The Ozren Monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery dedicated to Saint Nicholas and located 6 kilometres from the town of Petrovo in northern Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the spiritual centre of the area of Mount Ozren. It was probably founded in the second half of the 16th century, during the office of Serbian Patriarch Makarije Sokolović, who was granted permission from the sultan of the Ottoman Empire to renovate and build churches and monasteries. Folk tradition, formed in the 18th century, has it that the Ozren Monastery was founded by King Dragutin, a member of the Serbian Nemanjić dynasty, who ruled north-eastern Bosnia from 1284 to 1316.
The frescoes in the monastery's church were painted in the early 17th century. After the Great Turkish War (1683–1699), the monastery fell into disrepair. The renovation of the church began in 1842, after it was allowed by Ottoman authorities. The bell tower outside the church was built in 1872. The church was also refurbished in 1920 and 1996. Among its icons is a Pietà painted in the 17th century by Emmanuel Lambardos, a painter of the Cretan School.
References:
Trenčín Castle is relatively large renovated castle, towering on a steep limestone cliff directly above the city of Trenčín. It is a dominant feature not only of Trenčín, but also of the entire Považie region. The castle is a national monument.
History of the castle cliff dates back to the Roman Empire, what is proved by the inscription on the castle cliff proclaiming the victory of Roman legion against Germans in the year 179.
Today’s castle was probably built on the hill-fort. The first proven building on the hill was the Great Moravian rotunda from the 9th century and later there was a stone residential tower, which served to protect the Kingdom of Hungary and the western border. In the late 13th century the castle became a property of Palatine Matúš Csák, who became Mr. of Váh and Tatras.
Matúš Csák of Trenčín built a tower, still known as Matthew’s, which is a dominant determinant of the whole building.