Church of St. Peter & Paul (Petrova Crkva)

Perched on a quiet hill overlooking Novi Pazar, the Church of Saint Peter and Paul (Petrova Crkva) is widely recognized as the oldest surviving Christian church in the Balkans, dating back to the 9th century, with some architectural foundations going back as far as the 4th-century Roman era.

The church features a unique rotunda-style stone architecture built directly on top of a Roman pagan temple. Over the centuries, it served as a crucial political and religious hub for medieval Serbia. It was here that Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, was baptized, and it was the site of the state council of 1196 where he abdicated the throne to his son, Stefan the First-Crowned.

However, Petrova Crkva holds an even older, prehistoric secret. In 1957, during archaeological excavations under the stone foundations of the church, researchers uncovered a legendary princely grave dating back to the Late Bronze and Iron Ages (5th century BC). The tomb contained a stunning hoard of gold, silver, and amber jewelry, Greek bronze vessels, and painted vases representing the high connectivity of ancient Balkan tribes with the Mediterranean world.

While the spectacular gold objects from this princely find are currently housed and preserved in the National Museum in Belgrade, the stone church itself remains a sacred space where you can touch the layers of ancient Roman, Byzantine, Slavic, and Ottoman centuries.

Surrounding the church is a historic cemetery containing massive stone tombstones (stećci) carved from local limestone. Visiting the site provides a deep sense of stillness and connection to the thousands of years of civilizations that chose this specific hilltop as their sacred center.