The designer of the city chapel in Budva, architect Slobodan Bobo Mitrović, sent a letter of protest to the mayor of Budva, Marko Bata Carević, and the head of parliament, Krsto Radović, because of the intention to demolish the chapel, all for the sake of building a supermarket on the church lot.
Mitrović believes that with such actions the advantage of private commercial business is given in relation to the dignity and piety of the deceased of Budva.
The chapel is located on church land, the property of the church of Sveta Petka, on the city bypass, but due to the decision of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro, which gave the neighboring plot, right next to the chapel, to build a supermarket HDL, now space for the construction of a new temple dedicated to the Holy Apostle Mark there is none, which is why the Serbian Orthodox Church decided to demolish the chapel, i.e. move it to the cemetery, which is located about a hundred meters from the current location.
The municipality of Budva recently announced a public call for the development of the main project of the new chapel, but Carevic withdrew the tender.
"Regarding the chapel, I want to point out to you the functionally unacceptable solutions with the new chapel, the way it was conceived, which, among other things, requires unnecessary spending of the budget. By changing the plan of the DUP "Potkošljun", the church of St. Mark and a business-residential building were drawn on the church land. In the current situation, there is enough space (existing parking lot) to build a temple, but there is not enough space for a residential and commercial building, so it is necessary to demolish the chapel, which covers about 1.200 square meters. "Obviously, it is about the advantage of private commercial business in relation to the dignity and piety of the deceased in Budva," Mitrović pointed out in the letter, which "Vijesti" had access to.
Mitrović asked why this was done.
"The current chapel was built on the basis of the DUP from 1986. It was then decided to go to competition. We received all the necessary data for one project, even geomechanical data on the bearing capacity of the soil. Seven papers arrived and my project was unanimously awarded the first prize. The juries were the strongest authorities at the time. The main project was done by RZUP from Podgorica, and I, as a designer, supervised. The construction permit was properly issued because everything was according to the DUP. The building was built in the phase of rough work and then remained unfinished for 25 years. It was completed only in 2005. It turned out that the Municipality did not expropriate or pay the land to the church. An agreement was made with Metropolitan Amfilohi that the entire area and the area of the Sveta Petka Hotel should be urbanized according to the wishes and needs of the church. The temple of Seto Marko is drawn, and below the main road is the apartment building and the hotel of St. Friday, and for that service the chapel remained where it is, with the consent of the Metropolis and the Main Braić church board," Mitrović emphasized.
In the letter, he stated that "in our nation, the dignity of paying respect to the deceased is part of centuries-old culture and tradition." "The current chapel with its position and spacious memorial square fulfills that dignified act. It is in a functional position on the road itself, and it also gives a visual life dimension to the city, which consists only of hotels and apartments. With its appearance, architecture, almshouses with stained-glass windows, and the surrounding greenery, this chapel gives death and repentance a cultural and civilizing act," emphasized Mitrović.
As he pointed out, the first major mistake was the Urban Project, which you reached in an unofficial and unprofessional way.
"Leaving the current chapel where it is, and giving up the supermarket and apartments, is the only functional, professional, financially advantageous and moral solution. If you are forced to move it, you must find a location that does not have all the problems I mentioned above, which the current project has. And thirdly, it is not clear to me why waste money on a new one, when you have a project for an existing chapel. Confusion about the competition for the new chapel is unacceptable. In any case, my position as the author of the current chapel remains on the first question. Will Budva, at least in cases of death, see off its departed citizens with dignity, or will supermarkets and apartments for sale be more important, and the chapel pushed into an inappropriate space.
They drew the chapel among the graves
According to Mitrović, an urban plan for the New Cemetery was prepared through private combinations, in addition to the Secretariat for Urban Planning and the chief architect, and the public in general, and a new chapel was planned at the bottom of that cemetery.
"This means that when you want to express your condolences, you walk 100 meters between the graves to pay your respects to the deceased. At that time, a funeral is possible, or a Lent, or someone mourns their loved one at the grave, and people pass by and go to express their condolences. The family, which spends two days in the chapel with their deceased, is exposed, in addition to their grief and stress, to other unexpected shocks due to the surrounding events, just because the chapel is wrongly located. Everywhere the chapel is an independent building not connected to the cemetery. She is always at the beginning of the cemetery or tangi cemetery. Not only that, in the understanding of death and according to Christian teaching, the obligation of the living is that the deceased should respect his "Christian peace". With the urban solution where the chapel is at the bottom, the cemetery loses the peace respected everywhere, and turns into an active city space".
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