Social:Church of St John the Baptist, Samodreža
|building_name=The Church of St John the Baptist in Samodreža
Црква светог Јована Претече у Самодрежи
|image=Samodreža, Church of Saint Lazar.jpg
|caption=The Church of St John the Baptist
|location=Samodreža, Serbia (Autonomous Province Kosovo and Metohija)[a][note 1]
|religious_affiliation=Serbian Orthodox
|district=
|consecration_year=1300-1400 / 1932
}}
The Church of St John the Baptist (Serbian: Црква Светог Јована Претече, Crkva Svetog Jovana Preteče; Albanian: Lokalitet Parahistorik dhe Mesjetë) in Samodreža, six kilometers east of Vučitrn, is dedicated to the Beheading of St John the Baptist.
History
According to tradition (included in the Tronoša Chronicle), before the famous Battle of Kosovo (1389), the troops of Prince Lazar gathered and held a holy communion there.[1] Tradition further holds that Miloš Obilić, the assassin of the sultan, was buried in the church after the battle.[citation needed]
The Church was desecrated and destroyed many times throughout its long history. In year of 1932 the church was rebuilt under the joint project of famous Serbian architects Petar Popović and Aleksandar Deroko.[citation needed] It was made of white marble hewn stone with purified forms and clear lines, with almost complete absence of decorations. During the works on the renovation of the church, nearby were found skeletons which were presumed to belong to the victims of the Battle of Kosovo.[citation needed]
At the end of June 1999, after the withdrawal of Yugoslav security forces and the arrival of French KFOR forces in the area, the church in Samodreža was vandalized and burned by Albanians.[2] The church was again under attack in 2004, also by Kosovar Albanians.[2] The church's roof was destroyed, over the apse there is a large hole, glass windows and doors are broken, the bell tower and the wall around the church were destroyed (only the bell has been preserved and it is located in Zvečan). The interior has been turned into a rubbish dump and a toilet for people and livestock.[3]
See also
- Destroyed Serbian heritage in Kosovo
Notes
- ↑ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state by 98 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 112 UN member states recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 14 later withdrew their recognition.
References
- ↑ Matić, Svetozar (1972). Novi ogledi o našem narodnom epu. Matica srpska. p. 72. https://books.google.com/books?id=971iAAAAMAAJ.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Raspeto Kosovo: Unistene i oskrnavljene svetinje (17)". http://www.rastko.rs/kosovo/raspeto/crkve/cr17.html.
- ↑ Танјуг. "Црква у Самодрежи поново претворена у јавни тоалет". http://www.politika.rs/scc/clanak/180377/Crkva-u-Samodrezi-ponovo-pretvorena-u-javni-toalet.
External links
- Cultural monuments in Serbia: The Church of St John the Baptist (web-page of Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts)
- Picture of the Church in Samodreža
- Crkvu u kojoj se pričestio knez Lazar Albanci pretvorili u tolaet i deponiju
- The list of destroyed and desecrated churches in Kosovo and Metohija June-October 1999 (Списак уништених и оскрнављених цркава на Косову и Метохији јун-октобар 1999)
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