The Church of St. Petka

The Church of Saint Petka is located in the Lower Town of the Belgrade Fortress and was built beside a spring that is believed to have miraculous powers. Next to is the Ružica Church, which was built after 1867. The present chapel, designed by arch. Momir Korunović, was constructed in 1937. Its interior walls and ceilings are covered in mosaics made in 1980–83 by the painter Djuro Radulović. The chapel of Saint Petka was built at the time when the relics of this holy woman were moved to Belgrade, upon the request made by Princess Milica to the Turkish Sultan. A part of the relics was transferred in 1417 to a chapel built by an unknown dignitary from the Lower Town. After the Turkish conquest of Belgrade in 1521, the relics were taken to Constantinople. In 1641, they were bought by a Moldavian duke and taken to the town of Jasi. Ružica Church still holds a small portion of the relics of Saint Petka. It is uncertain if the mentioned chapel had been erected by the spring, as this one. The original chapel was shaped like an earth lodge into which one descended down the stairs. Due to its bad condition, the Patriarch Varnava initiated the construction of a new chapel in this spot, which was consecrated on Saint Petka’s Day in 1937. While digging the foundations, the remains of an older temple were found, as well as the bones of numerous soldiers who had lost their lives during the Defense of Belgrade in 1914 and 1915.