Saint John's Monastery is located north from the village of Gornji Matejevac, on a plateau below the Beli Vrh Hill on one and the Temeni Vrh Hill on the other side, between which the Kaludjere Creek cuts its way. The Monastery complex consists of the church dedicated to St. John the Baptist and the large residential house, which was built at the beginning of this century.

The Monastery is mentioned in Turkish registers from 1498, 1516 and 1564, but as an already deserted place. Yet, it was in this Monastery that a Psalter was written in 1587, during the administration of the Niš bishop Georgije. This psalter is now treasured in the Church of Svinica (near Kostajnica in Banija). The note on the book margin illustrates the atmosphere of that time:

The Church of St. John is a single-nave trifoliate building with a small parvis at the west side. It is vaulted by a longitudinal semi-cylindrical vault supported by lateral molded arches propped and reinforced by massive pilasters. The wall between the naos and the parvis contains a huge arched entrance designed as a representative portal, above which there is a two-layered lunette. The entrance to the church is on its western side. The exterior of the church shows the elegant transition from the choir arches to the arches of the apsis. The west facade was plastically adapted according to the model of the nearby Latin Church from the first half of the 11th century. The double cornices of the roof, nicely and expertly profiled, extend around the whole church. The window apertures are just in the expected places.

The church is built one-meter underground. The floor surfaces of the naos and the parvis are paved with carefully cut and neatly arranged stone slabs. A Roman column is used for the holy table.

A LOOK FROM THE SOUTHEAST

Judging by the manner of building, the archaic trefoil shape and the historical circumstances, Saint John's Church was built during the first half of the 11th century and it represents a significant confirmation of the existence of trefoil-shaped churches all over the Balkans. Upper wall areas, as well as the threefold vault typical for Oriental architecture, belong to the great restoration performed at the end of the 16th century. The parvis was also added in that period. Later, during the first half of the 17th century, the church was covered by frescoes. Of that decoration, the only preserved fresco is the composition Imago Pietatis - the picture of dead Christ in the Sepulcher. The object was generally consolidated in 1835, during the time of Metropolitan Kalinik, when the west facade was plastically adapted according to the model of the nearby Latin Church, and when the windows, the portal and the floors of the naos and parvis were made.

IMAGO PIETATIS, beginning of the 17th century

Later on, in 1869, the old frescoes dating from the beginning of the 17th century were covered by new ones, painted by a traveling group of fresco-painters, as the note above the entrance to the naos bears witness to. The iconostasis also belongs to that period. Its 46 icons and the sanctuary door carved with floral ornaments represent a significant creation in our 19th-century art.

SOUTHERN CHOIR, 1869