KARAĐORĐE’S CHURCH WITH FRESCOES OF FAMOUS MOLER SURVIVED TURKS AND MINING OF THE OBRENOVIĆ’S, NOW IT'S FALLING APART!

Karađorđe’s Church, The Great Leader's endowment built back in 1811 and the place where he rested the longest - 111 years - is a cultural monument of the state of Serbia and is decaying from moisture, which has also ruined the frescoes of the famous rebel and painter Petar Nikolajević Moler!

At the heart of Karađorđe's City, also a cultural monument, in Topola, there is the Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, which Karađorđe built in 1811, along with the tower next to it. The bells of this church were the first, after centuries of slavery, to ring in a free Serbia. It didn't take long after that for the Great Leader to be killed on Miloš Obrenović's orders in Radovanje Grove in 1817, from where Princess Ljubica transferred his body to this church two years later. The skull, which was located at the doorstep of the Cathedral Church in Belgrade, still a log cabin at the time, was transferred by Prince Miloš to this church in 1819, while the skin from the face was in Istanbul.

1 / 7 Foto: Zorana Jevtić

As soon as you enter the church, on the right wall is the tombstone under which the Great Leader rested until 1930, when he was transferred to the endowment of his grandson King Peter I, up on Oplenac. The church, freshly painted and seemingly arranged, has been enduring for decades, even centuries. And most of all, the frescoes, which were done in the dome and altar by the famous Moler. The dome, different from all the others, instead of the usual Christ Pantocrator, has the Holy Trinity. But it cannot be seen nicely because it is covered in soot since the Turks, who set fire to the church in 1813. For more than two centuries, no one has repaired it. In the altar, there's a horrifying story - the frescoes are devastated. Partly due to the Turks, partly due to our neglect.

“Unfortunately, everything is decaying due to immense moisture. Restoration has never been done. Since 2009, we have approached The Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of Serbia (RIPCMS) 11 times, although they claim not to have such records, as well as the Kragujevac Institute and the Ministry of Culture. And nothing,” says Archpriest Ostoja Pešić, the church's elder.

Once, he explains, there were tombs of prominent people from this area in the altar part, whose remains were transferred to the churchyard.

“After moving those remains, that part of the church remained in a pit, so it is threatened by rainwater, capillary water, and everything that drains here. For years, decades, we have been trying to get someone to come and fix it because this is under state protection, we must not touch anything. There is no understanding,” says the Archpriest.

THE OBRENOVIĆ’S SHELLED KARAĐORĐE'S CITY

Nearly a decade after the assassination of Prince Mihailo Obrenović in 1877, historian Dragan Reljić, the manager of the Endowment of King Peter I Karađorđević on Oplenac explains for Kurir, the rebellious Lepenica Battalion took refuge in Karađorđe's City.

“The Obrenović family used that rebellion, known in historiography as the Topola Uprising, which hardly even existed, and ordered a certain Colonel Milutinović to destroy Karađorđe's City. Gunpowder was brought from Stragari, they filled four towers, walls, and everything else, and everything was blown up, except for the church. The people from Topola then asked if they could make a bridge out of the stones that remained across the Jasenica River on the road to Kragujevac. But they were ordered to pick up the stone with ox carts from every household that had them and to take it in four carts each to the four corners of the world. So that there would be no trace that Karađorđe's City had ever been there,” emphasizes Reljić and adds that, apart from the church, Karađorđe's People's Office remained, where he would bring both military leaders and diplomats, where there was even a people's court, and where the most important document for the history of the First Serbian Uprising was kept - Karađorđe's Office Protocol.

He shows us traces of machetes and scimitars that remained on the 11 painted saints in the altar part. The Turks gouged out the eyes of every single one.

“However, the church frescoes have survived all that, but it seems they won't survive the 21^st century,” points out Pešić, and then shows the bottom of the wall, where almost nothing remains.

However, he notes, last year, two or three people from RIPCMS came.

“They really said that extensive repair was needed, as well as the preparation of project documentation, and that we had to coordinate with the municipality and other institutions. They put a net here at the bottom of the altar area, so it wouldn't completely fall apart. They were supposed to continue it to the end, but then they told us they didn't have the funds. They didn't even have enough for another square meter of net! I told them: ‘We'll buy it’” says Pešić.

Prof Dubravka Đukanović, Director of RIPCMS, tells Kurir that the Church Municipality of Topola contacted them on June 14, 2021, for the removal of moisture in the church, and their experts went out into the field.

“The problem of degradation of wall painting and decorative plaster in this cultural monument is caused by the action of moisture due to the significantly lowered level of the floor (70 cm) compared to the surrounding land and sidewalks. The precondition for solving the problem is the sonication of the foundation zone with geomechanical and hydrotechnical tests of the soil, after which the project should be made and then the works should be carried out on the drainage system of Karađorđe’s Church in Topola,” says Prof Đukanović and adds that the removal of moisture from the church was immediately included in the RIPCMS work program for 2022, but unfortunately, financial resources were not approved.

ABOUT THE CHURCH

- It was erected by Karađorđe in 1811.

- It is among the first brick churches built in modern Serbia (until then, the Turks only allowed log cabins).

- The bells were cast at the Belgrade Foundry and were the first to ring in a free Serbia after centuries of Turkish rule.

- From 1811 to 1813, the frescoes were painted by Petar Nikolajević Moler.

- Instead of the usual depiction of Jesus Pantocrator, the Holy Trinity is painted in the dome.

- In the altar area, there are compositions of the Virgin Oranta, Christ's Ascension, and 11 saints.

- In 1813, after the collapse of the First Serbian Uprising, the Turks burned the church.

In 1814, the people rebuilt the church, and then Prince Alexander Karađorđević, who came to power in 1842, continued.

- Until 1930, Karađorđe, his wife Jelena, and their grandchildren rested in the church.

The church also displays liturgical objects from 1843, donated by Prince Alexander, as well as those from 1904, from the time of King Peter I Karađorđević.

EMBEDDED STONE FROM THE CASTLE OF THE LAST SERBIAN DESPOT

Karađorđe, born in Viševac, was one of the first residents of Topola.

“Topola existed only as a toponym until Karađorđe's arrival. It was formerly named, as Austrian maps show, after the river Kamenica, which was 200 m away from Karađorđe's town. People in Topola always exchanged goods because it was a crossroads. Karađorđe's first house was made of logs, which are beams packed on top of each other,” historian Dragan Reljić, Director of the Foundation of King Peter I Karađorđević in Oplenac, explains to us and shows us a model of that house in Karađorđe's mansion, which was located at the site of today's monument in front of the church.

As he became wealthier, the house became larger, on two levels, but it was burned at the beginning of the uprising. Until the city was built, Karađorđe had some sort of temporary house, and from 1811 to 1812, Karađorđe's residence became the largest construction site in the Balkans.

“When Karađorđe started building his palace, he went to the nearby place under Venčac, where the castle of the last Serbian despot Pavle Bakić was. He took stones from the ruins and built them into the house with his own hands. During breaks, when there were no wars or anything else, Karađorđe spent time here, in Topola, building,” Reljić recounts.

The church community contacted them again on March 27, 2023, and a team of painter restorers from RIPCMS immediately went out into to the field and carried out preventive conservation and restoration work in the most endangered, altar part of the temple, to prevent further degradation of the wall paintings.

“The works were carried out professionally, as evidenced by the report. Plasters ("nets") during the conservation treatment are not placed over the entire fresco but partially, on endangered edges and surfaces prone to falling. The degree and quantity of installation are determined by a professional, not a priest. These are temporary preventive measures that cannot completely prevent degradation caused by moisture but only slow it down,” said Prof Đukanović, adding that in the RIPCMS work plan for 2024, funds have been requested for emergency work on the most endangered cultural monuments, so that, after construction and architectural work on moisture remediation, conservation and restoration of wall paintings could begin.

Kurir also asked questions to the Ministry of Culture, which should provide funds, but we did not receive a response before the conclusion of this text.

Jelena S. Spasić

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