МАНАСТИР ГРАЧАНИЦА

Манастир Грачаницу је саградио Св. Краљ Милутин 1310. године и посветио је

Успењу Пресвете Богородице. Манастир се налази у селу Грачаница, 5 км. удаљен
од Приштине, административног центра Косова и Метохије. Време 14. и 15. века
био је период велике духовне славе манастира. У Грачаници је живело стотине
монаха који су били развили веома интензивну духовну и уметничку делатност. У
другој четвртини 16. века ту је било и средиште новобрдског митрополита који је у
манастир донео и прву штампарију. Касније, услед великих турских зулума,
манастир је напуштен и црква је служила за парохијске потребе. После Другог
светског рата, манастир су обновиле монахиње и од тада он служи као женски
манастир. Данас у њему живи 20 так сестара које се баве иконописањем, везом,
пољопривредом и другим монашким послушањима.

Након рата на Косову и Метохији 1999 године у манастир Грачаницу је пренето

седиште епископа рашко-призренског који је морао да напусти Призрен. Манастир
је постао не само духовно већ и национално и политичко средиште српског народа
овог краја. У њему се свакодневно организују бројни скупови и састанци са
међународним представницима са циљем да се обезбеди опстанак и живот српског
народа на Косову и Метохији.

Црква манастира Грачаница је грађевина са пет кубета са основом уписаног крста,

те као таква припада групи првокласних архитектонских остварења свога времена.
Спољна припрата је саграђена у крајем 14. века у време Св. Кнеза Лазара. У 16.
веку припрата је осликана фрескама. Михајло и Евтихије, познати сликари из
Солуна завршили су фреске у главној цркви до 1321. Небеска литургија, пророци и
еванђелисти су насликани на главној куполи испод фреске Христа Пантократора
док се на зидовима наоса могу видети циклуси Великих Празника, Христовог
страдања, чуда, прича, Христовог Роджества и Васкрсења, призори из живота
Богородице, Св. Николе и Календар светих. Призори који приказују Евхаристију
као и старозаветни мотиви налазе се у олтару. Св. Краљ Милутин и његова супруга
краљица Симонида, византијска принцеза, приказани су у централном луку као
владари којима сам Господ даје власт преко анђела који на њихове главе спуштају
круне. Немањићко стабло порекла и Страшни суд су насликани у предњем делу
наоса док су и ван припрате сачувани фрагменти фреака из 14. века. Поред осталих
фресака значајни су циклуси Васељенских сабора, Акатиста Пресвете
Гоборородице и Рођења Господњег. На зидовима ове цркве такође се могу наћи и
портрети српских архиепископа и патријараха као и погребна сцена грачаничког
митрополита Дионисија. Грачаничка ризница је уништена у пожарима 1379 и 1383.
У манастиру се и данас чува збирка старих икона, међу којима је значајна икона
Христа Милостивог из 14. века која је јединствена по својим димензијама (269 cm x
139 cm). На манастиру је до сада урађено више градитељских и сликарских
конзерваторских радова.
GRACANICA MONASTERY

Gracanica Monastery one of King Milutin's last monumental endowments. It is situated

in the village of Gracanica, 5 km. from Pristina, the administrative centre of Kosovo and
Metohija region. The monastery is in the close vicinity of Lipljan, the ancient Roman
town of Ulpiana, and the old residence of bishops. Gracanica was constructed on the
ruins of an older 13th-century church of the Theotokos, which was built on the ruins of a
6th-century early Christian three-naved basilica.

In the charter inscribed on the south wall of the chapel, King Milutin says: "I saw the
devastation and fall of the church of the Holy Theotokos of Gracanica, Bishopric of
Lipljan, I had it built from the foundation stone, I had it inscribed and decorated from the
inside and from the outside." All this happened in the year 6830, that is, in 1321 since the
birth of Christ. Only the church remains from the original monastery complex. The
vestibule with the dome was additionally built several decades later. This vestibule was
ruined during Turkish assaults in 1379-1383, when the dome was lost in fire, as well as a
rich collection of manuscripts. The vestibule is believed to have been restored in 1383 by
Bishop Simeon of Gracanica.

The monastery was damaged during the battle of Kosovo 1389, and when Novo Brdo
was conquered in 1455, Metropolitan Benedict Crepovic left Gracanica and was granted
use of the monastery Vracevsnica by Despot Djuradj Brankovic. Better times for the
monastery started during the incumbency of Metropolitan Nikanor (1528-1555), when a
printing house, supervised by master-printer Dimitrije, was operating in Gracanica for a
while. At that time, several icons were painted on the iconostasis, and Metropolitan
Nikanor had the external vestibule painted and provided some liturgical books and other
liturgical objects for the monastery. The royal door was ordered in 1564 by Metropolitan
Dionisius, whose death is pictured on a fresco painting in the vestibule. Thanks to
Patriarch Macarius Sokolovic. Gracanica monastery was considerably reconstructed: all
the openings in the external vestibule were filled, and a new layer of frescoes was
completed on September 3, 1570. Patriarch Paisius had the church covered with lead, and
a cross with the crucifixion of Christ was manufactured in the 17th century, during the
Great Migration of the Serbs under the patriarch Arsenije III Carnojevic. Devastation of
the monastery was repeated in the middle of the 18th century. Somewhat later, Jegen-
pasha had the lead roof and the floor tiles removed and taken to Pristina. In 1800, this
tyrant, having repented for his crime, returned the lead roof and presented the monastery
with a plot of land. Later, due to great pressure from the Turkish occupators, the
monastery was deserted by monks and the church served as a parish church.

The architectural composition of Gracanica represents the peak of Serbian architecture in

the spirit of Byzantine tradition. Unfortunately the rich Gracanica treasury was lost in
fires between 1379 and 1383. The present treasury stores a number of valuable icons
from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, as well as several significant manuscripts and
liturgical objects.
After the Second World War it was renewed by nuns and has been serving as a convent
since. Today there are 24 sisters in the monastery who are active in icon painting,
agriculture, sewing and other monastic obediences.

After the war in Kosovo 1999 Bishop of Raska and Prizren Kyr Artemije transferred his
official seat to this Monastery from Prizren and since then the monastery has become not
only the most important spiritual but also the national and political center of the Serbian
people in the Province. Bishop Artemije and the Serb National Council make everyday
efforts to preserve the Serbian people in Kosovo.

Gracanica Monastery Church has the shape of five-dome building with the foundation in
the shape of the developed cross and, thus, belongs to the group of the first-class
architectural achievements of the epoch. The outside priprata was built in 14th century
and painted in mid-16th century. Mihailo and Evtihije, famous painters from Salonica,
completed the paintings by 1321. Nebeska liturgija (Heaven’s Liturgy), prophets and
evangelists are painted in the central dome below the painting of Christ Pantectrator. The
cycles of Great Holidays, Christ’s suffering, Miracles, Parable, Christ’s Comings after
Ressurection, scenes from Virgin’s life, St. Nikola and Kalendar are painted in naos.
Eucharist and Old Testament subjects are represented on the altar. Milutin and his wife
Simonida, Byzantine princess, are painted as rulers by the God’s will since the angels
bring them crowns from the heaven. The Nemanjics’ genealogical tree and the Last
Judgment are painted in priprata, while the fragments of frescoes painted in the 14th
century and around 1570 are preserved in the outside priprata. In addition to the
compositions of the cycles of Ecumenical Synods, Virgin’s Akatist (poem in glory of the
Virgin) and the Baptism, there are also the portraits of Serbian archbishops and patriarchs
and the painting of the funeral of the Gracanica Metropolit Dionisije. The Gracanica
treasury was destroyed in the fires between 1379 and 1383. Today, the monastery keeps a
significant collection of icons, the oldest one being the icon of Hrist Milostivi (Christ the
Merciful) from the 14th century, unique by its dimensions (269 cm x 139 cm).
Continuous conservation works on the architecture and paintings are carried out.