ЛЕГЕНДА О ПОДИЗАЊУ ДУБРОВАЧКОГ ХРАМА: СЛУЧАЈ ТЕСТАМЕНТА РАОСАВА НИКОЛИЋА (1606)
A LEGEND OF THE RAISING OF RAGUSAN TEMPLE: THE CASE OF RAOSAV NIKOLICH’S WILL (1606)

Summary/Abstract: In the middle of the 14th century, an unknown member of the Serbian nobility erected an Orthodox church on the Hisar hill in Prokuplje. During the Ottoman rule, in the mid-17th century, this church was given to the Ragusan merchant colony in Prokuplje for their religious service. The legend about raising the Catholic church in Prokuplje started half a century before, in 1606, when a Ragusan merchant Raosav Nikolich bequeathed some funds for it in his will. Due to the Nikolich’s votive document, some authors later declared this Orthodox church to be Catholic, despite the preserved old wall painting that belonged to the Serbian cultural heritage. Some researchers, on the other hand, claimed that the Ragusan merchant colony used Raosav Nikolich’s legacy fund to erect another Catholic church, although the Orthodox temple had been already handed over to them. This paper analyses the language and the structure of the written will and shows how the statement about endowed money for building the Catholic church in Prokuplje was additionally incorporated into the testament. Moreover, it suggests that the intended funds were insufficient to raise the new temple, which leads to the conclusion that Catholic church in Prokuplje was probably never built, while the endowed fund was likely invested in adapting the old Serbian Orthodox church for the Catholic service. The paper also provides information about other Catholic temples mentioned in Nikolich’s will and linked to the Ragusan merchant communities.

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