Church of the Assumption of the Virgin (Zrenjanin)
The St. Mary in the Temple Church ( Serbian : Црква Ваведења Пресвете Богородице, Crkva Vavedenja Presvete Bogorodice just only Vavedenska crkva) in the town of Zrenjanin is a Serbian Orthodox church in the autonomous province of Vojvodina , northern Serbia .
The church is also known as Gradnulička Crkva (Church of Gradnulica, a district of Zrenjanin) and is considered the town's Orthodox pilgrimage center.
It was built between 1777 and 1779 and is dedicated to the solemn festival of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary .
The parish church is the seat of the parishes Zrenjanin V-VIII in the Deanery Zrenjanin of the Banat Eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church and is a cultural monument of great importance.
location
The church is located in the Gradnulica district to the north of the center of Zrenjanin . This forms the oldest part of Zrenjanin. The church is not far from the bank of the Bega , a left tributary of the Tisza (Serbian: Tisa).
It is on Cara Dušana Street, 82а. Manastirska ulica and Takovska ulica are located near the church . The Đura Jakšić elementary school is located opposite the church .
history
According to legends, today's Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built on the foundations of a Serbian Orthodox monastery that stood on the same site either at the end of the 16th century or at the beginning of the 17th century.
The monastery, in which St. Raphael Banatski (Rafailo Banatski) also served and worked miracles, is said to have been named Drenovac and was a branch (Metoh) of the Hilandar monastery on Mount Athos and was destroyed during the Ottoman period.
The Mariä-Tempelgang-Kirche was built from 1777 to 1779. At the time the church was built, Gradnulica was an independent village , which was not yet incorporated into Zrenjanin, then called Bečkerek.
On the south side of the church is the small polygonal brick chapel with a pyramidal roof from the 18th century, which is dedicated to St. Raphael Banatski and which also houses the relics of St. Raphael Banatski, the miracle worker. This was a missionary from the Serbian Orthodox monastery Hilandar, who was venerated as a saint and miracle worker during his lifetime . It stands as the Orthodox symbol of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina .
He is also the only saint from Zrenjanin. Thanks to St. Raphael Banatski, the church has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries . According to tradition, after the death of St. Raphael Banatski, healing water from a spring came from an old elm tree in the churchyard, with which the inhabitants of Zrenjanin healed eye diseases, epidemics and other diseases.
The elm in the churchyard is over 500 years old and is a state-protected natural monument . Around 1980 the elm was badly damaged in a fire. Slowly, however, the tree is recovering.
Current priests of the church are: Sreten Simikić, Branislav Avram, Dimitrije Šljokić, Davor Stojanović and the deacon Predrag Nenin. The oldest parish registers in the church date from 1778.
architecture
The single-nave polygonal church of smaller dimensions, with a spacious altar - apse in the east, flat side choirs and a church tower in the west, was built from bricks in the Baroque - Classicist style.
There are five massive columns in the north and east of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The facade and the wooden doors are embellished with decorative elements such as diamonds and grooves. The facade decorations of the church include vertical pilasters with capitals and horizontal arches.
The high, magnificently decorated church tower , which is attached to the church with four blind niches, with gently curved arches over the shaped gables and with round windows, rises above the west facade. The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is one of the most beautiful churches in Zrenjanin.
Its iconostasis is particularly important. Restoration work on the church was carried out in 1914, 1964-1965, 1971, 1979, 1995 and 2000. In 2004 the interior of the church was painted with new frescoes in the Byzantine style. This happened without the approval of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Zrenjanin.
Iconostasis and icons
The iconostasis is carved from wood and richly decorated with ornaments. The icons on the iconostasis from the years 1816 to 1819 were painted by the Zrenjanin artists Arsenije Arsa Teodorović and Gregorije Ranisavljev.
Teodorović also painted the oldest frescoes in the church. The frescoes and the tsar's door of the iconostasis were renewed by the Zrenjanine artists Stevan Aleksić and Aleksandar Sekulić in the years 1913 to 1914 and 1923.
Stevan Aleksić's own works are the icons in the vault of the church in all three fields, the icon of Jesus Christ in the upper part of the iconostasis, the icon of the crucifixion of Jesus, the icon of St. Dimitri the Great Martyr on the north door of the iconostasis, the icon of St. Great Martyr George on the south door of the iconostasis and the icon of the Annunciation on the Tsar's door of the iconostasis.
The icons are also important: the Virgin Mary with the Child Jesus and the icon Christ on the throne, works by Teodor Popović from 1778. The icon of the Coronation of Mary by Georgije Popović from 1816. And the icons in the chapel of St. Raphael Banatski, works by the icon painter Gojgner from 1868.
gallery
View into the choir interior
View of the thrones of the church
South elevation of the church
The north facade of the church
The Chapel of St. Raphael Banatski
Icons on the elm in the churchyard
View of the west facade and the church tower
swell
- Article about the Church on the Spomenici kulture u Srbiji page , (Serbian)
- Article about the church on the website of the Banat Eparchy , (Serbian)
- Article about the church on the side of the town of Zrenjanin , (Serbian)
Coordinates: 45 ° 23 ′ 28.5 ″ N , 20 ° 23 ′ 32.9 ″ E