THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE MONASTERY KRKA

The monastery Krka complex consists of the monastery church, dinning-room, refectories, the new building of the Seminary of the Holy Three Hieararchs and subsidiary buildings.

Throughout its centuries-long history, the monastery church of St. Archangel Michael has undergone considerable changes and adaptation. Essentially, the church is divided into two parts: the eastern and western. The eastern part consists of the central part of the church above which is a dome and a big altar space. The western part is quite narrow, it is longer than the eastern one and aslant towards the southern side compared to the church's main foundation. This crooked central part is most probably the result of the architectural adaptation of the church walls.

The north-eastern part of the church partly leans on a space in the rock – on an early Christian catacomb. The south-western part of the church partly leans on an old medieval wall, most probably a remnant of the original church. Therefore, judging by the preserved remnants, today's monastery church is the third one on that church site, which clearly shows that this is an extremely important worship place.

Essentially, the church of the monastery Krka shows certain similarity to cross-shaped churches with domes that appeared in Serbian architecture at the end of the Middle Ages.

THE MONASTERY REFECTORIES

The monastery refectories surround the church of St. Archangel Michael on three sides. Most of the monastery refectories were built at the time of archimandrite Nikanor Bogunović, at the end of the XVIII century. On the door-post of the entrance to the monastery dinning-room stands a built-in stone tablet with the year 1782. At the entrance to the monastery library also exsists a stone tablet with the engraved year of 1789 – the year when that part of the refectories was completed.

In 1884, the time of Atanasije Čurlić, the upper floors of the refectories were also renovated. In 1891 several monastery cells were built due to the efforts of abbot Neofit Njeguš.
The Monastery Krka was once more renovated in 1951 at the time of abbot Nikodim Opačić, and the refectories were restored in the period between 1988 to 1990, at the time of archimandrite Benedikt Ananić.

THE ICONOSTASIS

The iconostasis of the monastery Krka was made on the model of tall and developed iconostases, the so-called "temples". The icons on the throne are decorated with silver chains of Venetian style from 1765. The upper part of the iconostasis, above the throne icons, comprises four series of 38 icons and they are the work of Russian painters. The central part of the iconostasis is a big icon of the Holy Mother of God with a gold-plated chain. The iconostasis ends with a big cross, together with an icon of Apostle Peter on the left, and of Apostle Paul on the right side. These two icons are the earliest pieces of sacral art in the monastery Krka (XIV/XV century).