Municipality of Kuršumlija
Toplica District, Region of Southern and Eastern Serbia
- Bearer
- Municipality of Kuršumlija
- District
- Toplica District
- Region
- Region of Southern and Eastern Serbia
- Eparchy
- Eparchy of Niš
- Official website
- kursumlija.org
The Municipality of Kuršumlija uses arms in the shape of a shield with a double-headed eagle and the church of the former Monastery of Saint Nicholas, one of the first endowments of Stefan Nemanja, and with a ribbon bearing the name of the municipality. The arms largely respect the rules of heraldry; the exception is the ribbon with the inscription, placed across the shield itself. The arms stand on a light blue flag, shifted towards the lance.
Blazon
A red shield, surmounted at the top by a small crown of three rounded points; in the upper part a silver double-headed eagle with gold outlines, beneath it the silver and red church of the Monastery of Saint Nicholas, of brick, with a bell tower and dome, both with a cross, and at the base a blue field with three silver wavy bars of differing width.
A golden ribbon across the base of the shield with the red inscription “КУРШУМЛИЈА”.
A light blue flag with the arms of the municipality set towards the hoist.
Symbolism and meaning
The church in the arms belonged to the former Monastery of Saint Nicholas, one of the first endowments of Stefan Nemanja (1113/1114–1196), founder of the Nemanjić dynasty. It was built between 1152 and 1166, and by 1168 at the latest. After the Serbian Church gained its independence at Nicaea in 1219, the monastery was the seat of the newly founded bishopric of Toplica.
In the Middle Ages the settlement was called Bela Crkva (“White Church”), after the lead roofs of Nemanja's endowments, which shone in the sun. According to tradition, after the Turkish conquest and the Great Migration of the Serbs in 1690 the Turks removed the lead roof to cast bullets (“kuršumi”) from it, from which the place took its present name. On 21 June 1982 the church was entered in the register as a cultural property of exceptional importance.
