It is supposed that monks, having emigrated from the east before the invasion of Turks, started settling the area of Sićevačka Klisura in the middle of the 15th century, just like the mountains of Mojsinje. This influx of monks, mainly from Greece and Bulgaria, but also from the Mount Athos, was felt in the East Morava District of the state of Milica and Stephan Lazaravić. The activities of monks became more intense in the surroundings of Niš, as well, reflected in ever-greater number of monasteries. The name of the Monastery of St. Paraskeve in the Sićevačka Klisura Gorge is added "Iverica", implying that it was established by the monks from the Georgian Monastery of Ivirion from the Mount Athos.

The Sićevačka Klisura Gorge remained aside of main roads, and the life went on and on in spiritual peace, breathing in it through the Nišava River and its tributaries falling from steep rocks full of unreachable hillside caves. Many had come here in the pursuit of spiritual heights, yet some had hidden in its inaccessible ravines trying to escape from the Turks. This important aspect of the gorge, although somehow forgotten, is still witnessed by numerous monasteries, churches, and sites of former monasteries and churches. Many of them are now in ruins, while some have survived as toponyms. Placed in hidden and almost mythical environs, they had inspired the local population who veiled them with mystery and attributed many legends to them on the wings of their imagination.

The picturesque Sićevačka Klisura Gorge hides important pieces of the medieval past of Niš and Niš Region among its crags. The mountains Stara Planina and Svrljiške Planine embraced the Nišava River by their sheer cliffs nearing each other so much that even the arrogant Romans stopped having encountered them and turned their way towards Constantinople over the plateau of Ploča, calling it "the ranges of the world". During the hard times under the Turkish occupation, monasteries took important roles in the life of the Serbian people. The efforts to preserve the spiritual and national being of Serbs resulted in creating many monastic colonies away from the roads, These colonies may be called "minor mounts of Athos", and the most famous among them are Fruška Gora, Mlado Nagoričane, Jašunj Monasteries and Mojsinje. The Sićevačka Klisura Gorge should be added to this group, as it represents one among the Serbian monk communities.

The evidence of their activities may be found in the monasteries of Mother of God, Presentation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple on the right bank of Nišava, St. Paraskeve of Iverion in Ostrovica Village, St. Nicholas in Prosek Village and Monastery of Assumption in the foothill of Gradac; in the churches of St. Nicholas in Manastir Village, St. Elias in Sićevo Village, Sts. Peter and Paul in Ostrovica Village, St. Nicholas in Čukljenik Village; as well as on the sites of the former churches on Kulina Hill, Archangel Gabriel below Ostrovica, St. Nicholas in Crnče Village, Sts. Peter and Paul on Višegrad .

The material culture in the Gorge may be traced from the prehistoric times, through Rome and Byzantium, to the post-Byzantine period. It continues even later, in the restoration of old and erection of new churches in the 19th century. These are: St. Nicholas in Gornji Prosek from 1838, the Chapel of Holy Trinity in Prosek from 1919, St. Elias in Sićevo before 1865, Sts. Apostles Peter and Paul in Ostrovica, restored in 1937, the Chapel of St. Elias in Kunovica, the Monastery of St. Paraskeve of Iverion restored in 1898.

Having all this in mind, we ought to regard the Sićevačka Klisura Gorge as a Serbian monks' resort and cultural center which united the educational and religious needs of local inhabitants under the Turkish suppression and in which the monuments now abide in their authentic natural environment inseparable from the general cultural inheritance.