Monastery Mileševa

The Mileševa monastery was founded between 1234 and 1236 by Serbian King Vladislav The church has frescoes by the most skillful artists of that time, including one of the most famous in Serbian culture, the "White Angel", which depicts an angel on Christ's grave.Mileševa is one of the most important Serbian sanctuaries and spiritual centers. In 1236, Vladislav moved the relics of his uncle Saint Sava from Trnovo in Bulgaria, where he died, to Mileševa. In 1459, the Turks set the monastery on fire, but it was soon restored. In the first half of the sixteenth century, the first service books were illuminated in Mileševa. One of the oldest schools also existed in the monastery. In later times, after several Turkish demolitions, a new restoration was undertaken in 1863, when the church considerably changed in appearance.

The Mileševa monastery has been visited by pilgrims and donated to by Russian Emperors (Ivan IV Vasilyevich) and Valachian and Moldavian rulers. In 1594, the Turks removed the relics of St. Sava from the monastery and publicly burned them on Vračar hill in Belgrade, making him thus a posthumous martyr.

Mileševa was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia.