We look back with gladness to the day when we heard that the works in the Church of St. Sava would be completed after a long while. The good news made us exceedingly happy and we can imagine that all Serbian Orthodox Christians, art lovers, patriots, all Serbs living in Serbia and across the world, can relate. The greatest desire of our Patriarch Pavle in his lifetime was to finish the Church of Saint Sava. And it was about to happen.
Then, one day, we received the blueprint of all the Church floors in A4 paper size format. We were honored to accept the commission. Indeed, working on St. Sava project was more than a job for us, it was a blessing, an opportunity to grow, to put in extra effort and reach new milestones, to show our skill and the beauty of our trade, to show responsibility and leave something behind, something of value, a legacy for the generations to come. We are aware that our trade is dying out, all the more we wished to save it from obscurity and show its timeless character.
We are ever so grateful to His Holiness Patriarch Irinej who blessed the beginning of our work and empowered us and strengthened our faith that we will be able to finish what we started in the best possible way. We would also like to give credit to all our employees, assistants, and associates for their dedicated work in St. Sava project. Our special thanks go to Mr. Borisav Matijašević, owner of the "Matijašević" company from Lazarevac, who recommended us. A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the completion of the works in St. Sava’s in any way whatsoever.
We are pleased to present to you the works the Exclusive Stone company performed in St. Sava’s. But before we do that, let’s take a moment to give credit to a man on whose merits our company was chosen for this project. His name is - Radenko Balać. Radenko has been a marble installer for over 20 years. His skilled hands shaped tons of marble of all types and colors. Throughout the years, he has worked diligently, tackled new challenges, learned new things, perfected his skill, often in the background away from the limelight. He had a thirst to learn all that there is to know about this work. Then, the opportunity presented itself to apply all that knowledge in a project that was the greatest challenge of all, and he was equal to the task. While we were all anxiously and excitedly looking at the huge space to be covered with mosaics, he simply said: "I have a picture in my mind of a finished Church." Keen-eyed, quick-witted, talented artisan, enterprising and passionate in his work, Radenko was able to visualize from the beginning what the end result will be and then complete the work he envisioned. In the process, he encouraged and inspired us all. We will try to show the different stages of the works so you can get an impression of the scope and complexity of the task.
We take pride in having contributed with our knowledge and skill in making our magnificent St. Sava Church look the way it does today.
Thanks be to God and Saint Sava for bestowing this honor on us!
Kad čovjek zida kuću ne zida je za sebe, nego za svoju djecu i unučad. Tako nastaje porodica i domaćinstvo.
Kad vladar zida crkvu, ne zida je za sebe, ni za svoje sinove, ni unučad, nego za narod koji će je kroz vjekove pohoditi. Tako se stvara država.
Kuća je ono što ostaje poslije čovjeka.
Crkva je ono što ostaje poslije vladara.
Kuća ostaje djeci, crkva narodu.
A crkva je čedo moje, velika korablja, lađa koja plovi prema dubokim i dalekim nama neznanim vremenima i ljudima. U koji god vijek doplovi, dovešće i nas i pokazati nas našim još nerođenim potomcima.
A mi smo uzidani u svoje crkve tvrde građe, kadre da odole strašnim udarima vremena. Sve sam kamen i mramor, najtvrđe što postoji na svijetu. Uzidali smo sebe u svoje crkve, ispisali svoju vjeru i živopisali svoje likove u njima.
Naši daleki potomci prepoznaće nas u Studenici Znaće ko smo i kakvi smo. I, čedo moje, biće ponosni što nas imaju, pouzdano znam da hoće. Ponosiće se što su pleme nemanjićko.
Eto, čedo moje, gradite za danas, gradite za sutra, ali gradite i za vjekove. Kad se gradi za narod, onda to što se gradi mora biti trajno i jako kao sam narod.