[3][4] Established in 1519 in Venice, it was soon relocated to the Serbian Orthodox Church of Saint George in the village of Sopotnica near Goražde,[5] in the Ottoman Sanjak of Herzegovina.

In 1493, Đurađ Crnojević, the ruler of the Principality of Zeta (in present-day Montenegro), sent Hieromonk Makarije to Venice to buy a press and learn the art of printing.

The Ljubavić brothers procured a press and began printing a hieratikon (priest's service book), copies of which had been completed by 1 July 1519 either in Venice or at the Church of Saint George near Goražde.

After Đurađ Ljubavić died in Venice on 2 March 1519, it is unclear whether his brother transported the press to Goražde before or after finishing the work on the hieratikon.

[7] Trade was well developed in Goražde, as the town was built at the junction of three important roads, which connected it with Dubrovnik, Vrhbosna (Sarajevo), and Kosovo.