The Vlach Church () is a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the populat ...

church built in 1450 in the village of Donji Kraj, on the

Cetinje Cetinje ( cnr-Cyrl, Цетиње, ) is a List of cities and towns in Montenegro, town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital ( cnr-Latn-Cyrl, prijestonica, приjестоница, separator=" / ") of Montenegro and is the location of sev ...

field, at that time part of

Zeta Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; , , classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician letter zay ...

(present-day

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

Stećci

The church was built around 1450 on the site of a

Bogomil Bogomilism (; ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", bogumilstvo, богумилство) was a Christian neo-Gnostic, dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar Peter I in the 10th century. I ...

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

that included around 150 stećci (monumental, ornate tombstones). Only two of these have been preserved to this day. Originally facing each other, they were recently reoriented to be side by side. According to some legends, recorded for the first time by

Ljubomir Nenadović Ljubomir Nenadović (14 September 1826 – 21 January 1895) was a Serbian writer, poet, translator, diplomat, minister of education and member of the Serbian Royal Academy. Family Ljubomir was born in Brankovina, Valjevo, Principality of Serbi ...

, the 17th-century military commander

Bajo Pivljanin Bajo Pivljanin ( sr-cyr, Бајо Пивљанин – 7 May 1685), born Dragojlo Nikolić ( sr-cyr, Драгојло Николић), was a Serbian ''hajduk'' commander mostly active in the Ottoman territories of Herzegovina and southern Dalma ...

and his wife are buried beneath them. According to another legend and documentary evidence, the stećci mark the graves of the founders of the church — Ivan Borojević, born in

Stari Vlah Stari (Slavic languages, 'Old One') may refer to: * Stari, a rural locality in Babushkinsky District of Vologda Oblast of Russia * Stari, a nickname of Đuro Pucar * Stari, a nickname of Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип � ...

, and his wife Jelica.

Origin of the name

One theory states that the church received its name from the

Vlachs Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ...

who guarded the cattle of

Ivan Crnojević Ivan Crnojević ( sr-Cyrl, Иван Црнојевић, italics=no, lit=Ivan the Black) was the lord of Zeta and Montenegrin-Serbian leader from 1465 to 1490. Having formed an alliance with the Republic of Venice, he led the resistance against the ...

and built the church around 1450. There are several additional theories about the origin of the term ''Vlach'' in the name of the church. Some authors believe that the term in the name of this church is used as an

exonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

. Other theories connect the name of the church to the fact that the terms such as "Vlach's church" or "Vlach's rituals" were indicators of membership in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

and

Orthodoxy Orthodoxy () is adherence to a purported "correct" or otherwise mainstream- or classically-accepted creed, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical co ...

or to

demonym A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

''Vlach'' (according to them this church was allegedly built by settlers from

in modern Serbia).

Building materials

The church was initially made of sticks (), switches and mud and was rebuilt three times. At first, it was redone in stones without mortar (), then in stones with lime mortar () and finally, in 1864, the church received its current form. A guard rail around the church was built in 1897 using barrels of Ottoman rifles captured in 1858 during the

Battle of Grahovac The Battle of Grahovac took place in the eponymous village of Grahovac from 11 to 13 May 1858, when the Montenegrin Grand Duke Mirko Petrović-Njegoš led the army of Principality of Montenegro against the Ottomans, ending in a decisive Monten ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vlach Church Buildings and structures completed in 1450 Churches completed in the 1450s 15th-century Serbian Orthodox church buildings Serbian Orthodox church buildings in Montenegro 1450 establishments Cetinje