Church of St. Nikola in Čukljenik

Church dedicated to St. Father Nikola, is located south of Leskovac, on the northern slopes of Kukavica in the village of Čukljenik, near the Nakrivanjskariver. It is assumed that it was built on the foundations of an older temple, and the Turkish census mentions the monastery of Čukljenik with the church of St. for the first time. Nikola near the village of Nakrivnja in 1516. In the monastery gate there is a bell tower and a cemetery built at the end of the 19th century. Church of St. Nikola served as a monastery church until 1884, when it became a parish church. Church of St. Nikola is a small, single-nave building vaulted with a semi-circular vault that adheres to leaning hooks with a semicircular apse on the east and a simultaneous narthex on the west. The interior of the church is decorated with frescoes in the 18th century painted by an experienced painter from Greece. The iconostasis is from the 19th century with icons in the spirit of Mount Athos baroque with gilding. In the church gate, northwest of the church next to the wall, until the Second World War, there was a large konak, built in 1853, in which a monastery-type school operated. The new inn was built in 1924. Right next to the church yard, on the composition of the Mala and Čukljenička rivers, there is a preserved monastery watermill, which, according to the brick record, was built in 1876. In the eighties of the 19th century, preventive protection of the church and the mill was done. In the church gate, next to the church itself, there is a monument to the chat leader Vladimir Radenković (Stojanović) from Golešnica near Aleksinac, who died in Vučje during the Serbian-Turkish war of 1877-78. years. The monument was erected in 1907. On the southern part of the monument there is an inscription: "They died in the fight for their king, faith and homeland on December 22, 1877. defending himself with the Ustashas sr. Leskovac in Vucje. His eternal mind. " Due to its historical, architectural and artistic values, the church represents an immovable cultural good as a cultural monument of great importance for the Republic of Serbia.