Church of the Lomnica Monastery viewed in the direction of apse
The Lomnica Monastery (
Dragutin Nemanjić, and it was he who built this monastery.[1][2] The region of Donji Birač contains many medieval necropoleis with the characteristic stećak tombstones and other archaeological artifacts.[1]
Lomnica was founded around 1570, after the
Metropolitan of Dabar-Bosna Visarion visited Lovnica in 1693, which was also recorded on a wall.[1][2]
Fresco in the Lomnica church
The final stages and aftermath of the Great Turkish War (1683–1699) were detrimental to many monasteries in Bosnia, but Lomnica came out of it without significant damages. However, its monastic community left it and never returned. In 1705, it was repurposed as a parish church serving surrounding villages. During the 18th century it was often visited by monks, priests, and other people from Bosnia, Herzegovina, central Serbia, Kosovo, and Montenegro. Many of the visitors wrote inscriptions on the walls and other surfaces inside the church, recording their names and dates of visits. This practice continued into the 19th century, and the latest such inscription was written by a monk from Visoki Dečani in 1852.[1][2] A rather long 18th-century inscription ends with the statement, "It is wrong to write here, but I saw it from [someone] older, so I erred too." There was a house by the church, in which the visitors could rest. Church services were held at Lomnica only on religious holidays.[1]
The region of Donji Birač had a committee consisting of priests and prominent villagers, whose duties included the care about the Lomnica church. It was guarded by an armed man, paid by the committee; nevertheless, it was robbed in 1880.
conservation-restoration of the frescoes and the iconostasis began in 1952. The dormitory was rebuilt, and a monastic community was re-established at Lomnica in 1979. The monastery was designated as a National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005.[2]
