Church of St John the Baptist, Samodreža

The Church of St John the Baptist in Samodreža
Црква светог Јована Претече у Самодрежи
The Church of St John the Baptist
Basic information
Location Samodreža, Serbia (Autonomous Province Kosovo and Metohija)[a][note 1]
Affiliation Serbian Orthodox
Year consecrated 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.

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. 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.

At the end of June 1999, after the withdrawal of Yugoslav security forces and the arrival of French KFOR forces in the are, 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

Notes

  1. ↑ 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 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo has received formal recognition as an independent state from 113 out of 193 United Nations member states.

References

  1. ↑ Matić, Svetozar (1972). Novi ogledi o našem narodnom epu. Matica srpska. p. 72.
  2. 1 2 "Raspeto Kosovo: Unistene i oskrnavljene svetinje (17)". www.rastko.rs.
  3. ↑ Танјуг. "Црква у Самодрежи поново претворена у јавни тоалет".

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