Memorial Church in Lazarevac

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The iconic Temple of St. Demetrios is a church and ossuary in Lazarevac , Serbia , built in honor of the fallen soldiers of the Serbian and Austro-Hungarian armies in the Battle of the Kolubara . It is considered a remarkable example of Serbian-Russian church architecture.

Appearance and architecture

The idea of ​​a memorial church with an ossuary grew out of the search for a place for the remains of soldiers who died in the Battle of Kolubara on the battlefields around Lazarevac in 1914. In 1921, under the direction of the priest Čedomir M. Popović, a "Committee for the Construction of the Memorial Church with Ossuary in Lazarevac" was founded. After its dissolution in 1937, the "Association for the Construction of the Memorial Church with Ossuary in Lazarevac" was founded under the direction of the priest Borivoje Đorđević.

In the architectural tradition of the 20th century, which developed in the area of ​​today's Lazarevac district, the longitudinal buildings with a prominent bell tower on the western front dominate.

The spirit of historicism is clearly expressed in this building. Church with ossuary are inspired by the Vavedenje monastery in the Senjak district of Belgrade .

The temple was built between 1938 and 1941 according to the project of the emigrated Russian architect Ivan Afanasjevič Rik. Its floor plan is in the form of an advanced Greek cross. The main dome rises above the intersection of the cross arms, while four smaller domes stand above the arms. A dome rises above the western facade and covers the bell tower. Since the design did not include a choir apse, the church has a markedly elongated shape. Not enough light penetrates into the interior of the nave through two narrow monoforias on the west wall, so that the main light source is on the opposite side, but the narthex is underexposed at certain times of the day. In contrast, the nave is well lit thanks to a series of dome windows and window openings in the shape of a clover leaf and two monoforias on the side walls.

meaning

Temple of Saint Demetrios

The crypt of the church houses the mortal remains of Serbian and enemy fallen from the Battle of the Kolubara at the end of 1914 on about 37 m³. It was renovated between 1961 and 1964 under the direction of the architect D. St. Pavlović and divided into three areas. The first area is in the western, the second in the middle and the third in the eastern part of the crypt. The main entrance to the crypt is on the north wall of the western area.

Chiseled on panels are basic information about the Battle of the Kolubara and important details, as well as powerful visual representations of the theaters of war, the arrangement of the Serbian and enemy forces at certain stages of the battle, the view of breakthroughs and the expulsion of the enemy. Framed relief panels from the hand of the sculptor Mihailo Tomić illustrate details of the battle. The east side of the wall bears an inscription. Silhouettes of the Serbian soldiers and peasants in folk costumes were incorporated into the bas-relief. The wall compartments above the sarcophagus serving for burial are refined with a decorative cladding made of red marble and each with side 21 black marble slabs with information about the respective regiment: On the north wall over the 1st Army of the Commander-in-Chief General Živojin Mišić , on the east wall over the II. Army of the commander Field Marshal Stepa Stepanović and on the south wall over the III. Army of the commander General Pavle Jurišić Šturm and the Užice military commander General Vukoman Aračić. There is a soldier sculpture in the niche of the eastern area.

In 1966 the building was inscribed on the list of cultural monuments of “exceptional importance”.

The iconostasis was painted in 1940 by the emigrated Russian painter Pimen Sofronov. It was planned that he would also paint the church with icons, but that was prevented by the outbreak of World War II . The church wasn't painted until the 1990s and 2000s.

Built at the end of the interwar period, the building complex in Lazarevac is a stylistically unique work. Next to the Church of St. George in Oplenac the most important monument of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia .

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Coordinates: 44 ° 22 ′ 55.9 ″  N , 20 ° 15 ′ 45.7 ″  E