Gornji Matejevac is a village situated in

Pantelej Pantelej (Serbian Cyrillic: Пантелеј) is one of five city municipalities which constitute the city of Niš. According to the 2011 census, the municipality has a population of 53,486 inhabitants. Geography The municipality borders Crven ...

municipality in the city of

Niš Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

. It is located to the north of the center of Niš, on the northern slope of the

Nišava The Nišava or Nishava ( Bulgarian and sr-Cyrl, Нишава, ) is a river in Bulgaria and Serbia, a right tributary, and with a length of also the longest one, of the South Morava. Course Bulgaria The Nišava originates in western Bulg ...

river valley.

Economy

Transportation

Gornji Matejevac lies north of the M1.12 highway which connects Niš with

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

in Bulgaria. The town is connected with Niš by several paved roads.

Culture and recreation

The most important cultural and historic monument of Gornji Matejevac is the so-called

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

, consecrated to Saint Nicholas. The Latin Church is one of the few survived buildings in Serbia which precede the

Nemanjić dynasty The House of Nemanjić ( sr-Cyrl, Немањић, Немањићи; Nemanjić, Nemanjići, ) was the most prominent dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages. This princely, royal, and later imperial house produced twelve Serbian monarchs, who rul ...

period. The church is small, made of brick, has one nave and an apse. It is located on a hill above Gornji Matejevac. It is known that the church was used by citizens of

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

in the 16th century, and presumably this is where the name of Latin Church comes from. Between 1968 and 1974, the church underwent an extensive restoration. Since October 21, 1963 it is listed as a Cultural Heritage Monument. It is not known when the church was built precisely, but most likely it happened in the first half of the 11th century.

References

{{Nišava District Populated places in Nišava District Niš