In the central part of the cemetery in Rača, nestled among the tombstones, stands the Log Church, one of the most beautiful structures of its kind built in the early 19th century in Serbia. According to an inscription in the porch, to the left of the entrance door, it was erected in 1827. The church is set on foundations of roughly cut stone and constructed from horizontally placed, hand-hewn oak logs. On the eastern side, the logs are shaped to form a semicircular altar apse.
On the western side, the church features a porch with four profiled oak columns with capitals, between which a low railing of profiled planks is installed. The porch floor is paved with square-format bricks, and the ceiling is lined with profiled planks, painted along the edges. A striking feature is the tall and steep roof, covered with massive oak shingles arranged in eight rows. The lower part of the roof ends with an eave, decorated with a carved wooden pattern resembling a lace design. The eave is lined with profiled planks, painted red along the edges, like the carved decoration.
A particularly noteworthy detail is the richly ornamented western door, featuring carved panels adorned with floral motifs painted in green, yellow, and red. Inside, the church is divided into two sections: the nave and the altar. The church has two small windows carved into the logs, with characteristic wooden lattices known as ‘toplije.
THE LOG CHURCH AT THE CEMETERY
IN KRAGUJEVAČKA RAČA
Bibliography:
Borivoje Radić, Predrag Pajkić, Znamenitosti Šumadije, Zavod za zaštitu spomenika kulture i Jefimija, Kragujevac, 2007, pp. 140–143.
Dobroslav St. Pavlović, Arheološki spomenici i nalazišta u Srbiji, II Centralna Srbija, Beograd, 1956, p. 224.
The Log Church at the Cemetery in Kragujevačka Rača was designated as an immovable cultural heritage – cultural monument, by the Decision of the Institute for the Protection and Scientific Study of Cultural Monuments of the People's Republic of Serbia, No. 1642/49, dated September 19, 1949. It was categorized as a cultural heritage of great importance by the Decision of the Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Serbia (‘Official Gazette of the SRS’, No. 14, dated April 7, 1979).
Copyright Cogent 2016. All Rights Reserved – Cultural Heritage Preservation Institute Kragujevac