RAČA MONASTERY
The monastery is located six kilometers from Bajina Bašta and is considered to be the endowment of King Dragutin Nemanjić from the 13th . century. Only the foundations of his imperial monastery settlement remained after the Turkish conquests of the 15th century. It is one of the most significant places in the Serbian history. Of particular importance was the Račan copyist school, and after the destruction of the monastery and the great migration of Serbs in 1690, the people of Račan created the basis of the Serbian alphabet and literature in the new century in Saint Andreja.
A hundred years later, the Tronoša brotherhood raised the monastery from the ruins, only to be set on fire again at the end of the first Serbian uprising. The present appearance of the monastery originates from 1836. During the Second World War, Miroslav’s Gospel, the oldest Serbian book written in the 12th century, was hidden here from the Germans . Part of the holy relics of King Dragutin are located in this holy place.
A two-kilometer-long marked hiking trail leads from the Rača Monastery to the Ladjevac spring and the remains of the Rača Transcription School. The road leads along the bank of the Rača river. There are benches and tables with canopies on both sides of the river at rest areas. After about forty minute hike, you will reach the waterfalls of the Ladjevac hot spring. In the vicinity of Ladjevac are the remains of the Rača Transcription School. Further overcoming the path that leads to the viewpoint Crnjeskovo is much more difficult. Local Tara National Park guides can be of great help.
RAČA TRANSCRIPTION SCHOOL
The history of Serbian literature is the largest part of creativity in the 17th and first decades of the 18th century by the term “Rača Transcription School”
The Turkish travel writer and dervish Zulih, better known as Evliya Çelebi, wrote in 1630. that the scriptorium had 300 monks-scribes, who were served by 400 shepherds, blacksmiths, housekeepers and other servants. There were 200 guards in the security.
The Rača Transcription School was located about a 40-minute walk along the Rača river, near the Ladjevac spring. in the 17th century Račan monks-scribes called this place “Banja” (Spa) because the water temperature is 17 °C all year round. Nearby Ladjevac, which was very difficult to access until the construction of the footpath, there is a hermitage dedicated to Saint George. The remains of the medieval scriptoria still exist and are in the research phase.
MIGRATION
Since the Serbs were in the war between Austria and Turkey in 1683-1699. and participated on the Austrian side and after the Austrian defeat at Kačanik, they began to move to the north. During the great migration under Patriarch Arsenije Čarnojević (1690), many monks from the Rača monastery even reached St. Andrea near Budapest. And thanks to them, Saint Andrea soon became the cultural center of Serbs in Hungary.
After some time, these monks retreated south to the Beočin monastery near Sremska Mitrovica at the foot of Fruška Gora. Even in this monastery, the monks continued to copy church books. Among these monks, the following stood out in particular:
- Jerotej Račanin, who wrote “Travels to the City of Jerusalem” – one of the oldest preserved travelogues in Serbian literature
- Kiprijan Račanin, who compiled the “Primary of Slavic Literature” in St. Andrea, and
- Gavril Stefanović Venclović.
PHOTO GALLERY
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT RAČA MONASTERY
PATRIARCH PAVLE
Serbian Patriarch Pavle was once a monk in the Rača Monastery. Thanks to him, part of the holy relics of King Dragutin, the founder of the monastery, can be now seen in the monastery.
