The story of Visoki Dečani

Dečani is by far the largest medieval church in the Balkans, and its walls hold the largest preserved collection of Byzantine painting. Construction began in 1327 under the Serbian King Stefan Dečanski, whose founding charter of 1330 survives to this day. When he died in 1331 he was buried in the unfinished church, and his son Stefan Dušan carried the work on.

The main architect was a Franciscan friar, Vito of Kotor, and the building blends Orthodox traditions with Romanesque influences, a meeting of East and West. Building took eight years; the paintings took fifteen, by artists from Serbia, Byzantium and the Adriatic coast. The king's carved wooden sarcophagus was finished in 1340. In the 16th century the painter-monk Longin spent two decades here.

During the Kosovo War the monks sheltered refugees of all ethnicities. The monastery is part of the UNESCO World Heritage site Medieval Monuments in Kosovo and is often called one of Europe's most endangered heritage sites.