of Central European Turkey. 129 



preservation : he liimself is buried there. The Servians have 

 done their utmost to prevent the destruction of this relic ; but 

 the monastery seems at present to be deeply in debt, and the 

 Igumen was ill, partly from grief. It is astonisliing that this 

 church should have so long resisted the destructive spirit of the 

 Turks ; especially when in the neighbourhood of their mortal 

 enemies the people of Montenegro. It is built of a coarse white 

 marble, and inside, it is also ornamented with red marble : it is 

 not large, but very clean and elegant ; and, being surrounded 

 with green meadows and forests, it has a fine appearance when 

 viewed from a distance. The form is that of a Greek cross ; it 

 is also built in the Byzantine style, with two doors, one lateral, 

 one central ; and these, as well as the projecting windows, are 

 ornamented with sculptures or has reliefs. Lions, and dx*agons, 

 together with eagles with extended wings, are particularly to 

 be remarked above the lateral door. There is only one short 

 massive spire, and the church is less ornamented than that of 

 Kruschevatz. The interior, like that of all other Greek churches, 

 is divided into a portico, the church with its columns, and the 

 altai' or sanctuary. The sarcophagus containing the body of 

 the holy Stephen is also exhibited. 



Among the other churches of monasteries, I may mention the 

 small chapel of the Vratschefnitza monastery among the hills 

 of Rudnik in Servia, — a monument in a more simple style, but 

 certainly as old as, if not older, than the others. The Turks 

 have not at all destroyed it, as it is situated in a secluded and 

 woody valley. The windows are in the form of ogives, with 

 small projecting semicircular ornaments on the walls. The 

 spire is very low, and there is a small open portico before the 

 door. We observed similar churches, also very old, but still 

 less ornamented, at Lisito on the Lake of Castoria, and at the 

 monastery of the Gemini, south of Karatova in Macedonia. On 

 a hill near Novibazar are the ruins of the old monastery of the 

 columns of St George (Stupani Sv. Djordje), which was de- 

 stroyed by the Turks. 



The largest Grecian monastery in all Turkeyis situated about 

 the centre of the Despotodagh or Rilo-dagh. Formerly there 

 were 5000 monks in these chains of hiUs, and this monastery 

 still contains 150 Bulgarian monks. 



VOL. XXIV. NO. XLVII. — JANUARY 1838. I 



