TREASURY OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH – Sremski Karlovci

The Treasury of the Serbian Orthodox Church is housed in the former Patriarchal Palace, now the Metropolitan’s Palace, a notable building erected in 1894 to designs by Vladimir Nikolić (1857–1922).

The Treasury collection includes icons and other liturgical and artistic objects, originating mainly from churches and monasteries in the territory of Croatia — from the Eparchies of Dalmatia, Slavonia, Osječko-Polje and Baranja, and partly from the Eparchy of Srem. The ecclesiastical treasures on display were rescued from war-affected areas during the 1991–1995 conflict and conserved at the Republic and Provincial Institutes for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the National Museum and the Gallery of Matica Srpska.

The chronologically arranged collection includes icons of the so-called Italo-Cretan school, dating from the late 16th century. The representative halls of the palace display parts of the iconostases from churches and chapels in Dalj (1760), the work of the painter Dimitrije Bačević; Vukovar (1776), by Vasa Ostojić; Velika Bastaja (1785), by the painter Mojsije Subotić; Lisičine (c. 1820); and others.

The Treasury also contains a considerable number of portraits of senior Church dignitaries. The display cases contain selected objects — discos, chalices, liturgical spoons and panagias — originating from the Eparchy of Srem and dating mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Among the old Serbian liturgical books on display are the famous Oktoechos by Božidar Vuković (1537) and the Belgrade Four Gospels (1552), as well as a number of liturgical books from Russia dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

Opening hours: 9 am–1 pm on weekdays; Saturdays, 9 am–12 pm.

(Text from ”A Guide to the Museums and Galleries of Vojvodina”, by Vladimir Mitrović and Lidija Mustedanagić.)