CHUPRIYA (sometimes written Tyupriya; Croatian Cu prya), the capital of the Morava department of Serbia, Yugosla via. The old name was Korea Margi. (Pop., 1931, 8,235.) The town is on the railway from Belgrade to Nish, and on the Morava, which is navigable up to this point by small sailing vessels. A light railway runs to Senje, which has lignite and other collieries that were, however, very seriously damaged in the World War. Some of the finest Serbian cattle are bred in the neighbouring lowlands, and the town has a large sugar beet factory and a considerable trade in plums and farm produce. Government nursery for mulberry trees has been started, and it is hoped by the free distribution of silkworm eggs to revive sericulture, which flourished in the middle ages but died down under Turkish rule. There is a Government stud farm in the district. In the World War Chupriya was the central ammunition depot of the Serbian army. Cloth is woven, and there are glass works at Paracin, 5m. S.; while Jagodina, 8m. W. by N., is an important market town. Both are connected with Chupriya by rail and road.
The 14th-century Ravanitsa monastery, with a ruined fort and an old church (their walls and frescoes pitted by Turkish bullets) is about 7m. distant. Legend says that here the Serbian tsar Lazar (1374-89) was visited by an angel who bade him choose between an earthly and a heavenly crown. In accordance with his choice Lazar fell fighting at the battle of Kosovo. He was buried at Ravanitsa, but his body was afterwards removed. His crucifix is treasured among the monastic archives, which also contain a charter signed by Peter the Great of Russia (1672-1725). Man asia (Manasiya), the still more celebrated foundation of Stephen, the son and successor of Lazar, lies 12m. N. of Ravanitsa. Built in a cleft among the hills, this monastery is enclosed in a fortress, whose square towers, and curtain without loopholes or battle ments, remain largely intact. Within the curtain stand the mo nastic buildings, a large garden and a cruciform chapel, with many curious old stone carvings, half hidden beneath whitewash. Numerous gifts from the Russian court, such as gospels lettered in gold and silver relief, and jewelled crucifixes, are preserved on the spot, but the valuable library was removed in the 15th century to the monastery of Hilendar on Mt. Athos.