The Church of Saint George
The Church of Saint George was built in the period between 1850 and 1854. It was built after the model of the Monastery Manasija and it is the third largest church in Serbia. It is located in the center of Smederevo and it frames the main City square together with later built representative structures of the Court and the Municipal Center.
The Church was made of white marble, according to the design of the Engineer Jana Nevoda and the builder was Andrija Damjanov from Veles. Its style is Serbo – Byzantine, although some architectural elements bear features of Romantic and Baroque architecture.
The Church of Saint George, as a cultural monument, is an immovable cultural property. It is classified as one of the most beautiful and the most spacious churches in Serbia built during the Great Recovery after the First and the Second Serbian Uprising.
Within the church, the „Sloga“ church choir has been functioning (since the end of the 19th century), as well as the children’s church choir of the same name. Since 2016, the Sloga Children’s Church Choir, in addition to performing at the annual concert with the older members of its choir family, traditionally holds a mini-concert for the Children’s holiday.
The Old Cemetery Complex and the Church of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God
The Old Cemetery in Smederevo was formed around the medieval Temple of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God. Today, it is a memorial complex whose core consists of the Church, Dina Mančić’s Chapel and a memorial ossuary with a bell tower.
The Medieval Church of the Assumption of the Holy Mother of God is located in the central part of the Old Cemetary in Smederevo. The Church was built in the 15th century on the site of the older necropolis, and the wall paintings dates from the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century. The construction method belongs to the style of Morava Architectural School.
It is not known who the Ktitor (founder who provided funds) for the construction of the Church was, but it is assumed that the grave chapel of Metropolitan Athanasius was located here. Archaeological researches conducted in the 1980s proved that the Church dignitaries were buried here and before that the members of the immediate Branković family – which gave birth to some theories that the Ktitor of the Church was Despot Đurađ Branković himself.
Next to the Church there is a grave of Dimitrije Davidović, the father of Serbian journalism and the author of Candlemas Constitution, the first constitution of Serbian state.
Not far off, there is a grave chapel of Dina Mančić, Smederevo trader and craftsman, the benefactor who left his enormous property for the erection of Gymnasium in Smederevo and the education of poor pupils. The Chapel was built in 1884, according to the design of the architect Aleksandar Bugarski.
The memorial ossuary is dedicated to the victims of the catastrophic 5th June Explosion which destroyed Smederevo in 1941. In accordance with the Aleksandar Deroko’s design, the ossuary was built in the form of arcades with a bell tower in the middle of which there are marble slab crosses built on all four sides.
Around these buildings in the Old Cemetery, there are graves of numerous endowers and renowned people of Smederevo, as well as valuable sculptures.
