Saints in the Mountains: Stained Glass for the Church of Saint Sava on Golija

High on Golija, in the karst hills above Nikšić, where grey limestone breaks through green pasture and the wind comes straight off the mountains, stands a stone church with a dark dome. It is dedicated to Saint Sava, and in 2007 we filled its windows with saints.

A church on the mountain

The church is the endowment of Miodrag Davidović, a businessman from Nikšić and the founder of the monastery of Saint Sava on Golija, who has built and helped many churches and monasteries in Montenegro and beyond. For his church he commissioned new figural and geometric stained glass windows in the traditional leaded technique, about 250 square feet of glass in all.

Father and son

At the heart of the program stand 2 saints who belong together: Saint Sava and his father, Saint Simeon.

Sava was the youngest son of the Serbian Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, and in 1219 he became the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church. His father, the ruler of Serbia, later took monastic vows under the name Simeon, and the Church honors father and son together as saints.

In our window Saint Sava stands as an archbishop, holding the Gospel, his vestments a bright patchwork of crosses in gold, turquoise and red. Saint Simeon, as a monk in a cloak of red and gold, holds an open scroll with the words of the psalm: "Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Psalm 34:11).

Saint Sava Saint Simeon

Christ and the saint of Ostrog

Christ stands in a robe of red and a cloak of turquoise, the Gospel in one hand and the other raised in blessing, between the letters IC XC.

Beside Him stands a saint every Montenegrin knows: Saint Basil of Ostrog. His monastery, founded in the 17th century, is built into a cliff between Nikšić and Danilovgrad, high above the Bjelopavlići plain. In the window he holds an open book with the words of Christ, "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11).

Christ Saint Basil of Ostrog

Angels and geometry

Around the saints, the geometric windows carry the light without pictures: red and white crosses, clear textured glass, and lines of lead that frame the figures like the borders of an icon. In a round window a winged seraph looks down, its turquoise and gold wings crossed over a red cross.

In the studio

Every figure was drawn full size and built piece by piece in our studio in Sombor, Serbia. Faces, hands and the folds of the robes were painted on the glass and fired in the kiln, then each piece was set in lead, like a puzzle that only fits together one way. Here Mila Apperlo lays out the cut glass of Saint Simeon on the full size drawing, the scroll of the psalm already in place, piece by numbered piece.

Mila Apperlo with Saint Simeon An angel on the bench

See more of our sacred art and stained glass commissions.

Church: Church of Saint Sava, Golija, Nikšić, Montenegro
Client: Miodrag Davidović
Work: figural and geometric leaded stained glass windows, about 250 sq ft
Fabrication: Stanisic Studio, Sombor, Republic of Serbia
Year: 2007