Psacha Monastery

Psača Monastery Псача манастир
View of the monastery church
Basic information
Location	village Psača, Kriva Palanka, Macedonia
Affiliation	Macedonian Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox Church)
District	Psača
Country	Republic of Macedonia
Year consecrated	14th century

Psača Monastery is an Orthodox Christian Monastery in the village of Psača, Republic of Macedonia. It was built by Savastokrator Vlatko and his father Duke Paskač around 1354.

The monastery, dedicated to St Nicholas the Wonderworker, lies at the end of the village of Psača, 3 km from the Kumanovo – Kriva Palanka Road, in Rankovce Municipality. It belongs to the diocese of Osogovo-Kumanovo of the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

The monastery church, the only remaining part of the original monastic complex, was erected around 1354 by Sevastokrator Vlatko and his father Grand Duke Paskač, nobles of the Serbian Empire. In 1358, Vlatko donated his monastery to Chilandar, a Serbian monastery on Mount Athos.

The church is in the form of an elongated cross in a square with a narthex built at the same time. It originally had two domes (following the example of Lesnovo monastery), but the one above the nave collapsed at some point, leaving the central part of the church uncovered. In the 19th century the church was repaired but the missing dome was never rebuilt.

The outer decoration is in alternate layers of bricks and stone with several double bay windows and some rustic sculpture. The original dedication of the church was inscribed in stone above the entrance but was destroyed during the Bulgarian occupation of Macedonia in World War One since it mentioned Emperor Uroš and King Vukašin as Serbian rulers.