Supper. It is unique in that the Lord Jesus Christ is on the side, and not in the middle, as is usual in fresco painting, and it also shows cutlery, which, being painted on the model of the then existing one, credibly depicts during that 16th century. high degree of Serbian culture. In recent years, the monastery complex has been arranged more and more, visitors are more and more numerous, and on the day of the Trinity when the Dobrić Council is held, there will be thousands of visitors and participants of various cultural events. The monastery thus gained more and more the splendor, significance and role it had for centuries. In recent times, near the monastery (on the monastery estate), with the blessing of His Eminence the Bishop of Zahumlje-Herzegovina and Primorje, Mr. Gregory, the hermitage of St. Ana, where two nuns currently live. With the blessing of the Bishop of ZHiP Mr. Gregory, the nun Tekla (Daskalaki) was appointed abbot of the Monastery of Gornja and Donja Dobrićevo ...

A beautiful sacral object