Wooden Church in Vranić

Historical sources say that the original wooden church in Vranić existed in the 18th century at a different location, and that at the beginning of the next century, it was moved to the place where it stands today. After the failure of the 1813 uprising, the Turks burned down the church. The existing structure, Church of the Forty Martyrs, was created on its foundations in 1823. It was made from oak, with a heptagonal altar apse and an arched panel separating the narthex from the naos. The northern and western doors are decoratively carved and painted. The church had a steep roof covered with wood shingles, which was replaced during reconstruction by a new roof with a gentler slope and ‘beaver-tail’ tiles at the beginning of this century. At the same time, a series of changes were made to the interior as well: the original choir was removed, leaving only the staircase in the narthex, and the arched ceiling was replaced with a flat one also made of wood shingles. The upper portion of the 1828 iconostasis was taken down and the parts are kept in the new Church of Saint Ilija (1878), so it could be completely reconstructed at any time. The icons are attributed to Konstantin Zograf, who did a series of iconostases for wooden churches across Serbia in the 1810s and 1820s. Beside a rich collection of icons and other ceremonial objects, the original 18th century church furnishing has been preserved in Vranić. Minor restoration works were done in 1951, and archeological investigations in 1975.