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The construction of today’s parish church started on the 19th of April 1891. It was Fra Ebenhard, a Trappist, who drew the plan of the parish church, in Romanesque style. He drew it by request of a parish priest Fr Grga Kotromanjic who was the parish church creator. Ebenhard is the one who also drew the plan of the belfry. The church was built by Josip Hofmann, a contractor from the German colony Windthorst (Nova Topola). Fr Marijan, the bishop, and former government of BiH also helped the construction of the church. It was finished before the winter, on the 30th of November 1891. Including a wall, it is 28 metres long and 11,60 metres wide. The wall is 8 metres high. The new church was solemnly blessed on Candlemas, on 2nd of February 1892. With bishop’s permission, a dean Fr Ambroza Radmanovic gave his blessing to the church during the Mass concelebrated by Fr Alojzije Misic, who later became the bishop of the diocese of Mostar, and by Ladislav Bajic, a clerical assistant and religious teacher in Banja Luka in those days. Today, it is interesting to mention the streets which the church was surrounded by: Saviour Street, Milicevic Street, Angel Street and Rudolf Square.
The belfry was built two years later: the construction of it started on the 31st of May 1893 and finished on the 7th of September the same year. (In those days, the parish church patron wasn’t celebrated on the 2nd of July but on the 31st of May). It was built by Jakov Klaric, a contractor from the Croatian Seaside.
There were two altars in the church: the central one in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a statue of her made in Romanesque style and two side ones. Where is a baptistry today was an altar in the honour of St Gregory the Great and on the opposite side there was the one in the honour of St Antony of Padua. Both of them were made in Gothic style. Before long the church acquired the organ from the best organwright in Croatia, Heferer.
The parish church was seriously damaged in a catastrophic earthquake in October 1969, after which it was renovated and also altered according to II Vatican Synod. But, describing all those happenings and also the construction of today’s parish house requires an extra work, so we will save it for some other occasion. On that occasion we will also write about the cathedral, the old and today’s one which is in the area of this parish and about cemetery chapels as well.
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TODAY