Dragović monastery

Dragović monastery

Monastery Dragović and Peruća Lake
Monastery information
Full name	Manastir Dragović, Манастир Драговић
Order	Serbian Orthodox
Site
Location	Vrlika, Croatia
Visible remains	Saint Grigorije Nemanjić relics

Monastery Dragović (Manastir Dragović, Манастир Драговић) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery situated on a hill downstream the Cetina River not far from Vrlika in Croatia. When the artificial Peruća Lake was created, the original monastery sank due to land movement. The new monastery Dragović was built on a hill not far from the previous one.

Serbs, settled from Bosnia, built the Dragović Monastery in 1395. It was built on the request of Bosnian King Tvrtko I Kotromanić, who significantly expanded Bosnia's borders (to their largest of the pre-Ottoman era), and it was meant to be the first Bosnian Bogomil church in newly acquired territories. However, the vicinity of Split parish and that of its bishop influenced church faith, which eventually resulted in the transformation to a catholic church and monastery. After the Ottoman occupation of Bosnia and south Dalmatian proper, the building soon changed hands and became an orthodox church and monastery.

In 1480 the Ottoman Turks invaded the region, raided the monastery, and expelled its residents. For full twenty years it was abandoned, until restored and renewed. Forced by the hard times of Ottoman-conquered southern Croatia with lack of supplies, five monks left to Hungary and founded Monastery Grabovac in 1555. In 1590, a year of famine, the monks abandoned Dragović and all spent the year in Grabovac. It was deserted again, this time for seventy years.

Bishop Nikodim Busović renewed the entire monastery in 1694. However, only 4 years afterwards the Ottoman Turks made another breakthrough into the region and the monks found refuge in Venetian territory. The Venetian government secured them a resting place in the village of Bribir with good lands for a new monastery, where they built a small church. The Venetians also gifted the monks community with 50 acres (200,000 m²) of land around Kistanje. In 1699 according to the Treaty of Karlowitz the Ottomans lost most of southern Croatia, so the monks were free to return to Dragović. Soon Bishop Nikodim died, and their Church in Bribir was taken over by the Venetians for Roman Catholic services.