The last monastery I visited last Saturday was the Ravanica monastery in the spa village of Vrdnik on the Fruska gora mountain. I often like to go to this spa village with my family to bathe in the thermal water. It is a real pleasure for us. Then we usually don't have time to visit the surroundings because we are in the pool all day. But last Saturday we went to Vrdnik for the first time just for a walk and visited the famous Ravanica monastery.
I don't know why, but I felt strange there. When we started to climb up the street that led to the monastery, it seemed as if we were approaching the end of the world.
It was very peaceful, like in all the other monasteries we visited, but here that peace was a little strange, like in a paradise that I could imagine just like that.
I passed through the gate and saw the monastery church. It was so big and imposing. The way it looks today was built at the beginning of the 19th century, but there is information that the monastery was built much earlier, in the 16th century.
This monastery did not suffer any damage during the war history, except that it was looted several times.
This is not an ordinary monastery and it does not resemble any that I have visited before.
The yard is arranged so beautifully that it resembles paradise.
While I was walking and taking photos, a young couple who was driving a baby in a stroller commented that they come here when they want to calm the child and make him sleep well. And they were not the only ones, I saw several other couples with babies there, who are probably there for the same reason, to give their children and themselves some peace.
The church is so big and it is surrounded by monastery quarters.
I went inside. The door is open to everyone and there are no strict dress codes, but of course you must be decently dressed.
There are a lot of valuable icons inside. It is both warm and cold at the same time. Cold, because the space is quite large, and warm, because you feel welcome.
And I left this place with welcoming feelings, until the next time...
Thank you very much for reading.
The images and writing are original and mine.
Greetings!
Jelena