The church dedicated to the holiday of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God (“Mala Gospojina”) in Gornji Banjani is one of the oldest brick churches in Rudnik and Takovo Region. It was built in 1862 and refurbished for the first time in 1899. Its present appearance comes from the refurbishment in 1903. When the town was burned down in 1943, the church with its archives was completely destroyed as well, so there aren’t many written data kept about it. However, the data about the building and the refurbishment remained inscribed on two stone plates. On the newer one, which is placed above the main entrance on the exterior wall, it says that: “This temple of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God was built in 1862 by a priest from Banjani Atanasije Simić with his brother Jovan and nephew Aksentije Simić, a priest from Banjani, with the help of his parishioners”. The inscription on the older plate, located inside the church on the south wall of the narthex right next to the entrance, states: “Tanasije Simić, a priest, started building this temple of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in 1862, and it was refurbished under the administration of a priest Ranisav Nešović and the local governor Đorđe Petrović owing to the contributions of parishioners and other non-resident donors in 1899”.

The church in Banjani is a simple single nave building of medium size. Above the entrance, there is a bell tower. However, it doesn’t function as one – it is purely decorative as it is walled up. The existing bell tower is inside the churchyard. It is made of wood and is of a recent date. The church has a tiled roof, whereas the front tower is covered with sheet metal. The interior contains a vault which stands on pillars – pilasters, which appear on the dome itself as well-defined outlets separating it into several entities. The light enters the temple through three altar windows and six windows on the main nave. Next to the main portal, there is a side one with modest clear-cuts and ornaments. The church’s iconostasis is simple in style – it consists of joined boards with icons on their top, many of which come from the XIX century, but there is almost no data on them. Above the main entrance to the church, a scene from the Holy Mother of God’s life is painted – the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God. This is Radoš Stevanović’s work of art from 1994. Even though the common rule states that this place should contain the portrait of the saint whom the church is dedicated to or that there should be a scene from his/her life, there is an exception here because the Intercession of the Holy Mother of God is a holiday when the traditional street fair in Gornji Banjani is held.