A few kilometers northwest of Natalinci, in the hamlet of Pavlovac, stands The Log Church dedicated to St. Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena. Surrounding the church are numerous tombstones, some placed right against its foundations on the eastern and southern sides. This area was once an old village cemetery that was gradually abandoned. To the west of the church, a wooden bell tower was built in the second half of the 19th century.
The exact date of the church's construction is unknown, but it was most likely built in the 1820s. Icons from the Pavlovac church are preserved in the newer church in Natalinci. It is known that these icons were transferred to the Pavlovac church in 1827 from the old Cathedral Church of St. Archangels in Belgrade when it was demolished, suggesting that the log church had already been built by that time. On the ceiling of the porch, names of the master builders—’Dimitrije, Marko, Stojadin, Stanojlo…’—are inscribed in red and black paint, though without a construction date. An extension was added in 1842, as indicated by an inscription on the beam of the porch ceiling.
THE LOG CHURCH WITH SHINGLE ROOF
IN PAVLOVAC
The church is a single-nave structure in the shape of a ship, with a polygonal eastern apse. It is 17 meters long and 5 meters wide. It stands on shallow foundations made of rough-hewn stone. The walls are constructed from horizontally stacked oak logs, grooved at the ends and reinforced with vertical posts. This wall construction differs from other log churches, which is understandable given that the logs of the Pavlovac church were hewn with an adze and coated with mud and whitewashed on both the interior and exterior.
The Log Church with a Shingle Roof in Pavlovac was designated as an immovable cultural heritage – cultural monument, by the Decision of the Institute for Scientific Study of Cultural Monuments in Belgrade, No. 684/48, dated May 7, 1948
The roof of this church is not as high and steep as those of other Log Churches, but it is covered with wooden shingles arranged in eight rows. However, a distinctive feature of this roof is that its western part is not vaulted into a dome but remains flat, while the eastern part is vaulted like that of all log churches.
The church consists of three sections: the narthex, the central part, and the altar area. The floor is made of square-format brick, while the ceiling is crafted from profiled beech beams with a trough-shaped vault. Another valuable architectural detail is the partition that separates the narthex from the central part of the church, which is finely profiled and crafted. The western doors of the church are particularly decorated with nailed, profiled moldings, giving them a highly decorative appearance. Other elements in the church are also richly ornamented, such as the horns, the cupboard, the latch on the northern door, and more.
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