Rača Monastery next to the Drina (April 2021) The monastery is located at the foot of Mount Tara, 3 km from the Drina River. According to legend, the monastery was built by King Dragutin in 1276. Rača Monastery suffered several times, mostly during the fall of the Despotovina (1459) and during the first great migration of Serbs (1690).

During the Middle Ages, the Račan copying school worked in the monastery. Turkish travel writer Evliya Çelebi noted that hundreds of copyist monks worked in the copying school. The monastery was first renovated at the end of the 18th century, and the last major renovation took place in the middle of the 19th century.

A person who is inextricably linked to the monastery is its archimandrite Hadji Melentije, who organized the restoration and gathered the faithful around the monastery. Melentije Stevanović, as his real name was, was one of the leaders of the true Serbian uprising and the duke of the Sokol Nahija. The new painting and iconostasis come from the middle of the 19th century, when the large bell tower was built. During World War II, the monastery was burned by the Bulgarians when the treasury was looted.

On this occasion, Miroslav’s jevađelje, which was kept in the monastery during the war years, was not taken away. The Patriarch of Plavle stayed in the Rača monastery several times while he was a monk. The beautiful surroundings of the monastery in the embrace of the mountains are the right place for peace and prayer. During the Second World War, the Bulgarians burned the monastery. Račan copying school. During the Second World War, Miroslav’s Gospel was kept in the monastery. Patriarch Pavle stayed in the monastery twice as a monk.