West of the current Church of St. Nicholas there are remnants of the foundations of the previous church, which was pulled down in 1737 during the Turkish retaliation against the disobedience of the local Orthodox folk. Experts assume that this earlier building had been built on the foundations of a much older temple, probably dating back to the 11th century. The hypothesis seems grounded that this earlier temple was actually the well-known cathedral church dedicated to St. Procopius. It is a well established fact that the relics of St. Procopius remained in Niš for a long time, from the 4th to the 12th centuries, when they were moved to Prokuplje. The town of Prokuplje got its name after the saint. In the first decades of the 17th century, on those foundations, a new church was built, that of St. Nicholas. It was pulled down by the Turks, for the first time, in 1690. The church was renewed in 1722 by bishop Janićije I. This old temple measured 20 by 12 meters. In addition to being dilapidated, the church was turned into a mosque a number of times during the Turkish reign.
Today’s Church of St. Nicholas was erected in 1863/4, originally a Turkish mosque. Upon the liberation of Niš from the Turks, on the town patron saint day, St. Emperor Constantine and Empress Helen in 1879, the mosque was adapted to serve the needs of Orthodox believers and lustrated by Archbishop Viktor Čolaković, to become the Church of St. Nicholas. At that time, the iconostasis was incorporated, while in 1926 a bell tower was added to the entrance.
Six times converted by that year, sequentially used by the Muslims and the Orthodox Christians, to the present day it has remained an Orthodox temple. The small church choir “St. Nicholas” works under the auspices of this church. Some of their chants are available in this presentation, too. This singing company is still very young. They gathered together in 1997, and currently have five singers, all closely linked to the church, leading a liturgical life. The company was founded and is successfully managed by Mrs. Radmila Krstić.
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