-

Elena Vasi Petrovi

THE FIRST MAJOR RESTORATION OF THE MONASTERY

OF SAINT NICHOLAS IN KURSUMLIJA
SEAT OF FORMER TOPLICA EPISCOPACY
 -

Elena Vasi Petrovi

THE FIRST MAJOR RESTORATION OF THE MONASTERY

OF SAINT NICHOLAS IN KURSUMLIJA
ISBN 978-86-917367-1-2 SEAT OF FORMER TOPLICA EPISCOPACY
 Contents

5 5 Foreword
6 6 Saint Nicholas Monastery
and Toplica piscopacy
7 K 7 Saint Nicholas Church
XIX XX at the Turn of the XIX and XX century
8 8 The First Major Restoration
10 10 Contemporary Restorations
13 13 Original drawings by architect
Branislav Vulovi
from the Archives of the
Institute for Cultural Heritage Preservation Niš
(1948-1968) (1948-1968)

1. (Figure 1.)
(Cross-shaped pendant), .
(St.Nicholas in Kuršumlija), XII (century)
 Foreword

, Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Serbian dynasty Nemanji and also of
, XII Serbian medieval state, in the XII century, has built two monasteries in to-
, , days Kuršumlija, which in the Middle Ages, probably thanks to those church-
“ ”, es and their “lead roofs”, was named White Churches.
. He is certainly one of the most important Serbian rulers and at the same
, time one of the founders of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which celebrates
. . him as St.Simeon.

Monastery with the church dedicated to St.Nicholas is located on an elevat-

, ed plateau north of the mouth of Banjska and Toplica river, while the mon-
, , , astery of Holy Virgin is located downstream, to the east, closer to where
. Kosanica flows into the Toplica river.

, , According to the biography of Stefan Nemanja, written by Sava Nemanji ,

, . St. Nicholas was the first among the churches, which Nemanja has erected.
1158. 1162. 1168., It was built between 1158 or 1162 and 1168, and during the same period the
. Holy Virgin church was constructed, too.

These two temples and their monasteries are positioned among the most
. important Serbian medieval monuments and accordingly protected by law
and classified as cultural monuments of great importance for the Republic
. of Serbia.

2. 3. (Figures 2.&3.)
(Stefan Nemanja’s Stamps), .
(St.Nicholas in Kuršumlija), 1166–1199.(?)
5
 Saint Nicholas Monastery
and Toplica piscopacy
, , The Church of St. Nicholas in Kuršumlija, as we know it, was not fully built
. at the same time. Its main part is certainly erected by Stefan Nemanja, while
, the later narthex and towers can not be precisely dated.
. The construction of the western part of the church is linked, in the opinion
of some researchers, for a period of placing Toplica episcopacy by St. Nich-
E , olas church, and has been dated to the period between yeras 1120 and 1230.
, 1120. 1230. . During the XIV century next to the north wall of the temple the chapel was
XIV , erected and the western wall was built up at some point, but today is pre-
. served only at foundation level.
The excavations of the monastery complex revealed a number of secular
, . buildings.
- , Next to the northern church tower another tower, but of residential use is
, located, and it could also belong to the Nemanja’s period, and in the immedi-
. ate vicinity there are some remains of the so-called episcopal palace.
, Monastery of St. Nicholas enjoyed a great reputation, so Archbishop Sava I,
I, placed right here one of the eight newly established church seats in Serbian
, . lands. Since then, St. Nicholas, who is conceived as a burial church, became
, , the mausoleum of Toplica bishops and other eminent personalities. The
. names of the first nine bishops are well known, and by the mid XIV century
, XIV Toplica episcopacy was raised to the level of metropolitan center.
. On the life of the monastery in the beginning of the Turkish rule, little is
, known, Toplica bishops are again mentioned only in the XVI century, when
XVI , they carried the title “belocrkvanski”.
. It is assumed that the monastery was abandoned
in the mid of the same century, and the greatest
, devastation it experienced in the XIX century.
XIX . , At this time the narthex,
. the altar area and the north tower were demolished.

6 a 4. (Figure 4.) . (St.Simeon), (copy of the fresco-painting)

 K Saint Nicholas Church
at the Turn of the
XIX XX XIX and XX century
1876. 1878. During the wars of 1876 and 1878 the demolition of the monastery of St.
, Nicholas is intensified, and the material is shredded and used for construc-
. tion of other buildings.
Abandoned ruins of the church for the first time were protected by the Na-
1910. . tional Museum from Belgrade in 1910. Then they made protective roof struc-
, tures over all its parts, and earlier half-timbered buildings was built above
. the remains of the north tower.

a 5. (Figure 5.) . 6. (Figure 6.) .

, (The ruins of St.Nicholas Church in Kuršumlija on Felix Kanitz’s (The ruins of St.Nicholas Church in Kuršumlija), XX (beginning of
drawing), XIX (end of the XIX century) the XX century)
7
 The First Major Restoration
After the World War II the newly established institutions Archaeological In-
stitute and the Institute for Cultural Monuments Preservation from Belgrade
1947. , started working on research, documentation and protection, from the year
. of 1947, on a large number of Serbian medieval cultural monuments.
The corpus of sacral architecture includes all the churches and monaster-
, ies built in the territory of the medieval Serbian states, but also those who
. are outside these limits erected by Serbian patrons. Special attention to the
XII XIII study and publication of cultural monuments of the XII and XIII century was
. paid by PhD Milka anak Medi and professor ur e Boskovi .
There were many di erent experts working on the research and restoration
, of the monastery of St. Nicholas in Kuršumlija, but in large part to the pres-
ent situation indebted to Professor of the University of Belgrade, architects
, , Branislav Vulovi under whose leadership the first major restoration and
, 1948. reconstruction started in 1948. Archaeological excavations at the time were
. led by PhD Mirjana Ljubinkovi from the National Museum in Belgrade.
.

7. (Figure 7.) . a 8. (Figure 8.) . -

(Plan od St.Nicholas Monastery in Kuršumlija) (St.Nicholas in Kuršumlija-proportional analysis)

8
 At the beginning of restoration works all the protective roof structures
, , 1951. , were removed, as well as a half-timbered building erected over the ruins of
. the north tower, only the structure over the dome remained there until 1951.
Longtime research works resulted in a major e ort in terms of reconstruc-
. tion and restoration.
1964. 1965. 1970. 1978. In the period from 1964 to 1965 and from 1970 to 1978 according to the de-
signs and under the direction of Branislav Vulovi the following parts were
: , , completely reconstructed: the main part of the church, the south tower and
. 1966. the north chapel, and partially: the narthex and the tower on the north side.
, Since the founding of Institute for cultural heritage reservation in Niš, its ex-
( . , . , . . perts(arch.Danica Jani and Milorad Vojinovi , arch.tech.Tatjana Mladenovi
, . . ) and Radoslavka Stojanovi ) will work together with Vulovi .
. At the same time, from 1967 to 1980, archaeological excavations of the inter-
1967. 1980. : nal parts of the church and the area around it were completed, as well as of
, secular buildings positioned near by.
.

a 9. (Figure 9.) . a 10. (Figure 10.) .

(St.Nicholas in Kuršumlija before the reconstruction) (St.Nicholas in Kuršumlija after the reconstruction)

9
 Contemporary Restorations

XX During the nineties of the XX century, a complete reconstruction of the nar-

thex was done and works on the renovation of the interior of the building
. were completed under the direction of the Institut from Niš. Among already
. mentioned experts, architects Nikola Mili and Aleksandar Radovi had a
. very significant role. During this period, a new residential building is built in
2013. , the monastery complex.
, Following a number of years in the course, in 2013 a project called
“ ” “Nemanja’s White Churches” was thought out by architects Aleksandar
. Radovi and Elena Vasi Petrovi , aiming to start with the renovation of all
the medieval complexes in Kuršumlija.
, In this sense a Program for further actions was put together, containing also
, a review of the previous interventions and the survey of the present state,
. with the ultimate goal of revitalisation of the complexes.
2014. “ During 2014, within the Institute from Niš, a “Project for conservation and
- . restoration works on the church of St. Nicholas in Kuršumlija” was prepared
” . by the author of this publication.
2014- 2015- Financial assets were allocated in the years 2014 and 2015 by Kuršumlija mu-
, , nicipality, through its Directorate for Construction, and the following resto-
, , ration procedures were done: protecting the building from moisture, the
drainage system, reconstruction of wooden stairs and floors in the north
.T tower, reconstruction of the terrace on the south tower and putting protec-
, tive elements on the openings, restoration of the existing and creating new
, doors on both towers, replacement of roof coverings on the northern chap-
, el and on the dome of the church, restoration of led roof over the nartex,
, restoration of the north and west plateaus and building a new access path.
. The works were also guided by Elena Vasic Petrovic, the author of this Pub-
, lication and the Project.
.
* 2014. * Since the end of the year 2014, St. Nicholas in Kursumlija again functions as
, a monastery after hundreds of years, belonging to the Orthodox Episcopacy
. of Niš.
10
 11. (Figure 11.) . 2015.
(St.Nicholas in Kuršumlija during the reconstruction in 2015.)

11
 Original drawings
by architect
Branislav Vulovi
from the Archives of the
Institute for Cultural Heritage
Preservation Niš
(1948-1968) (1948-1968)

, , Field drawings, calculations, analysis and other parts of the project for re-
construction of the monastery of St. Nicholas in Kuršumlija are kept in the
. archives of the Institute for Cultural Heritage Preservation Niš.
For the first time after they were made part of this rich documentation was
presented in the original to the members of the Society of Conservators of
2013. . Serbia in 2013 in the temple of St. Nicholas in Kuršumlija.
The exhibition was organized on the initiative of the Institute and archi-
, tects Aleksandar Radovi and Elena Vasi Petrovi , and with the blessing of
. . His Grace Bishop of Nis Jovan.
After this unusual exposition, which aroused great interest of the audience,
, there was the idea that this documentation should be digitized and
prepared for publication
. and further exposure.

12
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 : Text:

Elena Vasi Petrovi

: Literature:

, , Milka anak Medi , ur e Boskovic, Monuments of Serbian architec-

, ture of the Middle Ages, Architecture of Nemanja’s time I, Institute for
I, Protection of Monuments of SR Serbia and the Archaeological Institute,
, 1986. Belgrade 1986.

: Sources:

Archive of the Institute for Cultural Heritage Preservation Niš

: Illustrations within the text:

- e 1, 2, 3, 4 - Figures 1, 2, 3, 4
downloaded from the Site
http://www.narodnimuzej.rs/event/zaveti-i-poruke-stefan-nemanja-de- http://www.narodnimuzej.rs/event/zaveti-i-poruke-stefan-nemanja-de-
vet-vekova/ vet-vekova/
- 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 - Figure 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Taken from the book
, , Milka Canak Medic, ur e Boskovic, Monuments of Serbian architec-
, ture of the Middle Ages, Architecture of Nemanja’s time I, Institute for
I, Protection of Monuments of SR Serbia and the Archaeological Institute,
, 1986. Belgrade 1986.
- 6 - Figure 6
Archive of the Institute for Cultural Heritage Preservation Niš
- 11 - Figure 11
- from personal archives - Elena Vasic Petrovic

34
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4, 18 000 ) 726.71.025.3/.4(497.11)”1948/1968”(083.824)
ВАСИЋ Петровић, Елена, 1978-
a: Прва велика обнова манастира Светог Николе у Куршумлији -
седишта
некадашње Топличке епископије = Тhe First Major Restoration of the
:
Monastery of Saint Nicolas in Kursumlija - Seat of Former Toplica
Episcopasy / аутор Елена Васић Петровић = author Elena Vasić Petrović ;
: [превод на енглески Елена Васић Петровић]. - Ниш : Завод за заштиту
споменика културе Ниш, 2016 (Ниш : Vrbas komerc). - 35 стр. : илустр. ;
24 x 30 cm
:
“Ова публикација и истоимена изложба настале су као резултат
сарадње Завода за заштиту споменика културе Ниш и Завичајног
: удружења Топличана у Нишу, уз свесрдну помоћ гђе Јулке Кузмановић
Цветковић, саветника Народног музеја Топлице из Прокупља и
финансијску подршку Министарства правде РС и
:
Управе за сарадњу с црквама и верским заједницама.= This publication
and the exhibition of the same name camea as a result of the cooperation
between the Institute for Cultural Heritage Preservation Niš and the
Homeland Association of Toplica from Niš, with the help of Mrs. Julka
Kuzmanovi Cvetkovi , advisor of the National Museum of Toplica in
Prokuplje and with the financial support of the Ministry of Justice RS and
their Directorate for Cooperation with Churches and Religious
communities.” --> колофон. - Упоредо срп. текст и енгл. превод.
- Тираж 250. -
Библиографија: стр. 34.
ISBN 978-86-917367-1-2
a) Манастир Св. Николе (Куршумлија) - Обнова - Изложбени каталози
COBISS.SR-ID 220804364
ISBN 978-86-917367-1-2