Žiča

The monastery of Žiča stands near the entrance to the Ibar gorge. Founded by Stefan the First-Crowned and associated with his brother Sava, it became the first seat of the independent Serbian archbishopric in the thirteenth century. Kings of the Nemanjić dynasty were crowned in its church, whose red walls and painted interior marked it as a royal foundation. Damaged at the end of the thirteenth century, Žiča was restored in the early fourteenth and received new frescoes. Its role diminished after the Ottoman conquest of Serbia in 1459. Monastic life revived for a time after the restoration of the Patriarchate of Peć in 1557, but war and destruction again left the monastery in ruins.