Gomionica Monastery, Serbian Orthodox monastery in Kmećani, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Gomionica is a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Kmećani, 42 km west of Banja Luka, set by the upper course of the Gomionica river below the Zmijanje plateau. Its single-nave church of the Presentation of the Virgin has a dome, a semicircular apse and a porch, with reinforcing arches along the walls; a bell tower 16.50 m tall was added on the west side in 1900. The walled complex also contains an old konak, a stone fountain, a cemetery and a collection of icons and old books.
The monastery was first recorded in an Ottoman census of 1540/41 under the name Zalužje, and a 1560 document notes that abbot Andrija had already led it for 24 years, so it existed before 1536. It was damaged in World War II and afterwards became a female monastery. Its church was enlarged with a west bell tower in 1900.
The monastery church is dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin (Vavedenje Bogorodičino). Folk tradition holds that it was founded by Mara "Sultanija", while the earliest surviving item is the monastery typikon of 1599, now kept in the diocesan library at Arad in Romania. The monastery school, built in 1882, was attended by the writer Petar Kočić.
The monastery lies 42 km west of Banja Luka, in Kmećani village below the Zmijanje plateau, beside the upper course of the Gomionica river. The church, old konak, old fountain, old wall and cemetery stand together within the complex. The bell tower on the west side was added in 1900.
The gilded silver cross made in 1640 by Stefan Ivanović Sarajlija of Sombor is now held in a collection of the University of London, not in the monastery. The oldest surviving item kept by the community is a typikon from 1599, today in the diocesan library at Arad in Romania.
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