MONASTÈRE SAINTE-PETKA

Founded in 2006, this Serbian Orthodox monastery (Manastir Svete Petke/Манастир Свете Петке) stuns with its catholicon featuring five Russian-style golden bulbous spires. Located in the recent district of Pet Jezera ("five lakes"), it is dedicated to St. Parasceva of the Balkans, an 11th-century Eastern ascetic who substituted locally for Petka, an ancient deity of the South Slavs. In the complex, an enormous building serves as a retreat house for the religious of the region. Richly decorated, it is nicknamed the "little Versailles"(mali Versaj) by the inhabitants.