Monastery Moštanica

Its dimensions are monumental and the architectural decoration makes Moštanica church a lavish structure and one of the most daring and most beautiful religious buildings in Serbian medieval architecture. Its, at least, five hundred year history and the extremely brave, harmonious and rich architecture of the Moštanica monastery puts it in the order of cultural monuments that mark the highest level of creativity of Serbian people under the auspices of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The Moštanica monastery is registered as a cultural monument of the second category in 1951 and it enjoys the protection prescribed by the Law on Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage of BiH.
One of the oldest monasteries of the Bosnian Krajina, is hidden on Kozara near the river of the same name – Moštanica, 12 kilometers east of Kozarska Dubica. According to one legend, the monastery is the endowment of Nemanjici, and according to another, it was built in 1113 on the site of the death of St. Theodore Tyron.

Also known is the story that Mostanica was built by Hasan Pasha Predojevic in the 16th century. According to the same story, that Pasha also built the Rmanj monastery and donated it to his brother, monk Gabriel.

Like most other monasteries, the Moštanica monastery had a turbulent past – it was destroyed and rebuilt nine times. The monastery church is monumental, it is 23.4m long, 10.5 m wide and 13.5m high, built of neatly cut stone. It has a trefoil plan with a single dome resting on freestanding columns. Unusual enough, the entrance portal is on the south wall of the narthex. The monastery church is a protected culture monument and is one of the most beautiful religious buildings from the period of Turkish rule.

The monastery keeps the wax which sealed the tomb of Christ, the stone from Christ’s tomb as well as the shoe from the relics of St. Basil of Ostrog. An asphalt road leads to the monastery, which is dedicated to St. Archangel Michael.