Queen Helen significantly contributed to the cultural rise of the medieval Serbian state. She had a library at her court and encouraged transcription of books in monasteries. She founded the first girls' school in medieval Serbia. One of Helen's palaces was in the town of Brnjak (sometimes called "Brnjaci") in the territory of modern Kosovo. She also possessed the town of Jeleč at Rogozna mountain. As did other members of the Nemanjić dynasty, she built monasteries and donated to churches. She built the Gradac Monastery, where she was buried, the Church of St. Nicholas in Skadar where she died, and renewed the Monastery of Saints Sergius and Bacchus. She had repaired and rebuilt many churches and monasteries around Lake Skadar that had been devastated by the Mongol invasion of 1242.