kovilj was mentioned for the first in the munich serbian psalter from the 14th century. it was mentioned as having a "joint properties" with the privina glava monastery, which indicates that kovilj was originally a metochion of privina glava. later sources mention the "old wooden church", which was painted with frescoes in 1651. during the wars between the austria and ottoman empire in the second half of the 17th century, the ottomans demolished the monastery and burned the church on four occasions from 1686 to 1697. after the treaty of karlowitz in 1699, the surviving monks restored the old church, with the help from the other monks and people which settled in the area from the other parts of hungary, while the monastery was renovated in 1705-1707.