The monastery was built on top of an Ancient Roman site.[1] Roman burial catacombs, Romanesque belfry,[2]Gothic window and other parts of the building (including graves),[3] show that the Orthodox monastery was previously home to a late medieval Catholic church or monastery (c. 14th century),[3][4] which architectural style was uncommon for the Serbian-Byzantine Orthodox churches of the time.[4][5][6] According to most recent synthesis of archaeological, architectural, conservation-restoration research, the monastery's church has three building phases; a late medieval, from a second-half of the 16th century, and from the 1780s.[7] The construction of monastery's buildings began in the second-half of the 16th century with eight additions and seven upgrades until the 1980s.[8] At the site were found many walls beneath the earth which ground plan was much bigger than of the current monastery, stones from Roman times, as well as graves and artifacts from the Roman and late medieval ages.[9] The most significant finding useful for the dating of the late medieval church is a fragment of a profiled Gothic frame with the remains of a rosette which was found in a wall under a layer of cement mortar. As it is almost the same to the frame and rosette found at the Catholic church of St. Mary and Franciscan monastery in Bribir (founded in the late 13th-early 14th century, with various building works done in 15th century), it shows they were produced from the same workshop (of Zadar or Šibenik), in the same time period and the building was possibly related to the Šubić family.[10]
According to the common folk story about the foundation of the Orthodox monastery, claimed by the Serb Orthodox eparchy's clergy, it was founded in 1345 or 1350 when it is listed as an endowment of SerbianprincessJelena Nemanjić Šubić, half-sister of the SerbianemperorDušan and wife of Mladen III Šubić Bribirski (not Mladen the II), Croatian duke of Skradin and Bribir.[1][2][5][11] However, the claim is a baseless late 19th century forgery, made up and published by Serb Orthodox Bishop of DalmatiaNikodim Milaš in his article Iz prošlosti pravoslavne crkve u Dalmaciji (From the history of Orthodox Church in Dalmatia, 1900) and Pravoslavna Dalmacija (Orthodox Dalmatia, 1901), in which, popular to the period and related to Greater Serbia ideology, were forged various claims about pre-Ottoman presence of Serbs in Dalmatia.[1][5][12][13][14] In no previous official Serb Orthodox schematism such a claim can be found and in all there is a conclusion that there is no historical information about the foundation.[1][15] Neither both Croatian and Serbian historians and archaeologists of the epoch mention such a claim.[15] As archaeological forgery was also confirmed an epigraphic inscription with supposed date of 1402 written in Arabic alphabet or Arabic numbers and dating which is uncommon for Greek-East Orthodox style, showing originally instead 1702 related to protopop Lazo Lazarićević, and that the fabrication was made by archimandrite Jerotije Kovačević in 1859;[16][17][18] and alleged inscription from 1422 which should be originally dated to 1782.[19][20]
The earliest source mentioning the Christian church or monastery would be from 1458 by dragoman Cosmo Calavri Imberti, in which is mentioned certain monk Pahomije (lat. Pachomius).[21] Ottoman census in 1550 show existence of the Church of St. Michael.[3] According to the document by Gavrilo Avramović in 1578, seemingly it was independent from the metropolitan seat under Serbian Patriarchate of Peć.[21] According to some sources, including monastery engravings, the Orthodox monastery was most probably founded in 1577,[6][3][22][23] while according to others can be only certainly dated since mid-17th century.[12] Considering that until the mid-second-half of the 16th century there were chaotic political and poor economical conditions for making substantial construction interventions on a late medieval church, the building and foundation of the Orthodox monastery can be dated as early as possible in 1570s (and according to an alleged document, the earliest mention of construction works would be from 1601).[24]
At the beginning of the Cretan War (1645–1669), specifically in 1647, the monastery's clergy was anti-Ottoman and in the Venetian service because of which it was attacked and plundered by the Ottomans.[25] The monks who fled,[26] declared as Croats and Catholics who "live in the service of the Greek Church of the old Illyrian or Croatian language", and found shelter in Zadar, where popeInnocent X in 1655 gave them two churches, that had previously been in possession of Franciscans of the Third Order, named "Glagolitians" (глагољаши, glagoljaši).[5] During the same period, to the monastery immigrated Orthodox population led by vladika Stefanović and other fifteen priests.[27] Some claim that the supposed Orthodox monks who fled founded Gomirje monastery in Gorski kotar, leaving Krka monastery abandoned for a long time until it was rebuilt in around 1787 by archimandrite Nikador Bogunović.[5][3] But, according to Mate Marčinko, such a claim also seems a forgery and contradiction, as no Serb Orthodox monk lived there hence could flee to Zadar and elsewhere, and Serb Orthodox people and clergy who migrated to then Ottoman occupied lands did it due to their collaboration with the Ottoman service.[5] In 1660 the monastery was partly renovated.[28] Since then, especially between 18th and 20th century, the monastery experienced extensive rebuilding which shaped most of its current visual appearance.[29]
From the 1960s the monastery was a place of annual gathering by local Serbs and Croats, but in August 1989, after the Gazimestan speech, arrived many from Serbia promoting Serbian national claims, later followed by formation of SAO Krajina and Croatian War of Independence.[30] After Operation Storm in 1995 the monastery was looted, but not significantly, as it was protected by the Croatian authorities (police), abandoned, and the seminary shut down and relocated to Divčibare and, later, Foča. The monks returned in 1999,[5] and the seminary reopened in 2001.[11]
Architectural features
a fresco of the monasteryIconostasis of the monastery
The belltower of this monastery was built in the Romanesque style.[5][2] Other monastery buildings from the 18th–19th century, the church, and the belfry are situated around a rectangular cloister with arcades.[3]
The complex also includes a chapel of Saint Sava built in the 19th century, under the tutelage of the Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Dalmatia Stefan Knežević, as well as a new building of the seminary and an additional dormitory building. The monastery has its archives and a library with a variety of ancient books and valuable items from the 14th to the 20th century, a collection of icons from the 15th and 18th century,[31]silverware, embroideries and else, but a good part of it was moved in the 1990s to Serbia.[32]
^ abc"Krka". Enciklopedija likovnih umjetnosti (Encyclopedia of Fine Arts) (in Serbo-Croatian). Vol. 3. Zagreb: FNRJ. 1964. p. 251. Krka (Krovac), manastir, između Knina i Šibenika, Hrvatska, sa crkvom posvećenom sv. arhanđelu Mihailu. Prvi put se pominje 1350. po narodnom pređanju, osnovala ga je Jelena, udovica kneza Mladena III Šubića, sestra cara Dušana. I crkva i zgrade za stanovanje bile su više puta pregrađivane. U poslednje vreme crkva je imala oblik vizant. građevine s kubetom, a zvonik je podignut u romaničkom stilu. U manastirskoj riznici se čuvalo nekoliko ikona i umetničko-zanatlijskih predmeta iz XVII-XVIII. v., a u biblioteci Paterik (1346) i knjige iz XVI i XVII v.
^ abcdefghMarčinko, Mate (19 August 1999). "Pravoslavni manastir sv. Arhanđela Mihaila na rijeci Krki sagrađen je na temeljima katoličkoga samostana"(PDF). Vjesnik. Zagreb. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2005-05-20. ...»stari manastir Svetog Arhangela Mihaila davne 1345. godine izgradila Jelena Šubić, sestra srpskog cara Dušana, udata za hrvatskog plemenitaša Mladena Šubića, gospodara Skradina i Bribira.«; Priča »tihoga ali susretljivoga oca Dositeja« lančani je tvornički proizvod Srpske pravoslavne crkve, koja takvim i sličnim pričama nastoji uvjeriti lakovjernike i neupućenike, da je SPC u hrvatskim zemljama bila nazočna prije dolaska osmanlijskih Turaka. Te i takve krivotvorine Srpske pravoslavne crkve razotkrio sam u svojoj raspravi »Novi velikosrpski memorandum nazvan Deklaracija«, koja je u nastavcima objavljena u glasilu Politički zatvorenik od srpnja/kolovoza 1997. (br.64/65.) do svibnja 1999. (br. 86.)
^ abJurić, Ante (2004). Šišak, Marinko (ed.). Gradovi, utvrde i sakralni spomenici uz Krku i Čikolu [Cities, fortresses and sacral monuments along the river Krka and Čikola]. Skradin: Matica hrvatska. p. 100. ISBN953-98705-3-4. Zaključimo: manastir Krka osnovan je 1577. godine, vjerojatno »na mjestu gdje je, moguće, bilo ranijih oblika kultnog života«, na što upućuju i same katakombe ispod crkve i manastira.
^ ab"Manastir Krka". eparhija-dalmatinska.hr. Eparchy of Dalmatia. Ovaj drevni manastir Krku podigla je srpska princeza Jelena, sestra cara Dušana, udata za hrvatskog kneza Mladena II Šubića, posvetivši ga sv. arhanđelu Mihailu. Bilo je to 1350. godine.
^""Manastir Krka" je još jedan mit s kojima su opsjednuti srpski povjesničari, političari i vjerski velikodostojnici" ["Krka Monastery" is another myth with which Serbian historians, politicians and religious dignitaries are obsessed]. Slobodna Dalmacija. 31 August 2015. Milaš u "Pravoslavnoj Dalmaciji" navodi kako se nazočnost pravoslavlja u Dalmaciji proteže u apostolsko doba, tvrdi kako su Srbi naselili Dalmaciju već u četvrtom stoljeću, prije dolaska Hrvata i kako je Dalmacija bila etnički srpska pokrajina do IX. ili čak XI. stoljeća kad su hrvatski vladari "Srbima nametnuli katolicizam i hrvatstvo". Nastavlja tezom kako su Srbi ponovno naselili Dalmaciju u XIII. stoljeću, te da seoba Vlaha u XV. stoljeću predstavlja novi val dolaska Srba na područje Hrvatskog kraljevstva, kao i da je Dalmacija u doba ratova s Osmanlijama od Cetine do Zrmanje bila naseljena isključivo Srbima. Niz povjesničara tijekom XIX., ali i kroz čitavo XX. stoljeće su ga demantirali predbacujući mu nedostatak izvora za iznesene tvrdnje. - Sve što je Milaš naveo o naseljavanju Srba u Dalmaciju u četvrtom, trinaestom i četrnaestom stoljeću ustaljena su gledišta srpske nacionalne mitologije koja je u drugoj polovici XIX. stoljeća našla mjesto u srpskoj politici. Stoga "Pravoslavnu Dalmaciju" treba gledati manje s historiografskog stajališta, a više sa stajališta politike Srpske stranke u razdoblju od 1880. do 1905. jer je Milaš na 600 stranica izložio ideologiziranu sliku povijesti srpske dijaspore u Dalmaciji... ukazuje dr. Tihomir Rajčić, povjesničar koji je veći dio svog znanstvenog rada posvetio istraživanju razvoja srpske politike u 19. stoljeću u Dalmaciji, te napominje kako je samostan Krka u tom smislu neobično važan, budući je upravo tu bilo središte okupljanja onih koji su od 1873. do 1880. stvarali Srpsku stranku u Dalmaciji.
^Čolović 2006, p. 59:Манастир Крка биле везане бројне недоумице отклоњене оног тренутка када је радека обзнанио да се у доба на које се односи уклесана година натписи нису писали арапским бројкама него словима.189 Додатни разлог сумњи лежи у томе што је, очито накнадно, мање правоугаоно поље на самом рубу натписа избрушено и по њему је исписана та цифра. Клесан је у неправилним редовима на обичној каменој плочи: + ОБНОВН СН БЕДѣень н гостинних гН ПРОТОПОЛЬ ЛЯЗО ЛАЗАР КЕВНА Б Дя ГЯ ПРОСТИ ПРИ при нгамена монсѣх вь лѣто 1402.190
^Sonja Martinović, Željko Miletić, Dobrila Zvonarek (2017). Dobrila Zvonarek (ed.). Krka u oku istraživača: rijeka u sedam priča [Krka in the explorer's eyes: river in seven stories] (in Croatian and English). Zagreb: National and University Library in Zagreb, Public Institution of Krka National Park. p. 78. ISBN9789535001652. The Monastery of Krka was founded in 1577 and is dedicated to St. Michael. Today's Seminary of Three Holy Hierarchs was founded in 1966.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
