Savina Monastery

Serbian Orthodox monastery complex with three churches in a cypress grove

Savina sits a short drive or twenty-minute walk east of the old town, hidden in a grove of dark cypress and laurel. There are three churches on the site: the small Old Church from around the 14th century, the larger Great Church built in the late 18th century with funds from Russian Orthodox patrons, and a tiny third dedicated to Saint Sava.

The frescoes inside the Old Church are the highlight — fragmentary, faded, but recognisably medieval, and the small space is dense with candle-smoke and gold. The monks still live here and the church is in active use; dress modestly and time your visit outside services if you want to look around.

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The monastery's most prized possession is an icon of the Virgin attributed to St Luke the Evangelist — almost certainly later, but the brass cover dates to the 11th century. Russian merchants funded much of the rebuilding in the 18th century, and the larger church holds an iconostasis carved in Russia and shipped down by sea.

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