The first church in the village of Banya, which today bears the name “Holy Martyr George the Victorious” was built and consecrated in 1835. The history of this church still arouses interest among both locals and tourists in the village.
There is a legend that the foundations of the church were built in 1811, but for unknown reasons the building was stopped. The three-nave church was completed in 1835, when it was consecrated. It was first set on fire in 1840, when liberation movements began in Serbia and Montenegro. The people of the village managed to restore the temple in a very short time.
During the Kresna-Razlog uprising (1878-1879) the church was burned for the second time and was almost completely destroyed. Then the whole Banya was set on fire, more than 70 people died, 600 inhabitants left the village. The rest of the population in the village of Banya set about restoring God’s temple. To this day, it is clear where the church was built during those difficult times. Today’s appearance of the church was made after the Kresna-Razlog uprising. The iconostasis in the church was made years later only in 1889. In 1912, during the Liberation War, the temple was shelled, every visitor will see traces of bullets and disfigured saints
