Corridor: Diagonal Road
Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Popovo polje
Type: Christian religious centre
Epoch: Middle Ages
Theme: Christian Monasteries
World Heritage:

The Monastery Church of the Holy Dedication of Our Lady is situated in Zavala in Popovo polje, close to Ravno.
The oldest written evidence of Zavala is a contract of sale of a vineyard to the Monastery in 1514. The Monastery already had a scriptorium at that time, and the name of the benefactor who restored the Monastery is known from the Zavala records. New konaks (dormitories) were built in 1876, when other parts of the Monastery were restored. In 1886, a Monastery school was opened.
The Zavala Monastery Church is characteristic because the entire north side of the church abuts onto a rock. North-east of the church, on the rock, is a stone bell tower of the «preslica» type with three bells, built in 1899. Before the construction of the stairway built to the south of the building by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, a tunnel was the only access to the entrance of the Church.
The frescoes of the church of the Holy Dedication at the Zavala Monastery are regarded as some of the finest artistic creations in Bosnia and Herzegovina from Middle Ages. They were painted in 1619 by Georgije Mitrofanovic (he painted the Patriarchy Refectory and the Church of St Demetrius in Pec, the refectory of the Hilandar Monastery, and some exceptionally fine icons for the Serbian mt. Athos Monastery).

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