Sokolica monastery and its marble Virgin

Sokolica is a small monastery with one big treasure. The Ministry of Culture’s record spends a few lines on the church and many more on an early 14th-century marble sculpture that wasn’t made here. That alone is reason enough for me to make the climb.

On the slopes of Sokolica

The Ministry places the monastery on the slopes of Sokolica hill, at Boletin in Zvečan municipality, close to Mitrovica. The Eparchy of Raška-Prizren adds that it rises above the Ibar valley. OpenStreetMap puts it at 42.9273, 20.8625, about a hundred metres from the Isa Boletini complex and roughly four kilometres from Mitrovica’s bridge.

The church is dedicated to the Virgin. The Ministry dates it to between the 14th and 15th centuries and notes that it is attributed to Musa, son-in-law of Tsar Lazar, said to have built it in thanks for a healing spring nearby. It also admits that almost nothing is known of the church’s history. The other buildings are modern; the new konak dates from the 1980s, and conservation work was carried out in 1995 and 1996.

The marble Virgin

The reason to come is a marble sculpture of the Virgin and Child, 106 by 67.5 centimetres and dated between 1312 and 1316. According to the Ministry it was brought from Banjska monastery to keep it safe, and the same record says its cult has long been respected by local people whatever their faith.

The Austrian Academy of Sciences’ Byzantine database, the Tabula Imperii Byzantini, adds the detail that makes it special to me. It’s a Romanesque high relief, a rare style in this region’s sculpture, it was once painted, and it was carved for the lunette over Banjska church’s inner doorway. It turned up here in 1920, which is why it’s known as the Sokolica Virgin.

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Convent and icon workshop

In the early 20th century a school ran here and the church served as a parish church. Since 1956 it has been a convent, and the Ministry now describes it as an important centre for icon and fresco painting. The Eparchy has hosted painters’ colonies at Sokolica and each October celebrates the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God; in 2025 it fell on 14 October.

A shared Special Zone

The 2008 Law 03/L-039 protects it twice over. Article 7.1 h lists it among the monasteries with a Special Zone, and article 7.2 joins it to the Isa Boletini memorial complex in a single zone. For any new activity of the kind the law restricts, the municipality must seek the agreement of both the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Isa Boletini museum administration. The OSCE sums it up as a joint zone for territorial reasons.

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Visiting

The sources I’ve read publish no opening times or rules. I’d go by day, dressed modestly, and ask the nuns whether the sculpture can be seen. Before setting off I’d read the FCDO page. Its latest update says the north is calmer than before 2024 but still delicate, and Zvečan is on its list of places where protests can flare up. For another convent, Devič is in Skënderaj, and for castles, Zvečan fortress is about 3 km away.

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