Dobrun Monastery

The monastery of the Dormition of the Virgin at Dobrun stands in the narrow gorge of the Rzav east of Višegrad, founded in 1343 by Župan Pribil and his sons, and its church retains fresco fragments of that period, among the older surviving wall painting in the country, including a donor composition showing the founders and the Serbian ruler of the time. The church was destroyed in the early twentieth century and rebuilt in the 1930s and again later, so what stands combines original lower fabric and frescoes with reconstruction above. A monastic community is resident. The narrow-gauge Sargan Eight railway from Serbia runs to a station nearby, and the gorge setting is the other part of the visit.

Background

The monastery stands 12 km from Višegrad in the gorge of the Rzav, near the border with Serbia, and is dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin. It was built in 1343 by the župan Pribil and his sons Stefan and Petar, and the national commission for monuments has put it forward as a candidate national monument of the country.

Source: Wikipedia, "Dobrun Monastery"

Highlights

• The fresco fragments - the fourteenth-century painting in the church.
• The donor composition - the founders shown in the surviving programme.
• The gorge setting - the Rzav valley the monastery sits in.
• The working monastery - the resident community and its buildings.

When to go

May to October for the gorge road and the walking. The church is open around service times. Feast days bring visitors. The railway operates seasonally to the nearby station.

Before you go

Much of the church is twentieth-century reconstruction and the original frescoes are fragmentary. It is a working monastery with dress and behaviour expectations. Photography inside may be restricted. The visit takes about an hour.

Nearby

Višegrad and its bridge lie west; Andrićgrad is in the town.

Key facts