ARANĐELOVAC

aradjelovac, crkva brezovaca

On the southern slopes of Venčac, there is the Brezovac Monastery with a church dedicated to St. Archangel Michael. The church is a single-nave building with a semi-vaulted roof, constructed from broken stone and lime mortar. It consists of an altar area, a nave, and a vestibule, with total dimensions of 19.3m x 6.4m. The altar apse is semicircular both externally and internally. The facade is plastered and whitewashed. There are no traces of frescoes inside the church. The church originally had an exonartex, which was demolished in 2008/09. On the southern wall, there are doors leading to the western part of the nave. There is another entrance to the church on the northern wall of the nave. The doorposts of the southern and northern doors of the nave are made of stone. The eastern doorpost of the northern door is decorated with plastic ornamentation in the shape of a cross, commonly found on gravestones, beneath which is the engraved year 1824. Therefore, it is not excluded that this might be a gravestone that was secondarily used for this purpose.

 

In the explanation of the decision, based on tradition and the inscription in the lunette above the southern doors, the church, without prior archaeological research, is dated to the 15th century. According to the aforementioned inscription, the church is linked to the name of Despot Đurađ Branković. The inscription mentions that it was built in 1444 as a monastic church dedicated to St. Archangel Michael and was restored in 1795. The church was thoroughly reconstructed in 1836, during the time of Miloš Obrenović, as evidenced by the second part of the inscription in the lunette above the southern doors.

THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY ARCHANGELS
IN BREZOVAC

Since that time of restoration, the church has served as a parish church until the year 2000, when the church, along with a newly built konak (residence) on its northeastern side, was declared a monastery.

 

Archaeological research conducted in 1985, 2000, 2005, 2007, and 2008, during which the entire interior of the church and part of the surrounding area were investigated, did not uncover any findings indicating a date prior to the 17th century.

The Church of the Holy Archangels in Brezovac was declared an immovable cultural heritage – a cultural monument, by the Decision of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute Kragujevac,
number 94/1, dated March 24, 1969.

Bibliography:

 

Radić, Borivoje, and Predrag Pajkić. Znamenitosti Šumadije. Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture & Jefimija, Kragujevac, 2007, pp. 144–147.

 

Bošković, Đurđe. Arheološki spomenici i nalazišta u Srbiji: Centralna Srbija II. Beograd, 1956, p. 164.

Milivojević, Vladan. Šumadijski zapisi IV–V: Venčac – prilozi za stariju istoriju. Aranđelovac, 2011, pp. 129–182.

 

Kaličanin-Krstić, Marija. Arheološka iskopavanja crkve Svetog arhanđela Mihaila u Brezovcu – od 1985. do 2008. godine.
Šumadijski zapisi VI, Narodni muzej u Aranđelovcu, Aranđelovac, 2012, pp. 105–122.

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