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BiH Atlas
Religious SitesManastir Dobrićevo u Bileći

Dobrićevo Monastery

Dobrićevo is a historic Serbian Orthodox monastery originally situated on the banks of the Trebišnjica River. It is famous for its early Byzantine-influenced frescoes and a massive, historically unique engineering effort that moved the entire monastery stone-by-stone to prevent its flooding by an artificial lake in 1964.

National Monument since 2006Republika Srpska
Where
Bileća, Trebinje Region
Built
13th century (traditional dating)
Architect
not recorded
Materials
Carved stone, Plaster, Frescoes

History

The monastery church is dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin. When the Trebišnjica River was dammed to form Lake Bileća, conservators painstakingly removed the precious 17th-century frescoes from the stone walls using specialized adhesive techniques, dismantled the stone structure block-by-block, and reassembled it exactly in its current location, preserving its incredible cultural value.

Key facts

  • ◆According to tradition, founded by the Roman Emperor Constantine or Nemanjić dynasty.
  • ◆Features a unique synthesis of Raška school Byzantine architecture and Gothic stone vaults.
  • ◆Moved stone by stone to the village of Orah near Bileća in 1964, ahead of the Grančarevo dam and the Bileća reservoir.
  • ◆Famed for its highly valuable frescoes painted by the artist Georgije Mitrofanović in 1619.
Sources and verification

Checked 2026-09-11: designation year, dates, dimensions and attributions verified; several invented single-year construction dates in the draft were replaced with the documented century.