Monastery St Sisoje

Monastery St Sisoje

The Sisojevac Monastery is located at the source of the Crnica River, near Ćuprije, not far from the Ravanica Monastery. Its origin is linked to the priest Sisoj, who is mentioned in a charter of Princess Milica from 1398, then nun Evgenija. It is assumed that the monastery church of the Transfiguration was built at that time, although there are also opinions that the church is much older, and that Sisoje only renovated it. Also, that the church was built as a manor house by lord Crep Vukoslavić, and that it became a monastery after the arrival of monk Sisoje.

The church is based on a condensed trikonchos, with a dome over the central part, a three-part olta space, with three apses, seven-sided on the outside, semicircular on the inside. The facade is broken up by shallow beds joined by blind arcades, while above them, below the roof cornice itself, is a frieze of blind arcades that rest on consoles of a simple shape. Given that the monastery was deserted for a long time and the church was without a roof covering, the painting in the interior suffered a lot. The painting of the church was done in two phases. The oldest layer was painted in the altar area and is assumed to have been created shortly after the church was built. It was preserved in the lower zone, where you can see Golgotha crosses made in red on a white background and various, mainly floral, ornaments.

The second layer was created, most likely, after the church of the Resava monastery was painted, after 1417, given that the remains of the wall painting of Sisojevci can be discerned with numerous similarities with the painting of the endowment of despot Stefan Lazarevic. It is assumed that it was he who was depicted on the founding composition that could once be seen on the northern part of the western wall of the nave. Standing figures of saints can be seen in the lower zone, as well as a series of medallions with busts above them and full figures in the windows. In the third zone, traces of scenes from the cycle of Christ's public activity can be seen.

Given that the painting has suffered to a great extent, it is difficult to make any judgments about its quality and peculiarities. The church was restored and covered with lead sheet in the period between 1972 and 1980, the work on the fortification and the dormitory was carried out in the second half of the 80s, and in the beginning of the 90s a new chancel was built on the remains of the old one.

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