Nimnik Monastery
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 | |
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Манастир - Нимник |
| Order | Serbian Orthodox |
| Established | 14th century |
| Dedicated to | Transfer of the Relics of Saint Nicholas of Mirliki |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Duke Bogosav |
| Site | |
| Location | Kurjače |
| Coordinates | 44°43′36″N 21°21′18″E / 44.7268°N 21.3549°E |
| Public access | Yes |
The Nimnik Monastery, also known as the Mariјanski Monastery, is a monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church and belongs to the Eparchy of Braničevo. Located in an oak forest about a kilometre northeast of Kurjače, Serbia, the monastery with the church dedicated to the Transfer of the Relics of Saint Nicholas of Mirliki represents as a whole an immovable cultural asset as a cultural monument.[1]
The name of the monastery probably comes from the Vlach word nimik ("unknown", "unfamiliar") after an unknown saint whose grave is located in the Chapel of the Sanctuary next to the church. The elders of the monastery were Paraskeva Jovanović, Ilarija Sretenović and Jefrosinija Milanović, the abbess who is most responsible for the restoration of this monastery.
According to tradition, the church was built by Duke Bogosav after 1376, when the area of northern Braničevo belonged to Prince Lazar. Nimnik is first mentioned as a metoch of Ravanica monastery in the Ravanica charter, and in Turkish tax books from the first half of the 16th century. In his report from 1733/34. Maksim Ratković describes a very old church, built of stone, with a stone vault, unpainted and covered with shingles. It had an iconostasis on which the imperial doors and two icons of the throne stood out due to their exceptional beauty and age, which he says are not found in any other monastery. Nimnik was burned and demolished during the Kočina Krajina and after the First Serbian Uprising, and was largely rebuilt in 1825, as evidenced by Joakim Vujić. Then the church was rebuilt from hard material, with a wooden vault and a brick floor. A Bell tower was built in front of the church in 1841, and an inn was built to the northwest of the church where, in 1851–1853, year, one of the first schools in the region operated. The building had a porch and three rooms, two of which were classrooms.[2]