About a hundred meters from the Small Church, there is the Metropolitanate or the Big Church with a triconch base and a later added external narthex. The church had a monumental rectangular residence, while the whole area was surrounded by ramparts. The Annunciation, the Small Church, and the Metropolitanate, all being built on a poky area, constitute the monastery complex of the medieval small town of Ždrelo which has been first mentioned in Hungarian sources, such as Castrum Izzdil.

The small town was the seat of the Bulgarian brothers Drman and Kudelin, who ruled from there over Braničevo and Kučevo at the end of the 13th century. They ruled until Dragutin and Milutin subdued them in 1291 and conjoined these regions to Serbia. Ždrelo was formed gradually, evolving from a tower of Drman and Kudelin on an inaccessible crag of Vukan to a rampart fortification with tower slopes of Big and Small Vukan and Ježevac – mountains in Homolje. It is not quite certain when these ramparts were built. However, they exist since the middle of the 14th century when people started building churches. Thus, Ždrelo, besides being a military fortress, represents a religious center as well. The most important town of the Braničevo District in medieval times loses significance in the second half of the 15th century.  

Srednjevekovno Ždrelo

 

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