Kosijerevo Monastery

The Kosijerevo Monastery is a Herzegovinian Serbian Orthodox monastery, part of the Eparchy of Budimlja and Nikšić, and located on the right bank of Trebišnjica, in the place after which it is named, in the extreme southwest of Banjani.

History
It was built in the first half of the 14th century. More recently, that is, in 1966, the monastery also changed its location, it was moved to the village of Petrovići, because the village of Kosijerevo was flooded by the water of Lake Bileć. Therefore, the Serbian medieval Kosierevo Monastery still exists today as a temple, but it is a new architectural work. During the time of the Turks, the monastery had the role of not only a spiritual but also a cultural and political center. The monastery played a very important role in the unification of Herzegovina in the fight against the Turks. The relics of Saint Arsenije of Serbia were in this monastery from 1884 to 1914. Later they were transferred to the Ždrebaonik monastery. Currently, the foot of Saint Luke the Apostle is located in the monastery. The monastery church is dedicated to the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and was built in the first half of the 14th century. Sources mention Hegumen Dionysije in 1592, Prohegumen Maksim who came to Paštrovići in 1714, Prohegumen Stefan who in 1775 ordered to the monastery a panagiar made by master Đorđe Kruščević. The Turks destroyed the monastery in 1807, and it was rebuilt by Hadji Dionisije Dobrićevac in 1817. In the First World War, the monastery was partially destroyed again, and in the Second World War, the monastery's Hieromonk Teofan Beatovich was killed by the communists.

In 1964, the woodcarving iconostasis was made by master Urošević from Belgrade, and the church was painted by Naum Andrić. In the monastery there is also a chapel dedicated to Saint Luke the Apostle, which was consecrated in 2004. The monastery chronicle records the gifts of the contributors: Abbot Teodosije Koprivica who presented a silver lamp in 1863, Abbot Teodosije Mišković who presented the Gospel bound in silver in 1860, an Austro-Hungarian officer who presented a bell to the monastery after his healing, Mr. Blagoje Mrkajić from Petrovići who also gifted a bell.

During the Bosnian-Herzegovinian uprising, two assemblies were held in the Kosierevo monastery, in 1875 and 1878.

The restoration of the frescoes in the monastery began in 2018.