In the place Gostovic, not far from Zavidovici, archeological excavations have been carried out for some time on the site of the Monastery of St. Panteleimon “Udrim”, which is more than 400 years old.
There are not many written traces of the monastery which is located in the immediate vicinity of Kamenica near Zavidovići, and according to written traces it was first mentioned in 1604, it has been left to the ravages of time for more than 300 years, and last year investigative works began to restore its splendor and enrich this locality with religious tourism, Klix.ba news portal reports.
In an interview with Klix.ba, the archpriest and administrator of the “Udrim” monastery, Zoran Zivkovic, said that last year they started the first phase of the renovation, which referred to the interior of the monastery, and that this year they discovered traces of the residence where the monks lived and prayed in the monastery.
“It is a building 23 meters long and five meters wide, and traces of stoves, dishes and water pipes were found, which do not differ in appearance from the pipes from Roman times. This is a really significant discovery, and with the completion of the second phase, the goal we have to find a monastery cemetery as part of the third one, because if they lived here, it is certain that they were buried next to the monastery, “Zivkovic explained.
The works on the monastery are being carried out by companies from Belgrade and Banja Luka with the approval of the Federal Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Institute for the Protection of National Monuments, as well as with the help of the Metropolitanate of Dabro-Bosnia. Zivkovic explained that it is important to emphasize religious tourism in this locality, which, along with nature and the Tajan Nature Park, can certainly offer visitors much more.
