Kastaljan

The Kastaljan monastery complex lies on the eastern, wooded slope of Kosmaj towards the village of Nemenikuće. The complex consists of a church, a konak (lodging) and a refectory. On the basis of systematic archaeological excavations and of the architectural and stylistic analysis of the uncovered buildings and the movable archaeological finds, three phases of construction and use can be distinguished. The first and oldest phase is the church, whose construction can be dated to the 14th century. In the second phase the church was altered and the refectory was built — at the beginning of the 15th century, a time of rapid rise of the newly created Serbian Despotate.

The newly built building, with the remodelled church serving as a chapel, was the summer court of Despot Stefan. The third phase of construction, the final shaping of the space into a monastery complex, is the building of the konak. Given the established archaeological and historical facts and the outstanding architectural value of the preserved remains — with building methods layered over a relatively long period, from the 14th century to the end of the 17th century, when the monastery was destroyed — the complex at Kastaljan is a monument of exceptional value for the study of the Serbia of Despot Stefan Lazarević, and especially of the Kosmaj area, which was then a great religious centre. (Extract from the Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade no. 16/87.)

The parcelling project was initiated by the Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Šumadija — the church municipality of Nemenikuće — to separate the site of the Kastaljan monastery from the existing cadastral parcel 5206/1 KO Nemenikuće and form a new parcel for the renewal of the monastery complex. Its aim is to define clear boundaries of the parcel of the archaeological site of the Kastaljan monastery, for the renewal of the complex.

The site lies in the cadastral municipality of Nemenikuće, municipality of Sopot, within the Regional Spatial Plan of the administrative area of the City of Belgrade (Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade no. 10/04), its amendments (nos. 38/11 and 86/18) and the Spatial Plan of the City Municipality of Sopot (no. 54/2012). Under the spatial plan, the site lies mostly on agricultural land and partly on forest land.

The spatial plan identifies the site of the Kastaljan monastery under number 65 as a cultural property — a cultural monument in the category of registered archaeological sites protected on the territory of the municipality of Sopot. In its letter no. 0897/19 of 12.09.2019, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments states that the Kastaljan monastery is established as a cultural property (Official Gazette of the City of Belgrade no. 16/87). In the property title deed no. 491, decision no. 952-02-13-69/2016 entered the status of cultural property of the Kastaljan monastery and of its protected surroundings, formed by the outer boundaries of that parcel, on 05.02.2018.