Following photos are photos from the old Monastery photo album and were taken in the first years of the 20th century by unknown photographer. Most of them show the monastery during the panygiri (monastery celebration) which gathered a lots of local Serb people in pictoresque ethnic dresses. At that time Kosovo was within the Ottoman Empire and the monastery was granted military protection by the regular Turkish army which protected Decani from Albanian gangs and robbers which operated in this area threatening the Christian population. These scenes are obviously taken from the great sabor, gathering on August 28 when the local Serb came to the monastery to celebrate the Feast of the Dormition.
In order to read the text which may illustrate this gallery we suggest the extract from the travelogue of Miss Mary Durham who travelled to Pec and Decani a few years before these photos were taken. LINK

People gathered in the monastery courtyard

People in front of the church

People in the courtyard in front of the church

Monastery brotherhood

People entering the eastern gate

Children with chruch flags ready for procession