Manastir Tvrdoš

Founded in the ^13th century, this complex (Manastir Tvrdoš/Манастир Тврдош) is the most important Serbian Orthodox monastery in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Located on the banks of the Trebišnjica, 6 km west of Trebinje, it owes its name to its reputation as an impregnable "hard place" (tvrdoš). It is famous for its relics and vineyards (150 ha). Founded during the reign of Serbian king Stefan Milutin (1282-1321), it was destroyed by the Venetians in 1664. Rebuilt in 1928 and renovated in 1999, its architecture is pseudo-medieval. The entrance is guarded by a tower and a fortified building with a slate roof. You then reach the catholicon (main church), topped by an oval dome mounted on a drum. The annex buildings (living quarters, treasury, workshops, etc.) are elegantly arranged in an arc to the north of the catholicon. Inside, glass panels reveal the remains of a ^4th-century Byzantine church. The frescoes, completed in 2000, are inspired by the ^14th-century Serbian Golden Age. On the heights, we notice the portrait of the "neo-martyr" Milica Rakić, a 3-year-old child killed in Belgrade during the Nato strikes of 1999. And among the relics, the most precious is the hand of Saint Hélène d'Anjou (1237-1314), a French convert to Orthodoxy and mother of King Milutin. Finally, in the cellars (to the right of the catholicon), you'll be able to taste rather robust wines made from žilavka or liliorila grapes for the whites and vranac (60% of production) or cabernet sauvignon for the reds.