Church of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in Grdelica

It is located outside the town of Grdelica, on the edges of the Grdelica gorge, southeast of Leskovac. It was built as an endowment of the industrialist Jovan P. Jovanovic. The construction of the church began in 1935 according to the project of the prominent Serbian architect MiomirKorunović. Although unfinished, the church was solemnly consecrated in July 1937. The works worth two million dinars at the time were completed in 1940. The iconostasis in woodcut was made by Nestor Aleksijevic, and the walls in the church were painted by Ivan Dikij. The base of the church is in the shape of an inscribed cross of the condensed type, with three domes, two smaller ones on the sides of the narthex and the main octagonal dome above the central part of the nave. On the west side of the church there is a protruding porch, covered with a wavy roof, with two pillars connected by an arch. The iconostasis in woodcut is the work of the Russian artist Ivan Diki. On the right side of the narthex there is a fresco of St. John the Baptist "Biljober", to whom the church is dedicated. The Grdelica church was conceived as a monumental building in the Serbian style, modeled on the old Moravian endowments.