Manasija Monastery: A History

It is worth mentioning that, although Manasija Monastery was not in splendid condition in this period, and on the one hand found itself in serious crisis, on the other hand the Manasija church remained a representative example of church architecture. In the 18th century the Kovilj church was built on the model of that of Manasija. In the 19th century, in 1850, the Manasija Church of the Holy Trinity was chosen as the architectural model for building the Church of Saint George in Smederevo; following the model of the katholikon of Manasija Monastery, the painter and builder Andreja Damjanović of Veles (1813–1878) made the drawings and, in part, built according to them the Smederevo church, which was erected in 1851–1854.¹⁰⁸ In the second half of the 19th century Manasija Monastery was visited by Felix Kanitz (Felix Philipp Emanuel Kanitz, 1829– 1904), the famous German travel writer and archaeologist, who recorded the appearance of Manasija Monastery and the Manasija church in his drawings of 1862 and 1876,¹⁰⁹ and noted the following about the Resava monastery, which is reached by a road leading across a bridge over the Resava: "Over that water a new stone bridge has been built with an arch - once you cross it and go on a little further, there at once gleams before you the most remarkable building in Serbia, and perhaps the most remarkable in Europe as well, Manasija Monastery, the endowment of Stevan the Tall."¹¹⁰ These words of his were later repeated by Sava Bjelanović (1850–1897)¹¹¹ and Radoslav Grujić (1878–1955).¹¹² The German travel writer Gustav Rasch (1825–1878) visited Manasija around 1870, and although the Resava fortress was in a ruinous state, he was enraptured and expressed himself as follows: "What an impressive sight! No ruin in Germany, which is so rich in castle ruins, has left so powerful an impression on me as the sight of Manasija."¹¹³ In the same spirit, the Serbian geographer and diplomat Vladimir Karić (1848–1894) speaks of the fortress and also of the jewel of Manasija, the Church of the Holy Trinity, saying that by its manner of construction this church is our most beautiful old building.¹¹⁴ Drawings and sketches of Manasija Monastery in this period were also made by the painter and architect Vladislav Titelbah (Franc Ladislav Tittelbach, 1847– 1925)¹¹⁵ and by General Jovan Mišković (1844–1908).¹¹⁶ As someone who visited Manasija Monastery several times, Kanitz had the opportunity to become acquainted with Archimandrite Evgenije and with his successor, the abbot and later archimandrite Kiril Vukelić (born around 1827),¹¹⁷ who held the position of superior of the monastery from 1861 until his passing into the Kingdom of God in 1896.