Lazarica Church

The Church dedicated to Saint Stephen in the center of town of Kruševac is the endowment of Prince Lazar, famous Serbian Holy martyr killed in the Battle of Kosovo Polje in 1389. The Church is known by its founder Prince Lazar as the Lazarica Church and dedicated to Saint Stephen, built in honor of his first-born son Stefan. When after 1371 Prince Lazar emerged as the most powerful noble of the Serbian lands, controlling most of the valleys of West and South Morava as well as north of Serbia, Prince Lazar decided go set up a new capital for his land. The ideal place for the new town was found in Kruševac, on top of plump hill standing close the confluence of two Morava Rivers near the center of Prince Lazar’s state. Here Prince Lazar built a strong fortification, the Lazar s fortified town and soon afterwards a court church within the strong fort. After Prince Lazar s dramatic death in Kosovo Battle in 1389, Kruševac remained the capital of Serbia until in 1403 Lazar’s son Stefan Lazarevic transferred the Serbian court to Belgrade.

Love of Prince Lazar for the Serbian Orthodox church was demonstrated by love towards the holy shrines and monasteries in his country, and out of its borders. The first significant deed of Prince Lazar, after reconciliation of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Tsarigrad /Constantinople/ Patriarchate, was erecting of the Church dedicated to Saint Stephan in Krusevac. The Serbian Patriarch Danilo the Third writes about the Prince Lazar : “This Christ-loving ruler filled mountains and heights of his country with families of monastic communities, where monks settled and lived, devoting themselves to the God and seclusion and the constant prayers in quietness”. The Turkish danger soon lurked over and the Prince Lazar’s fortified town became one of their prime targets, as from here their light fleet could sail down the Great Morava into Danube. Lazarica Church was taken and retaken twice until the Hungarian army raiding rapidly against the Turkish stronghold set the town of Krusevac on fire in 1437 destroying its prominence forever. During the Turkish yoke Lazarica was destroyed particularly when attacked by Sultan Musa in 1413 and afterwards was used as the gunpowder storage in 1791 and finally deserted. When Kruševac was liberated form Turkish conquest in 1833 Lazarica Church was restored upon the order of Prince Milos Obrenović and again with the assistance of Royal Karadjordjević Family in 1843.

The Church of Lazarica is the most beautiful example of Moravian architectural style. Lazarica Church was built of bricks and stone with small quantities of plaster. The sculpture decoration on the colorful facades of Lazarica Church is very rich in harmony with the court life style distinguishing itself from the monastic structures of that time. The rich decoration of Lazarica Church is strongly applied on the one-light and two-light windows and uniquely beautiful rosettes rich in geometric and animal and floral motifs, adorned with large Romanesque and Gothic elements. The part of the Holy relics of the Martyr Prince Lazar and the holy relics of Jelene Balšić, the third youngest daughter of Prince Lazar and Princess Milica are kept today in the beautiful coffin made of silver and rose wood.