Citizens of Belgrade know it as a beautiful Church inside the walls of Kalemegdan, history knows  it as a gunpowder warehouse and the military sanctity, and the legends know it as the endowment of the three sisters. Its name is Ružica and it represents one of the most unique holy objects in the world and the oldest Church in Belgrade.

About Serbia’s capital and also one of the oldest European cities, history had written thousands and thousands of pages. Among the long notes, old paper and torn pages, words describing an unusual building beneath the Zindan gate had been recorded. However, history hasn’t managed to provide answers to the questions who and when had built Ružica Church until this very day.

Probably because of that there are several stories about the past of this sanctity. Old notes describe the namesake church from the time of Despot Stefan Lazarević, which was destroyed under the Turkish siege of Belgrade.  Its rebuild is related to the year of 1867, when one of the Austrians gunpowder warehouses was allegedly transformed into the military church to which were added the belfry and the altar apse.

Folk tradition though, narrates about sisters Ružica, Marica and Cveta. According to the legends, each one of the sisters built a church as an endowment in the area of Belgrade fortress and named them after themselves. Ružica Church has been there ever since and it was built in honour of St. Petka’s wellspring which flows beneath it.

Even more important than who, when and how built this interesting church, is definitely what its walls have been hiding. And what they are hiding is a real little treasure after which it is known all around the world.

Namely, there are two statues at the entrance molten out of the cannonball shells which symbolize a Serbian soldier. They’ve been raised as a tribute to all brave heroes who gave their lives to preserve their honour, history and culture of the motherland for centuries.

crkva Ruzica2

Unfortunately, thousands of soldiers who defended Belgrade in World War I, passed away too early and the Ružica Church was demolished.

The sanctity was rebuilt in 1925, at the same time when two statues- one representing Tzar Dušan and other one representing an infantryman from the Balkan Wars, were put at the place where many soldiers prayed and received their communion for the last time.

Church of Virgin Mary’s Birth or Ružica Church has found itself on the list of the ten most interesting and most unique Churches in the world. According to the choice of the Joxt’s blog and Lovers of unusualness, this Church deserves to be among the ten of the most unusual Churches on the planet by numerous criteria.

Either because of the long history whose flow bullets and bombs didn’t manage to stop, or because of the specific energy that respires through the walls of this outlandish Church, interior of this magnificent sanctity definitely looks magical. Alongside of the Kosta Todorović’s carved iconostasis, beautiful icons from Rafail Momčilović and walls which were painted by the skillful hand of Russian painter Andrej Bicenko, special attention is attracted to the chandelier which is unique in many ways.

luster ruzicaMade out of rifle bullets and pistol shots from the Great War, Serbian sabers, cannon ammunition and parts of military trunks, this chandelier (polilei) represents a real curio and precious example of so-called trench art or war art. Although the appearance and meaning of the unusual chandelier were interpreted wrong many times, its symbolism is pretty simple and almost entirely connected to the World War I.

Polilei represents “lights with a lot of oil”, more precisely lamp that is lit because of the devotional and spiritual hoist. Light and devotional tears that constantly drip on the weapons are needed to be illuminated  with the message to not ever again happen the madness such as the Great War.

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BelgradeBelgrade fortressKalemegdanRužica ChurchZindan Gate

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