Bešenovo Monastery

Bešenovo monastery
	Engraving of Bešenovo monastery, Serbia, 1861.
Monastery information
Full name	Манастир Бешеново
Order	Serbian Orthodox
Established	End of the 13th century
Disestablished	1944
Dedicated to	Holy Archangels Michael and Gavrilo
People
Founder(s)	Serbian King Stefan Dragutin
Site
Location	Bešenovački Prnjavor, Serbia
Coordinates	45°07′01″N 19°42′25″E / 45.116944°N 19.706944°E
Visible remains	Monastery foundations
Public access	Yes

The Bešenovo Monastery (Serbian: Манастир Бешеново / Manastir Bešenovo, [bɛʃɛ̌nɔʋɔ]) was a Serb Orthodox monastery on the Fruška Gora mountain in the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina. It was located by the Čikoš stream, in the area of the Bešenovački Prnjavor village. In the World War II, the monastery was destroyed in the bombing. At the moment it is being rebuilt.

History

According to legend, the monastery of Bešenovo was founded by Serbian King Stefan Dragutin at the end of the 13th century. The earliest historical records about the monastery date back to 1545, in the Turkish population list. Bešenovo monastery was destroyed in a bombing in 1944, and after World War II its remains have been demolished and stolen. It hasn't been rebuilt since. Before the demolition, a monastery complex consisted of a church, storey quarters on three sides of a church and sheds.

Following the reconstruction of the all Monasteries of Fruška Gora, reconstruction of Bešenovo was announced.

King Dragutin’s rule

According to oral tradition, the Monastery of Besenovo was established on Fruska Gora Mt., in late 13th century, by King Dragutin Nemanjis (1253 – 1316), in the vicinity of the stream that is called Cikos today. The ruler dedicated the Monastery to Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, patron saints of his noble ruling dynasty. This makes Besenovo the only monastery on Fruska Gora connected with the holy Nemanjic dynasty. As it is known, other monasteries were, mainly, established during the rule of the last Serb despot rulers of the Brankovic family, dynasty that was also canonized by our Holy Church. Though other material traces have not been preserved, speaking in favour of existence of the Monastery of Besenovo in the time of King Dragutin’s rule is the ancient record on its cross, which dates back to the year of 1297. As it is stated in this record, engraved on one side of it are the picture and the name of the Monastery of Besenovo, with the same patron saints as today, Dragutin’s patrons, Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel (marked on November 8/21). Incidentally, it was the period when Dragutin Nemanjic ruled the Srem Kingdom, which he had established in 1282, stepping down from Serbian throne, on which he was starting from 1276, after conflict with his brother Milutin. His first capital was Debrc between Sabac and Belgrade. Later he moved his capital town to Belgrade and thus became the first Serb King to rule in our today’s capital. Dragutin stayed at the helm of the Srem Kingdom until his death in 1316.

First written records and valuable objects

First written records of the Monastery existence date back to mid-15th century. Namely, on the wall of the Monastery church, there is an inscription suggesting that the church was icon-painted as far back as 1476. Much more details on the Monastery of Besenovo are contained in the oldest Srem area Turkish census document, dating back to 1546. The Monastery was regularly mentioned, also, in all subsequent Turkish census documents in the second half of the 16th century. The Monastery treasury, which had been relatively rich even before, got additionally enriched at that time. As Vitovnica Monastery near Pozarevac was looted by the Turks, its monks took the most valuable liturgy objects to Besenovo. These included, also, a Four-Gospel, plated by Vuk Kondo, as well as silver glass by the famous silversmith Luka. These and many other objects from Besenovo are today kept in the Museum of Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade.

Icon and Iconostases

As already mentioned, the first written record on icon-painting of the Monastery dates back to 1467. The second icon-painting took place in mid-18th century. A part of icons from that icon-painting have been preserved and are kept, today, in the Museum of Srem in Sremska Mitrovica, waiting for the Monastery to be restored, after which they will be put on the place where they were made. The author of these icons was the aforementioned Vasily Romanovich, who already in 1737, as a young painter, icon-painted the Boris and Gleb Church in Kiev. How and when he came to Srem was not recorded, yet, it is certain that he was living in the Monastery of Hopovo, where he entered the monastic order and where he died in 1773. Preserved among the icons of the old iconostasis painted by Romanovich are those from the Holy Doors, as well as the icons of the Christ, the God Mother with the Christ, Saint John and Holy Archangel Michael. These icons are also waiting for restoration of the Monastery, being kept in the Srem Museum in Sremska Mitrovica. The icons for the new lavish and impressive iconostasis of Besenovo, which lasted until the tragedy of the Monastery during and after WWII, are a work by one of greatest Serbian painters ever Stevan Aleksic (1876 – 1923). He started painting these icons in 1906 and finished his work in 1909. Preserved from the Holy Doors are the icons of the Annunciation, Saint Stephen and Holy Archangel Michael, as well as the icons of Jesus Christ, the Ascension, the Transfiguration, the Holy Trinity and Saint John the Evangelist. Beside these, preserved, also, are Aleksic’s icons of Holy Archangel Michael killing Satan and the Passion of Saint Kirik and Julita, which were in the chapel dedicated to them. All preserved Besenovo icons of Stevan Aleksic are kept in the Museum of Srem in Sremska Mitrovica.

Saint Kirik and Julita

Though Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel are the patron saints of the Monastery of Besenovo, Saint Kirik and Julita also have an important place in its history. These are a son and a mother, who died for Christian faith in the Greek town of Ikonia, during the rule of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. One part of their relics (the other part is still kept in the Holy Mother of God Bolnichka Church in Ohrid) arrived in Besenovo in a manner on which there are no written records and was kept there for a long time. It is certain that this happened before 1753, when, within the Monastery church, the building of a chapel dedicated to them started. Among several icons in the church, there was, also, the one representing Saint Kirik and Julita, which was painted, exactly at that time, by Russian icon-painter Vasily Romanovich. The summer patron saint day of the Monastery is marked on the day of Saint Kirik and Julita (July 15/28) and this tradition was revived a few years ago when the reconstruction of the monastery started. Incidentally, their relics were kept in the Monastery by mid-WWII, to be secretly moved to the church in the village of Besenovo in 1943, in order not to be taken to Zagreb by the Ustasha of Ante Pavelic, along with other precious objects which were taken there. There the relics remained after the war, also, to disappear without a trace, in the meantime.

First devastation and recovery

The whole 17th century was, according to chronicles of that time, a period of great poverty in the Monastery, so that its monks often travelled to Russia, to gain contributions there. Stated as the years of such trips are 1628, 1648, 1670 and 1671. Soon after the Great Migration of the Serbs to the Pannonia, led by the Patriarch Arsenije II Carnojevic (1690), better times came for the monasteries on Fruska Gora Mt, yet, this lasted only until 1716. Namely, that year, the army of the Prince Eugene of Savoy, in which the Serbs had a very important role, dealt a hard defeat to the Turkish army on Vezirac hill near Petrovaradin. Among other casualties, the Great Vizier Damid Ali – Pasha also died in this battle, and, after the battle, the last Turkish raid on Fruska Gora took place. On that occasion, according to the chronicles of that time, “They burned down Krusedol and Velika Remeta monasteries and the Monastery of Besenovo also suffered hard“. The Monastery was damaged and whole of its property was either pillaged or destroyed. The recovery was neither fast nor easy, yet, the rest of that century was the period of the Monastery’s rise. In his census of estates in Srem in 1757, the Count Georgie Fekete de Galanta mentioned, as the land belonging to the Monastery of Besenovo, forest strips „Cesma“, „Turska dolina“, „Raskovac“ and „Veliki Hrast“. On the other hand, in similar census in 1775, it is stated that the Monastery land takes 2,221 cadastre acres, of which forest makes 1,002 acres.

WWII destruction

When Yugoslavia disintegrated during World War II in early April 1941 and the Ustasha were carrying out attacks in Srem area, which also was a part of Pavelic’s Independent State of Croatia, the monks from Vrdnik and Jazak took the relics of the Saint Prince Lazar, Saint Emperor Uroš and Saint Stefan Stiljanovic from those two monasteries to Besenovo. They managed to preserve them only partially. In 1942 the Ustasha looted the Monastery treasury, including the coffins of the three saints and all precious objects they contained. All was taken to Zagreb, and the relics were shaken out of coffins and dispersed across the Monastery. They were saved by professor Radoslav Grujic, who managed to transfer them to the Cathedral Church in Belgrade, with the help of the Germans. Though severely pillaged and unoccupied (all monks of Fruska Gora monasteries who failed to flee to Serbia under the rule of General Milan Nedic were arrested by the Ustasha and sent to their death camps), Besenovo stood until May 4, 1944. After the Srem partisans placed their headquarters in the Monastery, on request of the Ustasha headquarters in Zagreb, the Germans practically razed the Monastery to the ground on that day with aerial bombs. In the twentyfirst century reconstruction was planned.

Gallery

Chapel built in front of the Bešenovo monastery foundation remains.

External links