Tavna Monastery

The Tavna Monastery (Serbian: Манастир Тавна) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery located south of the city of Bijeljina in north-eastern Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The date of its foundation is unknown. The chronicles of monasteries Tronosha and Pech say it was built by Dragutin's sons Vladislav i Urosic. Stefan Dragutin was the King of Serbia from 1276 to 1282 and king of Srem from 1282 to 1316. The present church of monastery Tavna, is built in the same place as the original one. The Tavna Monastery is older than the other monasteries in the region such as Ozrena, Liplja, Vozuce and Gostovica. Tavna was damaged in the first years of Turkish rule, but was restored by the people. This was not the only time the monastery was damaged. It was damaged many times during the Turkish period and also during World War Two. Between 1941 and 1945 Tavna was bombed by the Ustase. On one of the gravestones it says "Zdravko Jovacnovic Killed 1943 by the Ustasa Blue Division protecting and defending the monastery". After World War Two Tavna was rebuilt.