Sacral architecture and church builders in the Principality of Serbia during the first rule of prince Miloš Obrenović (1815–1839)

У време прве владавине кнеза Милоша Обреновића (1815–1839), у Кнежевини Србији je подигнут и обновљен велики број цркава. Активности везане за подизање и обнављање храмова биле су део кнежеве државотворне и личне политике, те су разгранавање парохијске мреже и обезбеђивање градитеља за тај подухват били један од императива. Иако на дoсадашњем ступњу истражености сакралног градитељства овог периода за велики број храмова није могуће утврдити ко су били градитељи, захваљујући сачуваној, и у великој мери публикованој, архивској грађи о многим градитељима постоје сачувани подаци, иако некад непотпуни. Намера је да се овим радом употпуне досадашња знања о сакралном градитељству и градитељима цркава у Србији од 1815. до 1839. године, идентификовањем одређених историјских оквира који су омогућили појаву и доминацију појединих градитељских струја, са акцентом на најзначајнија градитељска имена и њихове појединачне опусе. In the period of the first rule of Prince Miloš Obrenović (1815–1839), many churches were erected and renovated in the Principality of Serbia. These activities included the personal political moves of the Prince toward forming the state. Thus, making a network of parishes and finding the builders had been of the utmost importance. During this politically, economically, and culturally dynamic period of the first rule of Prince Miloš Obrenović, the conditions affecting the development of the sacral building had been changing. As a result, in a relatively short time (three decades), hundreds of churches different in their typology had been built and renovated – starting from the wooden churches, single-nave churches without a bell tower, to those containing bell towers. Te rising need to have more churches was met by hiring the builders from the Ottoman Empire, the southern Balkans – Ohrid, Bitolje, Veles, Vraneš, Kruševo, Carigrad (Constantinople), but also from Bosnia, mainly from Osat. Among these builders, the most renowned were Kosta Dimović, Andrija Sotirović, Janja Mihajlović, Nikola Đorđević, Hadži Nikola Živković, Dimitrije Sotirović, Nastas Stefanović, Sima Vironja, Miroslav Buljugija, Novak, Milutin Gođevac and his sons Aleksa, Đura, and Petar. This southern Balkans’ building impact was dominant until the period 1837-1840 when the Cathedral Church in Belgrade was built by the educated builders from the Habsburg Empire, Friedrich Adam Querfeld and Franz Dobi. After building the Cathedral Church in Belgrade, upon the change in the government in 1842, but also the change in the cultural policy and church reformation, the dominant were the architects and the engineers educated in Europe. They were trusted with making plans, supervising, and building the churches in the Principality of Serbia. This shift represents the end of a dynamic and in many ways unique period in the sacral architecture of the Principality of Serbia.