Church of the Assumption of Our Lady (Novi Sad)
The Dormition Church ( Serbian : Црква Успења Пресвете Богородице, Crkva Uspenja Presvete Bogorodice) is a Serbian Orthodox church in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad , the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina .
The parish church , dedicated to the solemnity of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God , is the seat of two parishes in the Detelinara district and one in the Sajlovo district , in the Novi Sad dean's office of the Bačka eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The Dormition Church in Novi Sad is a cultural monument of outstanding importance for the state of Serbia. It is considered the most visited Orthodox church in the city.
Surname
In everyday Serbian usage the church is called Uspenska crkva for short . In German usage, the names Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Mother of God, Mary, or Church of the Assumption of Mary occur.
location
The church is located in the center of Novi Sad, in the historical old town , on Uspenska ulica , near the intersection with Šafarikova ulica . The Serbian National Theater is right next to the church . Also not far away is the Freedom Square with the Novi Sad Town Hall and the Catholic Church of the Names of the Virgin Mary . The Slovak Evangelical Church and the Russian Greek Catholic Church of St. Apostles Peter and Paul were not far from the church.
history
The current church was built on the site of a smaller and older church . This first Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was a modest wooden structure built in 1731, at the time of Metropolitan Vićentije Jovanović and Archbishop of Bačka Visarion Pavlović . This church was built by poor newcomers who moved to Novi Sad. Eventually the Orthodox population increased so much that the church was too small for believers. At that time the church was still in the west of the city , in the civil part of Novi Sad. After a few decades the old church was demolished.
In 1765 the construction of today's, nicer and above all larger Dormition Church began. The bishop of Bačka Mojsije Putnik ordered the foundation of the church to be built using the best materials, such as burnt bricks , lime and sand . The bishop personally selected the three masters: the bricklayer Bulfa , the carpenter Lang and the locksmith Krisinger , who were to build the church.
Due to its masterful elaboration of artistic processes, equipment, inventory and design both indoors and outdoors, it is considered a cultural masterpiece in northern Serbia and has long been the most important church in the wider area. Bells were built into the church. The beauty of the carvings on the iconostasis, the Mother of God throne, the bishop's throne and the church furniture were created by the local carpenter and master carver Marko Gavrilović and his sons. The church was completed in 1776.
The church was and is considered one of the most beautiful churches in Novi Sad and the whole of Vojvodina . In particular, its baroque church tower attracted the attention of passers-by. The interior of the church is clad in pink marble in the altar area . On the day of church consecration ( Slava ) in 1774, the whole parish of Novi Sad celebrated in the church yard, even farmers from the area came to the church consecration. The services ( liturgies ) are held in Church Slavonic and Serbian .
The restoration work was carried out from 1990 to 1993. The restoration of the cross in the churchyard was carried out in 2005 by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. Restoration and conservation work was carried out by experts from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Novi Sad. Until the late 1960s, the church had a rectory built in 1907 and a churchyard. Important pastors were buried in the graves in the church courtyard. The rectory and churchyard were demolished when the Serbian National Theater was built.
architecture
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Main portal and facades
The church is a baroque building with an elongated nave , a semicircular apse and an altar with rectangular choirs. The vaulted ceiling is built like a cylinder. The west facade, with the dominating high church tower, decorated with pilasters and angular capitals, is one of the most important baroque buildings in Serbia. The longitudinal facade of the church is also decorated with the same decoration made of pilasters.
The harmony in the outside of the church was achieved by building horizontal areas in steps. The main portal protrudes from the west facade, as it is built with pilasters and columns on the walls of the church tower. In front of the striking church tower with the imposing main portal, the longitudinal facades with their simple lines have been erected as compensation. This results in a harmonious whole.
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Around the church there are some graves for noble and prominent patrons of the church. There is also a grave tablet of the Imperial military captain Jovan Janković von Brinja with his family coat of arms . The plaque was attached to the church wall in 1843 at the request of his sister the baroness Eufemija Jović .
Iconostasis
The high iconostasis , adorned with wall decorations, is the work of the Arsenije brothers , Gavrilo and Aksentije Marković . Later, the priest of the church Jovan Joci Jovanović also painted the frescoes. The paintings and frescoes were painted by the Macedonian painter Janko Halkozović and his son Dimitrije Halkozović . They were helped by the painters Andrej Šaltist and Jovan Popović, as well as the painter Vasilije Ostojić, who came from Novi Sad .
These masters of the Baroque style created one of the most beautiful works of art of the 18th century in the Baroque style in all of Serbia in the Dormition Church in Novi Sad . In addition, the iconostasis is one of the most developed and richly carved altar partition walls of the Baroque era in Serbia. The gold-plated ornaments and icons are of great value in terms of art work and craftsmanship. The style of painting of the icons on the southern and northern doors of the iconostasis and the icons on the archpriest's throne suggest that either Dimitrije Bratoglić from Zemun or Mihajlo Jeftić from Sremski Karlovci painted the icons.
Web links
- Page about the church on the side of the city of Novi Sad (Serbian)
- Page about the church on Spomenici kulture u Srbiji (Serbian)
Coordinates: 45 ° 15 ′ 19.9 ″ N , 19 ° 50 ′ 32.1 ″ E