Draft:Raca School


Rača School (Serbian Cyrillic: Рачанска школа[1][2]) was formed in Rača Monastery, in the second half of the 16th century, after the Turkish forced closure and eventual disappearance of the first Serbian printing houses in Goražde, Rujno, Mileševo, and Gračanica.[3][4]Hence the Rača School of scriptoria filled the gap of the printing houses. Rača School was located about a few kilometers (40-minute walk) along the Rača River, near Vrelo Lađevac[5] .

Foundation

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It was founded as a replacement for the Resavska škola. Among the most famous Račan scribes are: Kiprijan, Jerotej, Hristifor, Maksim[6], Lavrentije[7], Simeon, Prohor, Grigorije, Čirjak, Teodor and Gavril Stefanović Venclović. In the scriptorium of St. Luke, copied, at the request of Patriarch Arsenije III Čarnojević, the lives of Despot Maksim Branković and Prince Lazar with the famous Jefimija praise.

When the monastery was destroyed during the Great Turkish War (Vienna War) in 1688, the monks of Rača left Rača and went to Szentendre and the Fruška Gora monasteries. Gavrilo Stefanović Venclović grew up in the copying workshop of Kiprijan Račanin in Szentendre.

Copying and decoration

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In addition to copying, the school drew, painted, and decorated illuminated manuscripts.

Their works represent timeless spiritual and artistic values.

So far, about 40 records and 15 liturgical books from this period have been discovered. Rača manuscripts are now in museums throughout Europe.[8]

The largest number of books copied in Rača and the Skete of St. George were in the possession of the Beočin Monastery, which the people of Rača restored at the end of the 17th century. Some of these manuscripts remained in the Fruška Gora monasteries, some are in the possession of the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Patriarchal libraries, the National Library of Serbia, the Library of the Matica Srpska in Novi Sad, and a smaller part of the manuscripts were returned to the parent monastery.

The school in Medieval Serbia ceased operations in 1690, when the monks joined the Great Migration of the Serbs.

Records

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The "Old Serbian Records and Inscriptions", codified by Ljubomir Stojanović, reveal the collective historical memory of the Rača Monastery and its Scriptorium.

After the migration

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After the migration, the work of the Scriptoria continued in Hungary from the late 17th and 19th centuries. The school was restored by Kiprijan Račanin. The name Račanin, monks added to their names as a reminder of their spiritual center, Rača Monastery. The name Račanin evolved and became the mark of the Račanska škola (Rača School).

Rača monk-scribes referred to this place as Banja as early as the 17th century because the water temperature remains at 17 degrees throughout the year.[9]

See more

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References

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  1. ^ "Manastir Raca - PREPISIVACKA RACANSKA SKOLA".
  2. ^ "SECRETS OF THE RAČA MONASTERY: Here's how monks preserved Orthodoxy during the most difficult years of Turkish occupation! (PHOTO) | Serbiantimes.info EN". 14 April 2025.
  3. ^ cite web|title=Rača Copywriting School| url = http://www.uzice.net/raca/prepisiv.htm%7C website = Užice net| accessdate=07. 03. 2017}}
  4. ^ cite web| title = Rača Monastery| url = http://www.tarasmestaj.rs/atrakcije/manastir-raca%7C website = Travel| accessdate = 07 March 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170419110249/http://www.tarasmestaj.rs/atrakcije/manastir-raca%7C archive-date = 19 April 2017| url-status = dead
  5. ^ Belgrado e la Serbia. EDT srl. 24 November 2017. ISBN 978-88-592-3968-0.
  6. ^ Лексикон српског просветитељства. Службени Гласник. 2009. ISBN 978-86-519-0203-4.
  7. ^ Лексикон српског просветитељства. Службени Гласник. 2009. ISBN 978-86-519-0203-4.
  8. ^ History of Bajina Bašta
  9. ^ Užice portal