The celebration of Our Lady - the patron saint of the Church of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Prčanje, on Sunday was much more than the usual church and folk festivities in that small town of Bokele. Namely, on this occasion, the beginning of a serious project of detailed renovation of this monumental building, which was never completely renovated due to the earthquake in 1979, was officially started.
The solemn holy mass in the largest church on the southern Adriatic, in the presence of a large number of priests of the Kotor diocese and believers, was led by the priest from Prčani Don Željko Pasković. The mass celebration and the procession in which the statue of the Virgin Mary was carried around the church was attended by the Minister of Culture in the Government of Montenegro Tamara Vujović, the mayor of Kotor Vladimir Jokic, ambassador of Croatia in Montenegro Veselko Grubišić, general director of the Directorate for Cultural Heritage of the Ministry of Culture of Montenegro Dobrila Vlahović and numerous other local officials.
"This church is one of the largest Catholic churches in this part of the Adriatic. It is our great honor and obligation to restore and preserve it. Until now, some minor works and partial renovations were carried out on it after the earthquake, organized by the then Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. The church, however, was never rebuilt as it should be, so here we are, starting from the beginning. We will create a high-quality renovation project for which the Municipality of Kotor has already donated significant funds, for which I thank them from the bottom of my heart. When the project is finished, we will start gradual works, in which we also count on the support of the state, because this church is one of the biggest pearls of the cultural and historical heritage of Boka Kotorska and Montenegro", said Don Pasković, addressing the audience.
He recalled the inscription that the old people of Prčanja put on the frame of the altar icon of the Virgin in this church, which reads: "For peace in the nation and for peace among peoples, the grateful people of Prčanjna to their patroness", emphasizing that he personally is still guided by this maxim today , looking at all people equally regardless of their religion or nation and that he tries to gather all people of good will around the Prčanje church "which is home to all of us because we are all God's children and whom we all love, regardless of who is of what religion or nation" .
He emphasized that the Prčan church is visited by a large number of tourists from all over the world who at the same time admire its monumentality, luxury and the wealth of art in this temple, but also often wonder why the church is damp and dilapidated.
"Well, that will no longer be the case, because we will all work together in the next few years to gradually completely restore this church and return it to its full glory in our honor and in the glory of our ancestors," Don Paković pointed out.
His initiative for the restoration of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was accepted and supported by: the Diocese of Kotor, the Municipality of Kotor, the Ministry of Culture and numerous believers and admirers of the cultural and historical heritage of Boka. The Ministry of Culture thus provided 15.000 euros for the research works necessary for the development of the project of conservation, rehabilitation and restoration of the church, which will be financed by the Municipality of Kotor with 70.000 euros. At the tender announced by the local administration for the preparation of project documentation, the most favorable offer was given by Studio for conservation, design and consulting "Projektor d.o.o." from Tivat, led by an architect-conservator. Katarina Nikolić.
"This undertaking of the restoration of the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Prčanje will certainly not be short or cheap, but it is better that it be both expensive and extensive, and that it be fundamental and that through it we get a real reconstruction and rehabilitation of this wonderful cultural monument. The Ministry has already allocated a modest amount of EUR 15.000 for research work that precedes the creation of a conservation and rehabilitation project. As for future funding, the Ministry of Culture has a regular annual program, that is, a competition for the restoration of cultural heritage, and it is easiest for us to give money consecutively, year after year, for multi-year projects, such as the project for the restoration of this church." Minister of Culture Tamara Vujović told "Vijesta".
She pointed out that in the coming years, the department's financial support for the rehabilitation and restoration of the Prčany parish church will be much more generous than now at the very beginning, and that she expects many other donors and international organizations to get involved.
"The state of Montenegro is absolutely aware of the importance and value of this temple as one of the pearls of our cultural and historical heritage, and it is certain that it will do what is due to it, because we are all, together, obliged to take care of our cultural assets, especially these kinds of rare monumental buildings such as this church", concluded Vujović.
"This temple is undoubtedly one of the brightest pearls of Kotor's cultural heritage. At the invitation of Don Željko, we visited the temple before a certain time and saw its condition and how much it really needed to be renovated. We decided that in this case, not to go with some ad hoc measures, but to do a thorough and serious conservation and rehabilitation project, for which the Municipality of Kotor immediately allocated 70.000 euros. The agreement with don Pasković is that after the project is done, everything that the project documentation shows in terms of funds needed to implement all project measures on this facility, we will try to find together through public funds, the state and everyone else. The Church of the Virgin on Prčanje can certainly count on funds from the city of Kotor in stages - year after year, because this renovation will not be a short job that can be completed quickly. Today, I cannot say how precisely the funds that the city will allocate for the restoration of this church will be, but it will certainly be several hundreds of thousands of euros," Kotor Mayor Vladimir Jokić told "Vijesta".
As a special curiosity, he highlighted the fact that the city administration of Kotor decided this year to start the renovation of the Catholic Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Prčanje and, at the same time, to support the renovation and reconstruction of the Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas in the Old Town of Kotor with a significant amount of funds.
"And now, everything has been arranged so beautifully that today, on the feast of Our Lady, we are announcing and starting its reconstruction and restoration in this temple, and on this same holiday - Our Lady according to the Julian calendar, 13 days from today, in the church of St. Nikola, to present what has already been done there on the restoration of that temple", concluded Jokić.
When the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary began to be built in 1789 in Prčanje according to the project of the famous Venetian architect Bernardina Makarucija, Prčanj was a rich Bokeš municipality whose large fleet of sailing ships served the postal needs of the entire then Republic of Venice. Due to the Napoleonic wars and the appearance of steam ships, Prčanj gradually became poorer, so the construction of this monumental church was completed only after 120 years, and for its completion, in addition to all the great maritime and merchant families of Prčanj, the Austro-Hungarian emperor personally contributed a significant amount of money. Francis Joseph who visited the construction site of the church in 1875 and then declared that it was "worthy of standing in the middle of Vienna" due to its appearance and monumentality.
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