Fenek Monastery

According to legend, Fenek Monastery and its church dedicated to Saint Paraskeva, which are located near Jakovo, were founded by Despot Stefan Branković and his wife Angelina. The first written records of the monastery date from 1563. The restoration undertaken in 1793–97, under Hegumen Vićentije Rakić, gave the monastery its final appearance. The church was designed as a single-nave structure with a semicircular altar apse and shallow rectangular choirs. The octagonal dome seems disproportionally small in relation to the massive architectural construction. The west front is accentuated by a three-story bell tower. The elaborate front is in harmony with the abstemious decoration of the longer walls, vertically fragmented by pilasters that follow the interior division of space. The painted decorations and the gilded iconostasis are the works of Petar Radosavljević from Pančevo, a graduate of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, curiously, his only signed pieces. Wood carving was done by Aksentije Marković. The largest portion of the iconostasis was destroyed during World War I, when the wall paintings done by Dimitrije Petrović in 1859 were also ruined. In 1800, the cemetery chapel of Saint Petka was built near the church. Legend has it that it was created over a healing water well from the time of Lady Angelina. The importance of Fenek Monastery in the eyes of the Serbian people comes from its historical role. Namely, this was the center of Serbian political emigration in the late 18th and early 19th century. During World War II, Fenek also suffered a fate of destruction. The roof of the lodge was restored in 2001–02, and the chapel in 2004–05.