Piva Monastery

Manastir Piva

One particularly important Orthodox monastery complex in Montenegro is the Piva Monastery, originally located at the source of the River Piva, and then relocated to another location due to the formation of an accumulation lake for the Piva Hydroelectric Plant. Work on relocating the church lasted for over a decade, from 1970 to 1982. From the church walls 1,260 square metres of frescoes were removed and then relocated. The church building was “deconstructed” stone by stone and rebuilt at the new location, 9 km from Plužine.

The monastery Church of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God was built between 1573 and 1586 through the efforts of Herzeg Metropolitan Savatija, who later on became the Serbian patriarch.

The church is a three-nave construction with a taller middle nave, without a cupola. In addition to the architecture, its value is represented in the fresco paintings. The main part of the church was decorated by anonymous Greek painters between 1604 and 1605. The upper parts of the porch were painted by a local painter – the priest Strahinja from Budimlje, who painted Akatist to the Mother of God, on the most prominent part of the church. On the lower parts there are works by the refined painter Kozma, dating from 1626. He also painted most of the icons on the gilded, richly carved iconostasis. The throne icons of the Mother of God, Christ and Assumption of the Mother of God were painted by the artist Longin.

Text source: http://www.montenegro.travel/xxl/en/929637/_id/932744/index.html
Foto source: http://www.manastir-piva.org/galerija/gallery.html

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