SAINT ARCHDEACON STEFAN MONASTERY - Sombor

Monastery of the Holy Archdeacon Stefan is the northernmost monastery of Serbian Ortodox Church. The monastery complex consists of lodgings with a chapel, a belfry and the church. Stevan Konjović, a wealthy landowner from Sombor asked for his land to be donated to the Ortodox Church upon his death with, in 1909. with a simple demand: the Church has to use his land for building a monastery on its grounds. Construction of the monastery church, designed by Svetozar Krotin, began in 1928. and lasted until 1933. Due to financial struggles during the construction, the painting of the church interior was done in 1938. when Dr Nenad Bugarski donated the much needed money. The monastery was built in the Serbian-Byzantine style, rarely seen in Vojvodina province. Colorful paintings of the Crucifixion and Christ’s descent to Had were painted in frescoed style by Vladimir Predojević. The iconostasis is wooden, painted by a Russian painter, Boris Seljanko. John the Baptist, the winged, the Virgin, the Announciation, Christ, the archdeacon and martyr Saint Stephen are painted at the arch of the royal door and in the lunette above the royal doors a painting of the Last Supper is portrayed. The area around the church is surrounded by partisan and cemetery of the Red Army where dead soldiers of Batina’s battle were buried: members of the People's Liberation Army, Red Army soldiers and Bulgarian.