Cultural site: THE CHURCH OD ST. NIKOLA IN NIKOLJAC

History

It is not known for sure when the church dedicated to St. Nikola in Nikoljac was built. It is believed that it was founded as an endowment of King Milutin at the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century. Research has shown several construction phases, and based on coins found inside the tomb walls,

it is assumed that the foundations of the church date from the period 1370-1390. After the arrival of the Turks, the role of the spiritual and educational center of this region was taken over by the Church of St. Nicholas. During the 16th and 17th centuries, a famous copying school operated in the Nikoljac monastery, whose monks left behind a rich library. It also houses valuable writings from other monasteries devastated during Turkish rule. Around the church, a square developed in the 15th century, a place where buying and selling took place in the Middle Ages, from which the entire settlement of Nikoljac later developed. The first mention of Nikolj-pazar is in the book of income and indebtedness of the Dubrovnik merchant Zivan Pripcinovic from 1456-1458. It is mentioned in Dubrovnik writings and a few years later in connection with the trade in "human goods", which revived after the arrival of the Turks. The establishment of Turkish rule led to a revival of trade.

Cultural site details

Church of St. Nikola, which is mentioned in written sources of the 16th and 17th centuries as a monastery with a rich copying activity, is located in the city cemetery in Nikoljac in the immediate vicinity of Bijelo Polje. The Church of St. Nicholas is a three-nave basilica with an octagonal dome, with three windows, a semicircular apse with an accentuated middle nave and a dome. All ships have special roofs. According to folklore, the church was overgrown with weeds three times, left without a roof, and then the frescoes in the side naves were destroyed.2 On the east side there is a spacious semicircular apse, while on the west side there was an open wooden porch. In addition to the main west door, the church has a side one located on the north side. It is built of hewn stone, arranged in regular horizontal rows, but plastered on the outside. The church is believed to have been painted in the 1970s. All the floor surfaces of the church are paved, square, with slabs

of various dimensions arranged in irregular rows. They are quite uneven, but they are fitted by carving without connecting joints. The layer also contains marly green stone from which the existing floor was built. In the entire area of ​​the church, all the way to the altar partition, the burial of the deceased was performed, at a relatively the same level, with an average depth of 0.95 to 1.10 m. The research revealed, technically recorded and photographed 51 grave units. In the layer of earth under the floor and in the earth that represents the filling of the graves, 100 silver and copper coins, fragments of ceramic vessels, many glass chandeliers, fragments of glass chandeliers and parts of church furniture were found. The most numerous are the finds of coins, and the time of their minting is somewhat determined by the time of the founding and life of this important religious and cultural center. 22 silver dinars were found in the grave with a masonry tomb construction, of which 14 belonged to Vuk Brankovic and 8 to Prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic (1372-1389) or his son Stefan Lazarevic (1380-1427).

During the second half of 2009, research of the church was conducted, architectural and photo documentation was done, as well as relevant data available to institutions in Montenegro. Several construction phases have been ascertained at the church, about which there is no written historical data. Architectural drawings and fresco drawings were made for documentary purposes.4 Comprehensive archeological research of the interior of the church and conservation measures on the floor of the nave, the narthex of the church and marble candlesticks, conducted in 2010.5 Today, the church library is famous for 86 manuscripts and more than 80 printed books. The manuscripts date from the end of the 13th to the 19th century, the most famous of which is the Four Gospels from the end of the 13th century written on parchment. Among the printed books are about fifteen from our oldest printing house, Bozidar and Vicenc Vukovic. One of the most interesting frescoes unique in Orthodox wall painting is located on the west wall on the inside and depicts the afterlife according to folk belief. The interior of the church, decorated with frescoes from the second half of the 16th century, has been preserved almost completely.