Church of St. George the Great Martyr (Užice)
The Church of St. Great Martyr George ( Serbian Црква Светог великомученика Георгија Crkva Svetog velikomučenika Georgija ) in Užice is a Serbian Orthodox church in Serbia . The church was built from 1842 to 1844. It is dedicated to the Holy Great Martyr George . The church belongs to the Žiča eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church . On November 20, 2014, the church celebrated its 170th anniversary.
location
The church is located in the center of the western Serbian city of Užice. The church is not far from the bank of the Đetinja , a left tributary of the Western Morava . It is located on Sveti Sava Square and Žička Ulica .
Near the church are the town hall, the court, a city park, the police station, a museum, the hospital, the grammar school, the primary school "Dušan Jerković", the teachers' faculty, the market square and a hotel.
history
Start of construction and completion
Before the construction of St. George's Church, only the small church of St. Luke the Apostle from 1828 stood in the town. On February 6, 1840, the Užice city council passed that a new church should be built and that the company would cost 20,000 groschen. On March 24, 1840, Prince Mihailo Obrenović lent the town the 20,000 groschen with the demand that they be returned in eight years. On May 14th, another 5000 thalers were loaned to build the church. On July 6, 1843, another 500 thalers were loaned from Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević . But he did not want to give more money, since the year before he had already loaned 2000 thalers to complete the church. So the citizens of the town collected the last money themselves. Despite the donations, the citizens of Užice are considered to be the patrons (donors) of St. George's Church.
At the request of wealthy merchants, the poorer population and prominent citizens of the city, the construction of the Church of St. Great Martyr George in the center of the city began in 1842 and lasted until 1844. The builders of the church were the architects Nastas Sefanović and Paun from Kragujevac Antonijević. The new church was built of stronger and better material than the city's earlier churches. The church was completed in two years and consecrated in 1844 by the Bishop of Užice Nikifor (Maksimović). The Georgskirche has a single nave with a semicircular apse , choir and rectangular rooms.
At the time of Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević of Serbia, the Archbishop of Belgrade and Karlovci, as well as the Serbian Metropolitan Petar (Jovanović) and the Bishop of Užice Nikifor (Maksimović), the icons of the iconostasis and the simple frescoes by the famous painters, Dimitrije Posniković and Milija Marković from Karlovac painted.
Of the iconostasis, only the tsar's door and the north door remain, while the south door was destroyed in a fire in 1955. On the choir there are frescoes with images of Serbian saints . On the south wall of the church is an inscription that Posniković and Marković completed the frescoes for the Ascension of Christ in 1851. The town's first public clock was installed on the church tower in 1859.
First World War
The church had three bells, two of which have been preserved. The oldest and for a long time the only church bell was donated to the city of Užice by Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević in 1846 and was cast in the workshop of Stefan Bota from Vršac . In 1910, when the church tower was renewed, two more church bells were added. One of the two new church bells was dismantled by the Austrians in 1916, during the First World War, and probably melted into cannonballs.
In the period between the two world wars, two memorial plaques were placed to the right and left of the main entrance to the church, commemorating the 279 soldiers who died from 1912 to 1918 from Užice and the surrounding villages.
Second World War
The church suffered great damage during World War II . According to the reports of the then priest of the church Radosav Simić, the church was badly hit by German artillery shells during the battle for the city in 1941, which led to severe external and internal damage. Three years later on November 23, 1944, the city and the church were hit hard again in an Allied air raid. As early as 1945 with the end of the war, the greatest war damage was repaired in what was now communist Yugoslavia .
Restoration and great fire from 1955
In 1954 the Church of St. George the Great Martyr was placed under state protection as an important architectural monument. From 1954 to 1956 the church was renovated again and again, especially after the great fire of 1955. On the night of November 29th to November 30th, 1955, a fire broke out in the church that lasted 10 days and caused a stir throughout the country . The fire fell victim to 12 icons on the right-hand side of the iconostasis, all of the wooden furniture and artistically valuable capitals on the pillars in the church interior. The rest of the iconostasis was badly damaged and in need of restoration. In addition, the frescoes were more or less damaged and sooty.
Therefore the parish asked the Institute for Monument Protection in Belgrade for help with the restoration work. The institute took over the management of the restoration and this was carried out by Konstantin Đorđević and Dušan Brajović under the direction of Jaroslav Kratina. In August 1956, the major restoration of the church was completed and the traces of the fire were no longer visible.
Restoration from 1990 to 2009
In 1990 the church got a new copper roof. In 1998 a chapel was built next to the church, which is used to light candles. The churchyard was also embellished and the two church shops for selling icons and candles were enlarged. With the construction of the chapel, the candlesticks were removed from the church, so that the decades-long candle smoke soot more and more soot on the frescoes of the church. The church has also started to be prepared for a major restoration. On February 1, 1999, the renovation of the iconostasis, icons and frescoes began. Miodrag Marković from Valjevo was in charge of the restoration work and he and students from the Academy of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, all born in Užice, carried out the restoration.
While the work on the church was being carried out and donations were collected in order to be able to carry it out further. The then rest of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro ) was bombed by NATO in the Kosovo war . This situation meant that the restoration was wanted to end prematurely, but the restorers kept working and finished the work as best they could.
The work was continued in 2000, the entire iconostasis was renewed, especially the right side of the iconostasis with its 130 components damaged by the fire in 1955. The episcopal and metropolitan throne, the complete frescoes, the ornaments on the entrances and windows and the facade of the church were also renewed. The church also got new windows.
In 2004 the church got underfloor heating and a new marble floor. In 2009 the church facade was repainted in a yellow tone.
swell
- Užice - centar Zlatiborskog okruga. (with description of the church, Serbian)
- Description of the church on www.Uzice.net , (Serbian)
- Article about church history on the website of the Serbian Orthodox Church , (Serbian)
Coordinates: 43 ° 51 ′ 21.2 " N , 19 ° 50 ′ 40.8" E