Banja Monastery is located at the very end of Risan, in the shade of cypress trees, on the way to Perast. The monastery belongs to the Metropolitanate of the Montenegrin-Littoral, Serbian Orthodox Church.
The monastery was built in the 12th century by the ruler Stefan Nemanja. In the Monastery there is a small church dedicated to St. George, whose holy relics can still be found today, silvered and gilded with an inscription.
In 1654, the Turks demolished the original church built by Stefan Nemanja, whose remains are still visible today. During the seventeenth century a new small church was built, also dedicated to St. George.
The noble people of Risan invested a lot in this place, in their monastery and church. Various benefactors have donated gold, icons, and other numerous values. The greatest benefactor from Risan was Vaso Cukovic who donated a large bell to the monastery, worth 30,000 thousand dinars at the time, and later again 340,000 dinars for the reconstruction of the monastery.
Numerous reigns, most notably the Ottoman empire, have significantly impoverished the monastery, which was not destroyed but was repeatedly rubbed. Today, the monastery houses one of the oldest frescoes in Boka, which is the work of the iconographic house Rafailovic-Dimitrijevic from the seventeenth century.
Author of the text:
Marijana Niković licensed tourist guide for Montenegro.
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