Ras is known in modern Serbian historiography as Stari Ras. It was one of the first capitals of the medieval Serbian state of Raška, and the most important one for a long period of time. It's located in today's region of Raška. The city was right in the centre of the early medieval state. Stari Ras was founded between 8th and 9th centuries and Ras got deserted in the 13 th century.
This medieval town is 11 km west of Novi Pazar and it stands on a hill known as Gradina. There are three archaeological sites within the old Ras complex: the fortress on Gradina, the cave together with the monastery of the Archangel Michael beneath the fortification and the settlement of Pazarište ( formerly Trgovište ). The Ras fortress is preserved in a ruined state as the oldest example of a military architecture from medieval Raška. Around Ras there is also a group of medieval monasteries and churches that in 1979 were entered into the UNESCO World Heritage List under the common name of Stari Ras and Sopoćani.






