Manastir Gradac

The Gradac Monastery The Gradac Monastery is located on a raised plateau above the Gradac River, on the edge of the forested slopes of Golija. It is located 21 kilometers northwest of Raška and 12.5 kilometers west of Brvenik and the Ibarski road. It was built between 1277 and 1282, as a founding endowment of the Serbian queen Jelena of Anjou. Although she was buried here in 1314. year, the queen's relics were lost over time. According to some reports, in the seventies of the 20th century, politically motivated archaeologists of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Yugoslavia intentionally scattered the relics of Jelena of Anjou around the monastery gate, which the nuns later collected and buried under the floor of the church. The unusual combination of the architecture of the Raška school and the Gothic style makes the church of the Gradac monastery unique in Serbia. Since 1979, this endowment of Nemanjić represents an immovable cultural asset as a cultural monument of exceptional importance.