ANOTHER FOUR MILLION EUROS FOR MANASIJA MONASTERY

BELGRADE, AUGUST 25 /SRNA/ - Serbian Minister of Culture Nikola Selaković and Manasija Monastery Abbot Pavle signed an agreement today under which the Ministry of Culture allocated an additional approximately four million euros to implement the "Protection and Presentation of Manasija Monastery" project.

The funds will be used to renovate the monastery’s dining hall, described as the most monumental in the Serbian Orthodox Church /SOC/ in Serbia, as well as to restore and reconstruct the monastery’s walls and towers and conduct new archaeological investigations at previously unexplored sites.

Selaković stressed that, as part of a three-year program of national importance, the restoration, conservation, and presentation of Manasija Monastery represents one of the largest investments in preserving Serbia’s immovable cultural heritage, the Serbian Ministry of Culture said.

"With the funds that we will allocate next year, the state will have invested a total of 1.046 billion dinars /approximately nine million euros/ in Manasija," Selaković said, adding that this is the largest single amount the state has invested in a cultural heritage site in Serbia over the past several decades.

He noted that, through its investment in the monastery complex, the state wants to be ready for next year, when the 650th anniversary of the birth and the 600th anniversary of the death of Despot Stefan Lazarević will be marked. He was the son of Prince Lazar and Princess Milica, a Serbian despot, a knight of the Order of the Dragon, a builder, and a writer. /