The Holy Archangels monastery is located in the gorge of the river Bistrica, some 2,5 km from the city of Prizren. The monastery was founded by Emperor Dušan, who endowed it with numerous gifts and estates. The katholikon of the monastery served as the mausoleum of the emperor, whose tomb was discovered in the southwestern part of the nave. It was built in the period between 1343 and 1352. The church was a monumental structure, constructed as a cross-in-square with a large twelve-sided central dome and most probably four ancillary domes. On the eastern side, it had a tripartite sanctuary and a shallow narthex on the western side. Besides the main church, the monastery also had a smaller church dedicated to Saint Nicholas, a refectory, dormitories, fortification walls, and a fortress above the monastery, Višegrad, that was given to the monastery by the emperor.

Around the middle of the 15th century, upon the arrival of the Ottoman Turks, the monastery suffered devastation when the imperial tomb was looted, and it was almost entirely in ruins, as revealed by contemporary written sources. It was briefly revived but fell into disuse before the middle of the 16th century. In 1615, Sofi Sinan Pasha used the stone from the remnants of the Holy Archangels to build his mosque in Prizren.

The first organized archeological excavations at the site of the monastery were carried out in 1927 under the leadership of Radoslav Grujić. The expedition team discovered the tomb with the remains of Emperor Dušan, covered by a white marble slab with a recumbent effigy of the emperor in high relief in the style of western medieval gisants. Other parts of decoration were also brought to light at that time, such as the decorative marble pavement made in the technique of incrustation, fragments of fresco painting, and other pieces of stone sculpture. Almost all of the findings were taken to the museum in Skopje, that was nearest at the time, where most of them are still kept. From 1961 to 1965, additional excavations and conservation works were performed under the guidance of Slobodan Nenadović. From the early 1990s, the initiative to restore the monastery had begun, and the monastic life was revived in the Holy Archangels in 1998. Unfortunately, in 1999 the monastery was under attacks, and in 2004, it was burned down during the March riots. Owing to the efforts of archimandrite Mihailo and his brethren, the monastery is still active today.