Tajni grad u Malom Zvorniku / Secret city in Mali Zvornik
MINI OSTROG IN THE ROCKS OF BORANJA
This underground city complex has two places of worship. Apart from the chapel in the Secret Royal City, builders also constructed a separate temple in the rocks of Boranja Moun- tain. When the corridors of the underground city were cleaned, an altar section was revealed in one of the rocks, while it was discovered that the corridors, each of which is 33 metres in length, had been made precisely in the shape of a cross. - The church is all in the sign of the number 33. Jesus Christ lived for 33 years, works began in 1933, and the corridors set in the shape of a cross are each 33 metres long – says priest Mile Tovarović, who was responsible for the discovery and recon- struction of the cave temple. Every year on the day of the Holy Great Martyr Prokopius, the patron saint of Mali Zvornik, a liturgy is organised that starts from the Mali Zvornik church and ends in the cave temple. - In recent years we have performed worship services here every Friday, and believers come to us from both sides of the Drina, as well as intentional travellers from all over the world. It was planned for the cave church to resemble Ostrog Monas- tery, and 70 per cent of the external works have been done so that it resembles this Orthodox sanctuary – reveals Mile.
MALI OSTROG U BORANJSKOJ STENI Kompleks podzemnog grada ima dva molitvena mesta. Osim kapele, u taj- nom kraljevom gradu graditelji su napravili i odvojen hram u steni boranj- ske planine. Kada su očišćeni hodnici podzemnog grada, u jednoj steni ukazao se oltarski deo, a otkriveno je da su hodnici, dugački po 33 metra, urađeni baš u obliku krsta. – Crkva je sva u znaku broja 33. Isus Hristos je živeo 33 godine, radovi su počeli 1933, a hodnici koji su postavljeni u obliku krsta dugi su po 33 me- tra – priča sveštenik Mileta Tovarović, zaslužan za otkrivanje i rekonstruk- ciju pećinske bogomolje. Svake godine, na dan Svetog velikomučenika Prokopija, krsne slave Malog Zvornika, organizuje se litija, koja kreće od malozvorničke crkve, a završa- va u pećinskom hramu. – Poslednjih godina ovde svakog petka obavljamo bogosluženje, a do- laze nam vernici s obe strane Drine, kao i putnici namernici iz celog sveta. Planirano je da pećinska crkva podseća na Ostrog, a 70 odsto spoljašnjih radova već je urađeno, tako da liči na to pravoslavno svetili- šte – otkriva nam sveštenik Mileta.
seille – we are told by Suzana Repović, a guide through this secret royal city. This underground city, whose laby- rinthine corridors cover a distance of 1.5 kilometres, has 75 rooms and encompass- es around 4,500 square metres. - There is a room for government ses- sions, a royal apartment, rooms for serv- ants, guards, a canteen, stables, a library, but there are also many rooms whose pur- pose we don’t yet know. A chapel was also built here, and is the only room that is deco- rated and has sketches of the Karađorđević family adorning the walls. In the chapel is a built-in recess for an altar, and unofficial information suggests services were con- ducted here until 1943 by an exiled Bela-
russian who fled to Serbia after the Octo- ber Revolution – says Suzana. This place was only used once, in April 1941, when young King Petar II Karađorđević spent his last night in Ser- bia in this shelter before heading into ex- ile. Fleeing from the occupied and bom- barded Belgrade, the recently crowned King carried with him the royal treasure and valuables. And that’s where the new plot, like that of a film, emerges... After the king’s departure to Han Pije- sak, then onwards to Nikšić, from whence he was transported to Greece, then Egypt and, finally, to England, the story emerged that part of his treasure remained buried in the underground shelter in the rocks.
- After the end of World War II these rooms were ransacked, their contents looted, while hunters for royal treasure also appeared. It was said that the king had hidden a few chests filled with treas- ure right here. The treasure hunters dug holes in the floors and demolished walls dividing some rooms. They dug for days to find treasure – explains Suzana, show- ing us the excavated holes in the royal apartment. Whether anyone ever found royal treasure remains a mystery. As does the question of whether treasure was ever even buried in the walls of Boranja. Or whether it’s just an interesting story thought up by some local charlatan.
This underground city, whose labyrinthine corridors cover a distance of 1.5 kilometres, has 75 rooms and encompasses around 4,500 square metres
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