A church older than the state
St Peter's is a rotunda — a circular building whose dome is hidden inside an octagonal tower, a form inherited from late antique mausolea. Its exact date is still debated: the core is usually placed in the 9th or 10th century, while some researchers read traces of far older phases reaching back to late antiquity.
The church was the seat of the Bishopric of Ras and the ecclesiastical centre of the region until the late 12th century. Its frescoes survive in layers from the 10th, 12th and 13th centuries.
Where the state turned
Stefan Nemanja, founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, was baptised in this church before 1163. In 1196 it hosted the assembly at which he abdicated in favour of his son Stefan — the moment power in the Serbian state first passed peacefully and by settled rule.
The princely grave
Excavations around the church showed the mound had been a cult site for centuries before it. Finds include Greek pottery of the 7th and 6th centuries BC and a 5th-century BC princely grave containing gold and silver jewellery, masks, beads and Attic vessels.
