Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Sokobanja

Abstract

The paper deals with the study of the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Sokobanja. It was built according to the design of leading architects of the Serbian-Byzantine style, Dušan Živanović and Svetozar Ivačković. The construction of the church lasted eight years and is the endowment of Metropolitan Mihailo Jovanović, who, in order to highlight himself as a founder and express his private piety, built the church in the place of his birth. The icons for the iconostasis, as well as the frescoes of the church, were painted by Milisav Marković, one of the most engaged artists in the Kingdom of Serbia in the second half of the 19th century, especially in the area of the Timok Diocese. The artist painted over eighty iconostases, and his work was well appreciated by the high church hierarchy. Milisav Marković didn’t introduce any innovations in the formulation of the iconostasis in Sokobanja, but rather adapted the program to the clients. The iconographic program is reduced, but it fulfills liturgical and symbolic elements. The church was equipped with all the necessary liturgical objects. After the consecration in 1892, Metropolitan Mihailo donated silver liturgical objects to the church necessary for performing the liturgy. The treasury is particularly notable for the Gospel, which Prince Miloš Obrenović donated to the church in 1836.