[5][6] Manasija complex was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1979, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia, and the monastery entered the UNESCO Tentative List Process in 2010.

The Manasija Monastery, also known as Resava, was built two kilometres northwest from the town of Despotovac, in the picturesque ravine.

Having found the most suitable and the best site to build the home and having said a prayer, he approached the task and laid the foundations in the name of the Holy Trinity, universal Divinity…" (Constantine the Philosopher, 1433[9])Monastery founder Despot Stefan Lazarević built Manasija to serve as his mausoleum.

[10] The refectory was built parallel to the church,[9] and is one of the largest known structures in medieval Serbia, which was completely covered in frescoes.

History records that Despot Stefan invested great effort in finding the "most honoured and skillful workers, the most experienced icon painters".

The facade decoration includes low pilasters, engaged colonettes on the conches and apses, as well as a frieze of small blind arcades on brackets running below the roof cornice.

[14] The lower register of the north choir depicts warrior-saints in armour with swords and lances, as an authentic representation of contemporaneous soldiers.

An archaeological team from the United Kingdom led by Marin Brmbolić,[15] located the remains of a person whom some claim to be Despot Stefan Lazarević in the southwestern part of the monastery floor.

[citation needed] The Serbian Orthodox Church has already officially proclaimed the remains in the Koporin Monastery, a smaller legacy of his, as those of Despot Stefan.