Based on the legend preserved in an old file, Rakovac was founded in the late 15th century by Raka Milošević, great chamberlain of Despot Jovan Branković. The monastery was named after him. The monastery church of Rakovac was probably built around 1533. Numerous written records suggest that the monastery was repeatedly destroyed, abandoned, then rebuilt. In World War II the monastery suffered greatly. The bell tower was mined and destroyed down to the height of the first floor of the chapel, the church interior was completely demolished, a richly carved iconostasis burned. Monastery dormitory buildings suffered biggest devastations, whose restoration was only partially  performed to date on the north side. During 1958 - 59. the Provincial Institute for Protection of Cultural Monuments reconstructed the church building, which  regained appearance from the time of its occurrence. It should be noted that a new transcript of Dušan's Code was made in Rakovac in 1700, and in 1714. a written manuscript known Rakovački srbljak. The treasury of the monastery Rakovac kept many things, like a sacred host tray from 1609, the omophorion embroidered with silk in 1664, a wooden coffin decorated with nacre in which the right hand of st. Procopius was kept, a copper engraving from 1741 with a picture of the former monastery, the work of Thomas Mesmer, green velvet felon from 1749, and others.