Svetlana Janković, 2022
From the Monastery of the Mother of God of Gradac to the Church of the Ascension of the Lord – the Shrine of Čačak
In: Religion in the global crisis of late modernity, Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade; Institute of National Significance for the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade 2022
Ed: Goran Bašić
On its turbulent historical path from the monastery of the Mother of God of Gradac to the Church of the Ascension, the church in Čačak is the only one of the four royal monasteries (Studenica, Đurđevi Stupovi, and Hilandar) that was a mosque three times (in the 16th, 18th and 19th centuries). It was built in the 12th century and since the endowment, the church belonged to the royal house (prefect Stracimir, a brother of Stefan Nemanja). The structure has two bell towers, with this being the symbol of the ruler’s endowment in medieval Serbia of the Nemanjić dynasty. Since its construction, the church has been changing its architectural appearance, and its reconstructions were at times better, and sometimes less skillful. The Saracen arches in the domed space were built in the period when this edifice was a mosque, and have remained to this very day. The church was destroyed, devastated, damaged in bombings and wars, reconstructed several times, yet it has never stopped carrying out its mission. The Church of the Ascension of the Lord is not only a precious cultural and historical monument and a great shrine for Orthodox Christians, but also a treasury in which many relics and church treasures have been stored (relics of King Dragutin, bells from 1454, icon of the Virgin Odigitria from the end of the 16th century and ancient manuscripts). The church in Čačak has always been the center of the gathering of the Orthodox believers in this area, the
center of the city’s worship, and a source of inspiration and spiritual strengthening in times of troubles and crises. It still carries out its mission
of being a parish church and gathering Orthodox people into the community.
Keywords: royal monasteries, endowment, relics, icon, manuscripts, parish church
PRILOG
Religion in the global crisis of late modernity – Book of Abstract