Vlach Church

The Vlach Church (Serbian: Влашка cрква, romanized: Vlaška crkva) is a Serbian Orthodox church built in 1450 in the village of Donji Kraj[1], on the Cetinje field, at that time part of Zeta (present-day Montenegro).

Vlach Church
Влашка Црква
Religion
AffiliationSerbian Orthodox Church
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusMetropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral
Location
MunicipalityCetinje
StateMontenegro
Architecture
FounderVlachs who guarded the cattle of Ivan Crnojević
Completedc. 1450
Specifications
Direction of façadeWest
Materials
  • "plot"
  • "suvomeđa"
  • "klačena"
  • stone
Interior

Stećci

The church was built around 1450 on the site of a Bogomil necropolis that included around 150 stećci (monumental, ornate tombstones).[2] Only two of these have been preserved to this day. Originally facing each other, they were recently reoriented to be side by side.[3] According to some legends, recorded for the first time by Ljubomir Nenadović,[4] the 17th-century military commander Bajo Pivljanin and his wife are buried beneath them.[5] According to another legend and documentary evidence, the stećci mark the graves of the founders of the church — Ivan Borojević, born in Stari Vlah, and his wife Jelica.[6]

Origin of the name

One theroy states that the church received its name from the Vlachs who guarded the cattle of Ivan Crnojević and built the church around 1450.[7][8]

There are several additional theories about the origin of the term Vlach in the name of the church. Some authors believe that the term in the name of this church is used as an exonym.[2] Other theories connect the name of the church to the fact that the terms such as "Vlach's church" or "Vlach's rituals" were indicators of membership in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Orthodoxy[9] or to demonym Vlach (according to them this church was allegedly built by settlers from Stari Vlah in modern Serbia).[10]

Building materials

The church was initially made of sticks (Serbian: плот, romanized: plot), switches and mud and was rebuilt three times. At first, it was redone in stones without mortar (Serbian: сувомеђа, romanized: suvomeđa), then in stones with lime mortar (Serbian: клачена, romanized: klačena) and finally, in 1864, the church received its current form.[11][12] A guard rail around the church was built in 1897 using barrels of Ottoman rifles[13] captured in 1858 during the Battle of Grahovac.[14]

References
  1. Simo Popović; Jovan R. Bojović; Novica Rakočević (1995). Memoari. CID. p. 41. Retrieved 26 April 2013. "Влашка црква" коју је сада захватила варош била је прије рата још далеко од Цетиња на голој пољани. Она управо и не припада Цетињу него Доњем крају још од старога времена, када није ни било Цетиња.
  2. Ratko Đurović (1969). Crnom Gorom. "Binoza," Grafički zavod Hrvatske. p. 97. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  3. Batričević, Đuro; Cvetko Pavlović (10 September 2004). "Legende o Vlaškoj crkvi". Pobjeda. Retrieved 27 April 2013. Prema Erdeljanovićevoj zabiljeci, dva sačuvana nadgrobna kamena bila su najprije okrenuta uzglavljem jedan prema drugom, pa su „u najnovije vrijeme" stavljeni naporedo.
  4. Batričević, Đuro; Cvetko Pavlović (10 September 2004). "Legende o Vlaškoj crkvi". Pobjeda. Retrieved 27 April 2013. Ljubomir Nenadović bio je prvi koji je zapisao da su pomenuti nadgrobni kamenovi pripadali istaknutom hajdučkom harambaši Baju Nikoliću Pivljaninu i njegovoj supruzi.
  5. Draško Šćekić (1987). Putujući Crnom Gorom. NIO "UR". p. 102. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  6. Batričević, Đuro; Cvetko Pavlović (10 September 2004). "Legende o Vlaškoj crkvi". Pobjeda. Retrieved 27 April 2013. Naime, prema legendi, sačuvani nadgrobni spomenici pripadali su Ivanu Borojeviću i njegovoj ženi Jelici.
  7. Narodno stvaralaštvo: Folklor. Nauchno delo. 1962. p. 17. Retrieved 26 April 2013. Познато је да су чобани Ивана Црнојевића по Цетињском пољу и кроз Ловћен чували стоку. Они су саградили цркву.
  8. Istorijski zapisi: organ Istoriskog instituta i Društva istoričara SR Crne Gore. Istorijski institut u Titogradu. 1948. p. 246. Retrieved 26 April 2013. Влашка црква је подигнута од пастира Ивана Црнојевића
  9. Zlatko Kudelić (2007). Marčanska biskupija: Habsburgovci, pravoslavlje i crkvena unija u Hrvatsko-slavonskoj vojnoj krajini (1611. - 1755). Hrvatski Inst. za Povijest. p. 131. ISBN 978-953-6324-62-0. Retrieved 26 April 2013. pojmovi "vlaška crkva" ili "vlaški ili grčki obred" označavali su pripadnost Pravoslavnoj crkvi i pravoslavlju.
  10. Јован Ердељановић (1926). Стара Црна Гора: етничка прошлост и формирање црногорских племена. Слово љубве. p. 299. Retrieved 26 April 2013. ...што су они били по- реклом из Старог Влаха, ова њихова црквица добије назив Влашка Црква .... Да су ту цркву заиста градили ови досељеници из Старога Влаха
  11. Batričević, Đuro; Cvetko Pavlović (10 September 2004). "Legende o Vlaškoj crkvi". Pobjeda. Retrieved 27 April 2013. Ona je prvobitno bila opletena prućem i oblijepljena blatom, a bila je sagrađena od „plota" i „kočeva". Vlaška crkva je tri puta prepravljana: prvo kao suvomeđa, zatim od „klačnog zida", da bi najzad, 1864. godine, dobila svoj današnji izgled.
  12. Ilustrovani zvanični almanah-šematizam Zetske banovine. Državna štamparija. 1931. p. 251. Retrieved 27 April 2013. Влашка Црква, сазидана како данас изгледа 1864 на темепьима старе цркве из 1450
  13. Michael Spring (20 February 1987). Great Europ Itinerar. Doubleday. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-385-23336-1. Retrieved 26 April 2013. The railings around the fifteenth-century Vlah Church (Vlaska crkva) were made in 1897 from barrels of 1,550 captured Turkish rifles.
  14. Glasnik Srpskog istorijsko-kulturnog društva "Njegoš". Njegoš. 1979. p. 125. Retrieved 26 April 2013. Одмах је ту и Влашка црква, са чувеном оградом од пушчаних цијеви, пушака заробљених у граховској бици

42.3909°N 18.9244°E / 42.3909; 18.9244

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