Studenica Monastery, SerbiaThis was my second time in Novi Pazar Serbia, the capital of the Sandzak of Novi Pazar (a land bridge that linked Bosnia to the south Balkans when Serbia and Montenegro gained independence). This region is the Serbian cultural heartland and the origins of their culture but also strikingly rich and known for its Turkish heritage at the same time.
I wanted to stay two days in Novi Pazar after my 7 hour bus ride from Sarajevo, onwards bus to Pristina Kosovo, and to enjoy the unique culture of the town. Novi Pazar means "new bazaar" built by the Ottomans and it became an important market town.
First I went to the bus station to check times for my onwards bus to Kosovo as I had problems here in 2013, could not get on the bus and had to take a taxi. You could not buy tickets but the man at the counter who spoke no English confirmed the time was 9am and that it was 8 Euros.
To spend the day exploring more of the region I had found a guide in Viator that would visit the UNESCO Serbian Monasteries. One I could do on foot. The other two were opposite sides of the town and would have to be done by taxi. He was charging $100 USD which was way too much but I decided to book and not bother trying to find and negotiate taxis.
My guide Armin met me just outside my apartment by the Leylek Mosque. He explained his family runs a local travel business, and that he works part time at the University as well as pursuing his Graduate studies
I had also chosen to do an optional extra to the Studenica Monastery an hours drive for an extra 30 Euros.
Entry to all the sites are free, you just need transport as they are outside the town so only accessible by car.
Studenica means cold so has nothing to do with students or study. It was built in various stages based on the different materials and architecture styes.
It was first mentioned in writings by the Byzantines so is significant as it is the first written records of Serbian culture and their practices
Interior we could not take pictures but this all depends on who is working that day and how busy with visitors. We had the site mostly to ourselves except for the attendant.
The Kings Church beside had no attendant and we were free to take pictures
Frescoes are done in layers with simplest pictograms at the bottom for the uneducated to more detailed murals at the higher levels.
Next we drove the hour back to Novi Pazar to visit the more nearby sites. It was raining heavy.
The next site was St Peter & Pauls church which was walking distance in town though I could have easily missed it and would have have to walk a lot in the rain to get here. It has an interesting graveyard outside.
What is unique about this church is that it has an upper level viewing gallery for women and nobles. I had not seen this before or been allowed access in other Orthodox Churches
Somebody was also crowned or baptized here. I get all the stories mixed up as Armin was explaining
Next we drove to the Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery outside of town. There were two brothers, one was imprisoned and built the Church on his release
Sadly this was heavily damaged in the Balkan wars of 1912 and is reconstructed so there are few frescoes. The Turks fired cannons from below at the Serbs causing damage.
Next we drove back thru town to the Sopacani Monastery on the other side of town
It was still raining heavy and there were big school groups showing up now so we had to move quickly around them
I'm not sure what the story of this Monastery was. They were getting mixed up by this point but it had good frescoes and murals
Considering the large school groups we mostly had the place to ourselves for long enough to get good photos
This shows the split personality of Novi Pazar that it is known by locals for its Turkish character in the town but is rich in Serbian heritage. This caused some tensions and apprehensions in the 1990s that the Balkans wars would spread here but fortunately they did not
See also Vlog (16 mins) - https://youtu.be/f7jSUk8s6FE
2025-05-22