Church of Saint Sava

For other uses, see St. Sava Church.

The Church of Saint Sava (Serbian Cyrillic: Храм Светог Саве, romanized: Hram Svetog Save, lit. ''The Temple of Saint Sava''^[a]) is a Serbian Orthodox church in the Vračar plateau in Belgrade, Serbia. It is the largest Orthodox church in Serbia, one of the largest Eastern Orthodox churches and it ranks among the largest churches in the world. It is the most recognisable building in Belgrade and a landmark, as its dominating exterior resembles that of the Hagia Sophia, after which it was modelled.

Church of Saint Sava
Храм Светог Саве / Hram Svetog Save
Church of Saint Sava
Church of Saint Sava Location within Belgrade
44°47′53″N 20°28′6.74″E
Location	Krušedolska 2a, Vračar, Belgrade
Country	Serbia
Denomination	Serbian Orthodox
History
Consecrated	2004
Architecture
Architect(s)	Bogdan Nestorović, Aleksandar Deroko, Branko Pešić
Architectural type	Neo-Byzantine (Serbo-Byzantine)
Years built	1935–2004
Groundbreaking	10 May 1935
Specifications
Capacity	7,000 [note 1][1][2]
Length	91 m [2]
Width	81 m [2]
Height	78.3 m (ground-cross) [note 2][2] 68.5 m (top dome) 64.85 m (dome ceiling)[3]
Nave height	37.70 m (main vaults)
Other dimensions	170,000 m3 [2]
Floor area	4830 m2 (exterior)[4] 3,650 m2 (interior)
Dome diameter (outer)	30.16 m (interior)[5] 35.16 m (exterior)

The church was initially planned to serve as a cathedral, dedicated to Saint Sava, the first Serbian Archbishop and the nation's patron saint. The location at Vračar was symbolically chosen due to the Ottoman burning of Sava's relics on a pyre in 1594/95 after a Serb uprising. Construction began in 1935 after years and decades of planning, wars and political turmoil. The commission chose to base the design on the Hagia Sophia, an universally acclaimed church building. World War II and the coming Communist leadership put a halt to construction. Permission was finally granted by the Socialist Serbian government in 1984, after which construction resumed with revised construction techniques and the architectural achievement of lifting the 4,000 tonnes dome into place in June 1989.

In May 2021, the entire Vračar plateau which surrounds and includes the church was declared a cultural-historical monument and placed under state protection as the Saint Sava's Plateau. The rationale included "symbolical, memorial, cultural-historical, architectural-urban and artistic values of the locality, which represents a memorial spot of two turning points in Serbian history: Burning of Saint Sava's relics and the First Serbian Uprising".^[6]

Site

Saint Sava is a landmark structure in Belgrade

The church stands on the Vračar plateau in Belgrade. It is located at the sight axes of the important commercial traffic artery from the old city to the SE outskirts. It is visible from the Kralja Milana street, between Terazije and Slavija Square, which is in extension of the axis. The church is the terminus and landmark of the intended boulevard in the first urban plan of Belgrade made by Emilijan Josimović from the second half of the 19th century.^[7] With its architectural form paraphrasing the Byzantine Hagia Sophia, the builders hoped that it will eventually evolve into a universal center of Orthodoxy. Moscow also had at the time lost prominence within Orthodoxy, as the October revolution sidelined religion in Russia and a compensation was intended. The Yugoslav communists also obstructed work on the church, as they banned further construction at the site after World War II. After a long delay, the church rose in 1985. In 2004 all works on the outside had been finished, the expected consecration with the finished interior space was expected to be held at the end of 2020.

The church lies on the western promontory of the Vračar-Plateau at 134 m height. It is located 500 m south of Belgrade's main square, Slavija square. The base of the church is 18 m above Belgrade's traditional geographic center, the Terazije square and the main pedestrian lane, the Knez Mihajlova ulica. It is also 10 m higher than Tašmajdan park, where the second biggest church in Belgrade St. Mark's and the Serbian Parliament, the Skupština are located. As it lies also 63 m above the confluence of the Sava River into the Danube, St. Sava is a primary natural viewpoint and from its massive dome a visible landmark for the city. From the publicly accessible gallery around the dome, a view on the urban fabric of Belgrade is possible. A lift will be installed after interior works are finished for all visitors of the church. Below the foundation of St. Sava, pass the double-tubes of the Belgrade rail-commuter network, BG Voz This necessitated a redesign of the original plan of the crypt.^[8]

History

Background

Statue of Saint Sava in front of the church.

Saint Sava (1175–1235), the patron saint and founding father of the Serbian people, was born Rastko, a Serbian prince, the son of Stefan Nemanja (r. 1166–1196). Rastko took monastic vows as Sava and was joined by his father (as Simeon) at the monastic center Mount Athos, where the Byzantine emperor gifted Hilandar. Sava returned to Serbia after Simeon's death and organized the Serbian Church, and was later consecrated as the first Serbian Archbishop by Patriarch Manuel I of Constantinople (s. 1216–1222). Sava died in 1236 after his second pilgrimage. He was later canonized and named the patron saint of Serbian schools and school-children.

In 1594, Serbs rose up against Ottoman rule in Banat, during the Long War (1591–1606)^[9] which was fought at the Austrian-Ottoman border in the Balkans. The Serbian patriarchate and rebels had established relations with foreign states,^[9] and had in a short time captured several towns, including Vršac, Bečkerek, Lipova, Titel and Bečej, although the uprising was quickly suppressed. The rebels had, in the character of a holy war, carried war flags with the icon of Saint Sava.^[10] The war banners had been consecrated by Patriarch John I Kantul, whom the Ottoman government later had hanged in Istanbul. Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha ordered that the sarcophagus and relics of Saint Sava located in the Mileševa monastery be brought by military convoy to Belgrade.^[9][10] Along the way, the Ottoman convoy had people killed in their path so that the rebels in the woods would hear of it.^[10] The relics were publicly incinerated by the Ottomans on 27 April 1595, placed on a pyre and burnt on the Vračar plateau, with the flames seen over the Danube,^[10] and the ashes scattered.^[9]

On the 300th anniversary of the burning of Saint Sava's body, a group of Serbian Orthodox believers founded the Society for the Construction of the Cathedral of Saint Sava on Vračar with the idea of building a cathedral on the site. Initially a small church was constructed and the search began to find an adequate design.

The church is widely regarded as an important symbol of the Byzantine revival architecture, that dominated church architecture from Russia to the Balkans in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. In particular, it had to serve Serbs as a symbol of the afterlife of the medieval Serbian empire. Especially in the context of Yugoslavia, a Serbo-Byzantine culture was favoured both by the Yugoslav king Aleksandar I Karadjordjević and the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The adoption of a pattern that followed the prototype of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople illustrates the idea that Serbs are legitimate heirs to imperial Byzantium. Belgrade was visioned as a new imperial center of Orthodoxy, which had a particular resonance in the context of the demise of Moscow being the communist capital when the church was planned.^[11]

"Being only recently finished, the Belgrade church stands as a vivid reminder of the longevity of the Serbo-Byzantine discourse, a visual symbol of a peculiarly Serbian adaptation of the classical doctrines of renovatio and translatio, which has remained one of the sturdiest longue durée structures of Serbian national history, politics and culture

— Aleksandar Ignjatović, 2018

Planning

The date and location of the Burning of Saint Sava's relics remained disputed. Given years are 1594 and 1595, while the proposed locations, as the name Vračar was applied to the much wider territory than it occupies today, include: Crveni Krst, suggested by Gligorije Vozarović [sr] who erected reddish Vozarev Krst at the spot, which gave name to the entire neighborhood of Crveni Krst ("Red Cross"); mound of "Čupina Humka", in Tašmajdan, previously known as Little Vračar, which is the preferred location of modern historians; Vračar plateau, which attracted the widest public acceptance.^[12][13] In 1894, which was then celebrated as the 300th anniversary of the burning, consensus was reached to build the church on the third plateau location. In 1895 the "Society for the Construction of the Church of Saint Sava on Vračar" was founded in Belgrade. The major part of the parcel donated for the construction came from Scottish missionary Francis Mackenzie, who purchased and developed this part of the city in the late 19th century. By the 1900 ukaz of King Alexander Obrenović, the planned church was declared a "nationwide edifice".^[13] A small church was built at the future place of the temple, and it was later moved so the construction of the temple could begin.

In 1906, an architectural design competition for the future church was announced. Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences was authorized to judge the project, and it rejected all five applications as insufficient. Meanwhile, there was a public debate over the project, with Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović instead proposing the building of a Yugoslavist "Vidovdan Temple" at Gazimestan in 1905, a scale model which was exhibited at Serbia's pavilion at the Rome 1911 exhibition and the full-scale model exhibited by Meštrović in London in 1915.^[13] The Balkan Wars (1912–13) and World War I (1914–1918) stopped all construction activities.^[13] After the war, in 1919, the Society was re-established. After World War I, Serbia was integrated into the new Yugoslav state, thus the idea for the memorial church transformed into a more ambitious project.

Patriarch Dimitrije, head of the commission 1926–27

Another competition was announced in 1926. The guidelines of the competition stated that the church, with a ground area of 60x60m, should be the "greatest and most monumental building in the country, and have ultimate artistic importance".^[14] Beside the church itself, the project was to include buildings of the Patriarchate, Ministry of Religion, Seminary and Great Religious Court [sr]. The church design was to be in the style of the Serbo-Byzantine architecture of the 14th century.^[13] Another association to build a memorial church to St. Sava on Vračar was led by Patriarch Dimitrije, which envisioned a church built in the late Byzantine "Morava style", with a 3,000m² area, a tower of 80m, offering space to 6,000 faithful.^[15] Dimitrije's association favoured neo-Byzantinist Serbian and Russian graduates of the Vienna Academy of Arts which figured prominently in the competition of 1926–27.^[16]

The 1926–27 competition saw entries from major architects in the country. All final proposals had to be submitted before May 1927. Besides Bogdan Nestorović [sr] and Aleksandar Deroko, entries came from Dragiša Brašovan, Milan Zloković, Milutin Borisavljević, Branko Krstić and Petar Krstić, Žarko Tatić, Aleksej Papkov, Miladin Prljević and others.^[17] The commission included Patriarch Dimitrije, Jovan Cvijić, Andra Stevanović and Bogdan Popović, Pera Popović and Momir Korunović.^[18] The commission declined to name a winning entry, as none of the entries had fulfilled the tender criteria.^[19] The commission criticised the minor quality of most of the entries, and that none of the entries sufficed the public and professional opinion. Most proposed designs were based on models of the Gračanica Monastery as the main representative of national Serbian medieval architecture or even the Hagia Sophia. It is believed that the Jury had recommended the two models.^[20] As with the katholikon of Gračanica, its design was regarded the highpoint of the national architecture, and the competition manifested as the initial point in an evolving discourse about architecture and national identity in Serbian art.^[21] Gračanica, which was not a memorial (burial) monastery, became a chosen inspiration for the architects who saw it as a modern source of inspiration in the quest for a true national style.^[22][23]

Aleksandar Deroko with floorplan on a stamp, 2019

With no declared winner, the project remained dormant until the "Society for the Construction of the Church of Saint Sava on Vračar" asked the University of Belgrade in 1930 to delegate "two specialists" to join the Society and Nestorović (2nd place) in further elaborating on the design of the church.^[24] The faculty proposed two professors in architecture, Dragutin Ðorđević and Aleksandar Deroko, of which Deroko joined Nestorović in the project. The new sketches resembled Hagia Sophia and not the Morava style or Gračanica as previously, which was noted by the Politika newspaper which published the sketches in 1–2 January 1932, "resembling Hagia Sophia in Constantinople". The Society under Patriarch Patriarch Varnava had chosen Hagia Sophia as the new basis, and appointed Vojislav Zađin as main engineer. There were some debates regarding the project before and during this planning stage, with complaints that such an immense monument should be Yugoslavist, given the fact that the cult of Saint Sava was a largely Serb legacy.^[25] Yugoslavia was in political turmoil, with a dictatorship proclaimed in 1929 and a new Yugoslavist constitution adopted in September 1931. During the debate, some even pushed for the construction of the "Vidovdan Temple" instead. Especially vocal was art historian Kosta Strajnić [sh], whose supporters opted for the "Yugoslav, not Serbian Pantheon". They also rejected the Byzantine design, as it only symbolized "one tribe". Meštrović supported Strajnić, insisting that the new "Yugoslav style" should be created, instead of the sacred architecture that would fit only one of the denominations. King Alexander Karađorđević publicly didn't support any solution, but privately pushed for Meštrović's temple, as he was a major proponent of integral Yugoslavism (having changed the state name to Yugoslavia) and Meštrović, as the most important Yugoslavist art representative, being his favorite artist.^[13] In the 1932–35 period national antagonism increased in the political space and the project became even more Byzantine (imperialistic) in design.^[26]

• Sketches
• 
  Nestorović's competition entry was based on the classic example of the Gračanica katholikon
• 
  Petar Arnautović painted the final Nestorović/Deroko model in 1932. As thus it was publicly presented through newspaper outlets.
• 
  Nestorović and Deroko produced their designs in plaster models which were judged by the Commission in 1931
• 
  Study of Nestorović, 1931, which was approved by the commission for further rework

With the invocation of Justinian's Hagia Sophia the size of the church was even larger than that called for in the initial competition. As they developed the project, Nestorović and Deroko reflected the growing enthusiasm of one part of the population that wanted Belgrade to have one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world. The size, height and weight of the dome were meant to surpass the grandeur of Hagia Sophia. From the initially planned 60x60m, the church had now grown to 80x90m and could hold 10,000 instead of 6,000 worshippers. The enlarged diameter of the dome was to compete with the great domed cathedrals of late antiquity, renaissance, baroque and historicism epoch. As thus the only reference for the synthetic redraft of the Nestorović-Deroko design came from the Hagia Sophia, which possessed a dome that initially had a diameter of 33m.^[27] As it had been the cathedral of the Byzantine capital, its design was naturally imposed on Belgrade as it was more appropriate for its urban context, than minor monastic churches of rural areas. With it, the idea to orient to national tradition was abandoned. This decision was highly criticised by public opinion, but not by the professional public, which didn't find many arguments for the proposal of building such a great church on the basis of the national tradition. The homogeneity of the interior space had come into consideration, which had been so successfully accomplished in the universally acclaimed Hagia Sophia. With the evolution of the model, Nestorović synthesized this with the proposal of Deroko into a final model, which resembled the dimensions of the Hagia Sophia and paraphrased several of its architectural achievements, but had created an interior space of its very own. It had a strictly centrally planned design with four apses which create a very dense, spacious and yet intimate interior. Branko Pešić described the interior in 1988 with "it will be the most beautiful in religious architecture. It's not only my subjective opinion, but was stated by all who came here and even to those who had only a glimpse".

"The utilitarian argument in the choice to use for St. Sava the architectural concept applied to St. Sophia was not a result of the decision in 1931-1932 and a sudden interest for the Justinianian church from its perfect spatial ambience and the system to overarch space, but came from the long tradition of its perception as an unparalleled structure, which had been active in Serbian scientific discourse."

— Aleksandar Ignjatović, 2016, U srpsko-vizantijskom kaleidoskopu: arhitektura, nacionalizam i imperijalna imaginacija 1878–1941

Since the beginning of the development of the scholarly discipline of architectural history in Serbia, Hagia Sophia has been referred to as a superior realization, equivalently in the importance of its constructive solution, structure and spatial effects.^[28] This was reasonably a reverberation of the global presentation of this church, whose modern life, from the beginning of the middle of the 19th century, became surprisingly dynamic and complex. The magnetic attraction of its architectural solution boosted towards the end of the 19th century and reached its highest amplitude in Serbia in the Interwar years. Owing to its architectural uniqueness, Hagia Sophia is often regarded as a structure without examples and imitation,^[29] though the Justinianian church remained an "archetype-building" - and not in the context of its place in Byzantine architecture, rather as symbol of Byzantine cultural authenticity and partly superiority - from which it gained in importance in the narratives in the relationship between the Byzantine and Serbian identities and in the parentologic metaphor of the link between Byzantium and the medieval Serbian state.

Construction

Forty years after the initial idea, construction of the church began on 10 May 1935, 340 years after the burning of Saint Sava's remains. The cornerstone was laid by Metropolitan Gavrilo of Montenegro, (the future Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo V). The project was designed by Aleksandar Deroko and Bogdan Nestorović, aided by civil engineer Vojislav Zađina. The work lasted until the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941.

The church's foundation had been completed, and the walls erected to the height of 7 and 11 meters. After the 1941 bombing of Belgrade, work ceased altogether. The occupying German army used the unfinished church as the Wehrmacht's parking lot, while in 1944 the Red Army, and later the Yugoslav People's Army used it for the same purpose. After that, it was used for storage by various companies. The Society for Building of the Church ceased to exist and has not been revived. Children who grew up in the vicinity, including the future President of Serbia Boris Tadić, didn't know the intended purpose of the unfinished construction, so they played inside thinking it was a ruin of an old castle.^[30] The granite slabs, intended for the construction of the church, were used for the building of the Tomb of People's Heroes in 1948, in the Kalemegdan section of the Belgrade Fortress.^[31]

Patriarch German tried in vain to be granted permission to finish the church. Finally, politician Dušan Čkrebić permitted the continuation of construction in 1984.

After the end of World War II, the building site was closed due to the changing political situation and the dominant ideological position of Communism in Socialist Yugoslavia. Soon after the war, the material and financial possibilities to resume construction were dim. The communist elite identified themselves as atheists and rejected the request of the Serbian Orthodox Church to build the site. The unfinished building was transformed to a playground and even various circus troupes used it for their purposes. Patriarch German personally championed the issue and during his tenure it was one of his main concerns to commence with construction. For several decades he sent 88 requests to various government agencies, all rejected.^[32] The 1953 decree that confiscated all belongings of the association to build Saint Sava never arrived at church authorities. Despite this, the church took legal action to counter the nationalisation of its property. In 1962 they were told by the Bureau of Religious Affairs that nationalized property can not be returned to the Church.^[33] In 1966 the republic government tricked the SPC into agreeing to have the foundation walls roofed and made into a church museum, then declared the transfer of decision-making of the project to the executive chamber of the SR Serbia.^[32] The SPC withdrew its consent and continued demanding the building of the church. After the Serbian National Library was erected before the entrance of the building, the church was asked by the president of the Serbian Parliament Dragoslav Draža Marković to relocate its property.^[32] Permission was finally granted in 1984 when the patriarch was invited to Dušan Čkrebić, President of Presidency of Serbia,^[30] who decided to use a legal loophole in which the decision to ban the construction came from the top of the Communist party as a "political standpoint" but was never published by any political organ nor printed in the State Gazette. Therefore, no changing or abolishing old decrees, or bringing new ones, was needed. He consulted numerous political figures, including President of the Assembly of Serbia Slobodan Gligorijević, secretary-general of the Serbian League of Communists Ivan Stambolić and Slobodan Milošević, then head of the city Communist organization. No one objected, except for the veteran's organization branch in Vračar.^[34] On 19 June 1985, Čkrebić informed German and all the members of synod the church had the full right to build the church as planned,^[32] saying later that he felt this was his "civilizational obligation" and "removal of shame from his generation".^[34] Čkrebić suggested to not make his decision public to avoid any counter-action and restart work without notifying public. Suddenly all the functionaries, even those in highest positions, which had previously rejected the church building had implicitly tolerated the decision of their younger comrades and remained supportive.^[32] Naturally this decision was received as a media bomb and became a public sensation.

On 12 May 1985, 100,000 people gathered in Belgrade to celebrate with the Serbian Patriarch and twenty bishops a liturgy inside the walls of Saint Sava. Still a part of a communist country, the event marked one of the historic turning points that symbolised the fall of communism in Europe.^[35] It was a turning point not only for the building of Saint Sava, but also for the demise of the political concept that lay behind the state atheism of communist Yugoslavia. The rising of the building also marked the return of religion to Yugoslavia.

Architect Branko Pešić was selected as the new architect and he revised the original plans in order to make better use of new materials and building techniques. Construction resumed on 12 August 1985. The original design project proposed a structure composed of masonry and partly reinforced concrete. The four central bell towers were founded on 532 "Simplex" piles, 6 m in depth. The massive perimeter walls are laid on strip foundation 4 m in depth. The various materials used, i.e. brick, concrete, reinforcement, marble, etc. were quality checked. Detailed survey of the existing structure, the as-built outlines were determined, and served as a starting point for further design and construction work.

From the resumption of construction, the building was re-planned to use a very high level of assembling methods of all parts of the static system, although the complex geometrical shapes of the building made it necessary to use some new and unique methods. As the building was built from pre-assembled concrete slabs, a technological model had to be implemented to provide parallel works, secure quality and build economically. With innovation in the building procedure, the speed of "assembling" the building could be greatly enhanced. The original base-level design of brick and concrete was cancelled. These lower levels were preserved with the foundation structure, which had to be repaired. The four-wing section had to be separated from the central part by way of expansion joints, between the semi-domes and the main arches, and vertically down the bell towers up to the foundations. Reinforced concrete columns and tie-beams tied up the foundations and future structures.

The continued construction was designed as a fully prefabricated reinforced concrete element structure. From the geometrically complicated form in view of its structural points, the single elements had to be broken down into precast components outlined with straight lines to the greatest possible extent. Walls had been designed as hollow boxes, which, when assembled, give the building its massive appearance.

All arched shapes of the galleries and vaults were transformed into assemblies of elements curved into two dimensions, which, having been erected, formed three-dimensional shapes. The semi-domes and the dome have been linearized by designing a system of arched trusses and two layers of curved decking. The precast parts were bound into a whole by in-situ cast parts of the structure which provided the required safety and longevity of the building.

The bell towers were initially started as a combination of brick and concrete columns and were continued as concrete box-structures for providing the greatest possible resistance of the towers and the least possible weight. This part of the building was completed by applying the sliding shuttering method (slip-form), with the advantages of prefabrication.

The central part of the building includes four main arches between the bell towers and the central dome with the pendentive underneath and the dome on top. Each arch spans 24 m, which is one of the widest vault spans achieved, as most of the European great domes rest on 8 or 16 pillars. Only Hagia Sophia's dome rests on only four pillars with a span between the arches reaching 31 m (still the widest span between the arches of any historical sacral building and still the biggest dome erected on four pillars).

It was found that the type of foundation chosen in the initial design lacked adequate strength to carry the loads imposed from the whole building. With the new materials and design methods, weight was reduced by 30-40 %. Before the lifting of the main dome the "Simplex" piles below the main tower-column had to be improved for carrying gravity and other loads. The foundation pile was partly replaced. While the initial foundation were only 6 m deep, the new ones with 1,4 m diameter reached a depth of 17 m and reached solid rock.

• Construction
• 
  Pešić with a scale model
• 
  Composite section plan, reworked by Pešić
• 
  The unique lifting of the dome by lift-slab method in 20 days in 1989
• 
  Time Lapse of the lifting

The structural analyses were made with dynamic calculation models using the "TABS" model from Berkeley University. All the dimensioning of the elements was done in accordance with European and Yugoslav codes. For the lifting procedures, instruments were placed into the structures to compute the data collected which were analysed by computers. All relevant data was monitored live during the lifting of the heavy assembled elements of the main arches, pendentif and the main dome. Deflection, jack's strokes, leveling of supports, deformations and stresses of main elements were analysed. The greatest achievement of the construction process was lifting of the 4,000 ton central dome, which was built on the ground, together with the copper plate and the cross, and later lifted onto the vaulted arches. This was a landmark achievement in construction.^[36] Over 280 electronic elastomers were placed throughout the dome and its elements, all hydraulic components, were supplied by measurement instruments fed to a computer to control the automatic lifting operation. After the lifting of the dome, the pendentive was assembled at ground level underneath the main dome and lifted again by chains. It took 20 days with specially constructed hydraulic machines, finished on 26 June 1989. With this work the structural part of the church was finished.

After the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, the works were halted again. Patriarch Pavle, known for his asceticism, thought that such an expensive works are inappropriate when people are beaten and impoverished. After becoming a prime minister in 2001, Zoran Đinđić talked with patriarch and convinced him to continue the works.^[30]

As of 2017^[update], the exterior of the church was complete. The bells and windows had been installed, and the façade completed. The Russian Academy of Arts under the guidance of Nikolay Aleksandrovich Mukhin is currently working on the internal decoration.^[37] On 22 February 2018, during the presentation of the new internal decoration, the decorated cupola was donated to the Serbian Orthodox Church.^[38]

Following the conversion of the Hagia Sophia to a mosque in July 2020, the Patriarch of Serbia Irinej and Serbia's president Aleksandar Vučić in August 2020 expressed their wish the Saint Sava Church would symbolically replace the Hagia Sophia, after which it was modelled, and become a "New Hagia Sophia".^[39]

Financing

The financing of the church was accompanied by many problems. During the initial building phase 1935 to 1941 financing was secured through a public association and donations from the king. From 1985 to 1999 public donations and collections were the only available resources. In 2001 Zoran Đinđić reinstalled the association for the construction of the church which worked from 2002 on. In 2004 the exterior of the church would be completed. Greek donations financed the facade, for which marble slabs from the same country were installed.^[40] In 2004 Boris Tadiċ took the chair of the association, and at the end of 2004 help from the Russian Orthodox Church was asked for the finalization of the interior. A fundraising event was held at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, where the Russian Patriarch Alesej II welcomed Serbian president Tadić and Patriarch Pavle.^[41] The concretization of the interior works were discussed with Zurab Tseretelli 2009,^[42] In 2009, Russian president Dmitri Medvedev visited the church, asked if Russia was willing to finance part of the interior decoration he replied: "why only a part, when we could do all"?. Vladimir Putin's first visit to the church in March 2011 secured his personal patronage for mosaic works. Patriarch Irenj, asked by Putin's who would decorate the interior, answered "with God's help, we will do it and with Your support" – Putin replied "budet" ("it will be").^{[citation needed]} State agreement was signed in Moscow 19 March 2012, a presidential decree Pr-1197 from 9 April 2011 enabled holding of a competition for the mosaics.^[43] From 2005 the Pošta Srbije collected funds through charity stamps worth 10 Dinar with every item of correspondence.^[44] The Serbian government also financed works with budgetary funds.^[45] As for 2019, approximately 100 million Euros had been spent on the church: for mosaics 40 million Euros, for other works in the interior 10 million, for the exterior construction approximately 50 million. This totalled roughly 100 million. Of these, 40 million came from government funds, Russia donated 10 million, and the rest was paid through private donations.^[46]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is centrally planned edifice, having the form of a Greek Cross. It has a large central dome supported on four pendentives and buttressed on each side by a lower semi-dome over an apse. Beneath each semi-dome is a gallery supported on an arcade. The general concept is heavily based on the Hagia Sophia. Its main construction idea stems from the central square beneath the dome, it is closely related to the geometry used by Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles. The central square in both churches has sidelines of 31 m, resulting in domes with approximately the same diameter (the dome of Hagia Sophia is slightly larger as it extends by approximately 0,5 the central square). The main differences in the dome structure is the high tambour in Saint Sava and that it is double-shelled. The low dome of Hagia Sophia was designed as calotte in which base 40 windows were set. As thus, both domes are built on pendentives at 40 m height, the dome of Saint Sava is approximately 10 m higher (54 to 67 m). The naos of the church is 46 m wide and 46 m long. The church interior has narthexes on three sides of which two have 9 m depth and 31,70 m width. Within the north and south narthex two small chapels will be created. The narthex to the main entrance in the west is 2 m longer and has four more columns than the other two. Above the narthexes are three galleries with that of the west side assigned to the church choir. As of 2019 the marble iconostasis is in work and will have six main icons and three doors. On the left and right sides of the iconostasis are bishopric seats.

The facade of the church was mainly executed in white marble. It covers 12.000 m². The polished Grecian Volakas marble from Kavalla took 14 months to install. Cornices are made of red Balmoral granite from Finland. It covers 120 m² on the dome and the half-domes. The pedestal is made of 80 m² black Jablanica granite from Bosnia. The stones in the facade weigh 3.000 tonnes.

The dome is 70 m (230 ft) high, while the main gold-plated cross is another 12 m (39 ft) high, which gives a total of 82 m (269 ft) to the height Church of Saint Sava. The peak is 134 m (440 ft) above the sea level (64 m (210 ft) above the Sava River); therefore the church holds a dominant position in Belgrade's cityscape and is visible from all approaches to the city.

The church is 91 m (299 ft) long from east to west, and 81 m (266 ft) from north to south. It is 70 m (230 ft) tall, with the main gold-plated cross extending for 12 m (39 ft) more. Its domes have 18 more gold-plated crosses of various sizes, while the bell towers have 49 bells of the Austrian Bell Foundry Grassmayr.

The church has a bigger floor area than Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, which covers 3980 m²,^[47] compared to 4500 m² of Saint Sava. Saint Sava is also longer 91 m vs 77,7 m and wider 81 m vs 72,42 m, it also has a bigger diameter of its dome 30,5 m vs 25 m. The dome of the Moscow cathedral is higher so, 77,37 m vs 103,4 m. Interestingly, both cathedrals resemble the Hagia Sophia in its structural design, they've been designed based on the arrangement of the central square in the Hagia Sophia.^[48] Thus they exemplify the importance of the imperial Byzantine church for main edifices in Orthodox sacral architecture.

Comparison with Hagia Sophia.

On the inspiration that was drawn from Hagia Sophia, Deroko noted that two guiding principles were followed in designs for the Church of Saint Sava – the imperative of functionality of planning, and the monumentality of space and form. Looking back at the start of construction, Deroko commented on the challenges of designing a functional space for 10.000 people, which was done with reference to the architects' data, the seminal handbook by Ernst Neufert. He also noted information about the thirty-metre diameter of the dome, making an obviously important comparison with the dome of Hagia Sophia.^[49] Although the size of Saint Sava is not necessarily associated with monumentality in Deroko's opinion, the appearance and size of the St. Sava's church greatly mattered as it was to be a monument of national importance.

• Exterior details
• 
  Dome and supporting semi-dome
• 
  The unique cross design of the church symbolizing a Serbian Heraldic Cross
• 
  West entrances with mosaics of St. Sava, Jesus Christ, and St. Simeon

Dome

The dome of Saint Sava is built in the classical style as a compound dome with four pendentives from a sphere of greater radius than the dome. It has an inner diameter of 30,50 m^[50] and an outer of 35,15 m, resembling the dimensions of the Hagia Sophia (it had initially a realized diameter of 33 m).^[27] The dome rests on four 40 m-high vaults, the square of the central space below the dome is 39,72 m wide and occupies 1.578 m².^[51] The double-shelled dome is 27 m high and reaches to 67 m on the outside and on its inner side to 64,56 m height. Thus the dome of Saint Sava is slightly higher than its archetype of the Hagia Sophia (56 m).^[52] The dome supports a cross designed by Nebojša Mitrić and Pešić 12m in height and 5m in width.^[53]

After the Hagia Sophia, the dome of Saint Sava is the biggest in any Orthodox church. The celebrated dome of the Hagia Sophia, built by Isidore of Miletus and mathematician Anthemius of Tralles, was initially at 33 m which was reconstructed from the mathematical formulas used by its Byzantine architects.^[54] Today, after having been rebuilt three times, it has an elliptic form with the diameters 31.24 m and 30.86 m.

Floorplan of Saint Sava (left) is based on that of the Hagia Sophia

Among all Christian religious buildings, the pendentive domes of Hagia Sophia (33 m, initially realized diameter), St Paul's Cathedral (30.8 m), Florence Cathedral (43 m), St. Peter's Basilica (42 m), Berlin Cathedral (30.7 m), and Primatial Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary (33 m) have larger or approximately the same inner diameters to Saint Sava's. Other than Hagia Sophia, none of them were built on four piers and with four vaults. Among the mentioned domes, Saint Sava's has 24 m-wide vaults, only surpassed by Hagia Sophia's (31 m).^[55] The much bigger dome of St. Peter's Basilica has main vaults of only 23 m.^[56]

If compared to the biggest domes realised in Orthodoxy, Saint Sava surpasses by large the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, whose dome has 29.8 m (outer) and 25 m (inner) diameters, the Kronstadt Naval Cathedral with 29.8 m (outer) and 26.7 m (inner) diameters and the Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg with 25.8 m (outer) and 21.8 m (inner) diameters.^[57][58]

In addition to its big diameter, the dome of Saint Sava has significant interior height as well. With 65 m (from the floor to the ceiling)^[59] it is the fourth-tallest dome (by interior height) of Orthodox Christianity, surpassed only by the domes of People's Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest (104 m),^[60] Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (69.5 m)^[61] and Saint Isaac's Cathedral in Saint Petersburg (69 m).

The dome of Saint Sava also ranks among the tallest domes in the world.

Interior

The interior with naos, three side arms and the altar has a surface area of 3,600 m² (38,750 sq ft) on the ground floor, with three galleries of 1,500 m² (16,146 sq ft) on the first level, and a 120 m² (1,292 sq ft) gallery on the second level. The church can hold 10,000 faithful. The choir gallery seats 800 singers. The basement contains a crypt, the treasury of Saint Sava, and the grave church of Saint Lazar the Hieromartyr, with a total surface of 1,800 m² (19,375 sq ft).

The church will offer a permanent exhibition about the construction of the church, a bell information gallery and one that informs on the life of Saint Sava. At the northeastern and southeastern pillar, two elevators are being installed to reach the dome galleries. The northern and southern entrance halls have baptism fonts, a third at gallery level is on the northern side of the altar.

The material of the sixteen great columns in the choir were imported from Italy in 1939. The capitals are made of Carrara marble, the columns by green marble from Baveno. The motifs of the capitals were designed by Aleksandar Deroko and were largely executed by Josif Grassi before WW II.

The main iconostasis is made of iron trusses on which slabs of Carrara marble will be installed. The whole construction of the approximately 20 metre-wide iconostasis will weigh 100 tonnes. It will be decorated with mosaic icons.^[62] Work on the iconostasis as of August 20, 2020 was in progress. It will consist of one row of icons.^[63]

The great central wheel chandelier (choros) is the main circular lightning device of the church, cast in bronze with a diameter of 20m. It is the greatest and heaviest choros in the world.^{[citation needed]} It was designed by Nikolay Mukhin reminiscent of Serbian specimen of Dečani and Marko's Monastery.

• Interior
• 
  Iconostasis
• 
  Bottom detail of the main chandelier of the Church of Saint Sava.
• 
  Divine liturgy, Christmas, 7 January 2021
• 
  Interior decoration
• 
  Icon on one of the four main pillars
• 
  Dome of the church (Completed)
• 
  Rose window, church of Saint Sava
• 
  Mukhin addresses Putin and Patriarch Irenej, 2019
• 
  Vladimir Putin at the church laying a Tessera into the Mandylion, 17 January 2019
• 
  Dome of the church (Under construction)
• 
  Mosaic of Jesus Christ, part of the dome
• 
  Crypt of Church of Saint Sava
• 
  Frescoes of the church

Mosaics

Russian interest to contribute to the mosaic cladding became public during a 2009 visit of director of the Russian Academy of Arts Zurab Tsereteli. Gazprom Neft was mentioned as sponsor.^[42] 2011 saw a state visit of Vladimir Putin during which he announced financial contribution to the mosaics.^[64] First assessments showed that 30 million Euros would be necessary for having all the interior done in mosaic cladding,^[65] and an initial donation of 4 million from Gazprom Neft allowed the first stage of works.^[66] Serbia and Russia agreed in March 2012 that a state competition be held in Moscow for the mosaic decoration, which took place at the gallery of the Russian Academy on 23 September 2014. The work of Nikolay Mukhin (b. 1955), with classical 12th-century Palaiologos-era gold mosaics, was declared a winner on 5 October 2014 and his project was presented to the Serbian government and SPC representative Amfilohije.^[67] The central meeting discussing the implementation of works was held on 13 November 2015 in Belgrade. Rossotrudnichestvo and its director, Lubov Nikolaevna Glebova, the designated Russian representative for the interior decoration, were present, as were the president of Serbia and its minister of foreign affairs.^[68] A second tranche over 5 million Euros was guaranteed personally by Vladimir Putin on 17 January 2019 during his visit to the church.^[69]

Detail of the mosaic at the Church of Saint Sava.

Realization of the mosaic works began on 28 September 2016 with the presentation of scale model by representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate and Russian Academy.^[70] All mosaics were commissioned in the Moscow atelier in their original size, then cut and transported to Belgrade. The first ten tonnes of mosaics arrived in Belgrade on 3 May 2017.^[71] The artists of the mosaics were chosen from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow and the Repin Institute of Arts at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.^[72] Vladimir Putin of Russia visited the church in January 2019 and announced that the Russian state would finance parts of the remaining works in the mosaic cladding.^[69] He symbolically laid a stone in a mosaic with the presentation of the Mandylion.^[73]

The central mosaic in the dome depicts the Ascension of Jesus and represents Resurrected Christ, sitting on a rainbow and right hand raised in blessing, surrounded by four angels, Apostles and Theotokos. This composition is inspired by the mosaics in the main dome of St Mark's Basilica in Venice. The lower sections are influenced by the Gospel of Luke and the first narratives of the Acts of the Apostles. The texts held by the angels are written in the Church Slavonic language, while the names of the depicted persons are written in Greek. The first indicates pan-Slavic sentiment while the latter connects it to the Byzantine traditions. The total painted area of the dome is 1,230 m² (13,200 sq ft).^[74] The dome is one of the largest curved areas decorated with the mosaic techniques and when the work is completely finished, Saint Sava will be the 6th-largest church building in the world ornamented this way after St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, the People's Salvation Cathedral in Bucharest (also unfinished), the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Primatial Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Esztergom and Berlin Cathedral.^[75] The mosaic was created for over a year in Russia, during 2016 and 2017. It was then cut and transported by special trucks to Belgrade. The total weight of the mosaic is 40 tons and it was placed on the dome from May 2017 to February 2018.^[76] The 3,289 m² (35,400 sq ft) mosaic installed at the eastern wing section, the side of the altar covers 3,289 m².

Sculptures

Capitals and cornices show a variety of sculptures. The heraldic symbols of the Nemanjić dynasty are a dominant motif. Floral motifs and anthropomorphic figures are inspired by the rich sculptural tradition of the Morava school. The main author of the stone ornaments of the interior decoration was initially Aleksandar Deroko, whose plans were executed on all of the capitals at the columns between narthexes and naos and the altar apse. They were executed by the Swiss sculptor Josif Grassi prior to World War II. After the long delay during Socialist Yugoslavia, the decorative work was overseen by Dragomir Acović [sr] and executed by Nebojša Savović Nes [sr]. A variety of different white marbles from Italy and Greece, green marbles from Italy, South America and India, dark and bright red marbles from Italy and India, yellow and greenish onyx, white limestone, red and white travertin and blue lapis lazuli. These decorative stones cover 1500 m².

Plateau

Vračar plateau panoramic view.

Discontinued construction over the decades resulted in the surrounding of the church remaining unfinished and nonfunctional. The construction of the National Library in 1973 affected massively the originally envisioned 1926 design by Deroko and Nestorović.^[77] Three architectural design competitions for arranging the plateau which surrounds the church (Vračar or Saint Sava's Plateau) were organized after World War II.^[78] One of the rejected but popular designs, Mihajlo Mitrović and Mario Jobst's, was invoked. Using denivelation of the Bulevar Oslobođenja, they envisioned the wide pedestrian connection with the Park Milutin Milanković across the boulevard. Denivelation would also allow for two large garages one of which would be used by the church visitors. The square in front of the temple would have green areas on its rim, and would include the Alley of the Greats (with monuments to all major members of the medieval Nemanjić dynasty), while the section across the boulevard would be adapted into the green, children area.^[77]

1990 project

On the fourth competition, organized in 1989, the project designed by architects Vladimir Macura and Đorđe Bobić was finally accepted in 1990. As with all the other aspects of the church construction, this one was controversial, too, as it was publicly criticized with disputes even reaching the courts of law. Citizens organized in groups and signed petitions against the project under the slogan "We don't want New Belgrade on Vračar, we want small Montmartre around the church". Construction finally began in 2003, and the works were ceremonially opened by prime minister Zoran Živković. The works were pushed in order to be finished by February 2004, for celebration of 200th anniversary of the First Serbian Uprising.^[78] The plateau covers some 40,000 m² (430,000 sq ft),^[79] of which 28,373 m² (305,400 sq ft) was transformed into the park by 2010.^[80]

Bobić explained that the design was influenced by the Kalemegdan Park at Belgrade Fortress. Though it was envisioned by the church and politicians as the churchyard, the authors opted for public space, a green square or park to also serve as a ceremonial site of important events. The conceptualized "walls" of the square were the National Library on one side, and the Parochial Home (clergy house) and the planned Patriarchate Building on another. The building of the National library was designed by Ivo Kurtović and finished in 1973, while the Parochial Home, with facade of shining, white stone, is the work of Mateja Nenadović and his sons Miloš and Đorđe. The Patriarchate Building was never built. The location of the Parochial Home inside the planned green area was deemed problematic. It was also deemed too big for its location while the Patriarchate Building, planned in its extension, was deemed even worse as it was to be three times larger. The old Church of Saint Sava remained dwarfed between the new church and the Parochial Home. The cubical design of the Parochial Home remained almost universally disliked.^[78]

The traffic around the church was rerouted, with all bordering streets becoming one-way in order to make circling the church possible. The bus stop for public transportation was envisioned in the Skerlićeva street, below the church, but the public transportation line was never established. A parking lot was built behind the library, but only for the library purpose. The architects reject the idea of a large garage, either above or below ground, as the regulation didn't allow it at the time, plus, the authors believed that due to the nature of the object, people should come on foot anyway. Smaller underground garages, for Parochial Home and Patriarchate Building were planned, but never built. Krušedolska Street, along which the Patriarchate Building was planned, was to be expanded to become a "major city thoroughfare". This never happened, but the avenue along the street was cut under the pretext of this plan. The traffic solution was also criticized as some urbanists stated that all of the small streets behind the church should become pedestrian zones, with galleries, coffee and sweet shops, artistic squares, souvenir shops, etc.^[78]

The physical churchyard and the public space are divided by the symbolical "living fence", which consists only of columns, with spaces between. There is a ground floor fountain, made of glass and stone, which covers 400 m² (4,300 sq ft) and is used as the pathway when not operational. The fountain is ornamented with lights. The entire square is used for walking, even the grassy areas, though there are relatively narrow pedestrian paths made of Jablanica marble. To enhance its "friendly" appearance. the plateau is completely flat, except for the mound with the Karađorđe Monument. Almost 2 m (6 ft 7 in) of earth was removed from the plateau to flatten it. The plan included the planting of 400 trees, but after the first ones began to dry soon, this was abandoned. The Russian Orthodox Church-donated statue of Saint Sava which was placed on the side facing the street bearing the saint's name. There are two children's playgrounds.^[78]

As the result of the accepted plan, even though the new buildings in Vračar and neighboring Neimar were to have only three floors, buildings with six or seven floors were allowed. Urban historians claim that this damaged the inherited urban tissue of Vračar and Neimar. Construction of tall buildings in the narrow, small streets destroyed the neighborhood's ambiance and spirit.^[78]

2020 project

In time, due to the lack of maintenance, the plateau had deteriorated. Among other things, numerous granite slabs, used for paving of the churchyard and the pathways, crumbled and fell out, leaving holes. Scandal broke out during the visit of Russian president Vladimir Putin in January 2019 because of the sloppy repairs by the city communal service. Instead of replacing the missing slabs, workers had even removed some more of them and created patches, filling the holes with asphalt concrete which became laugh of the town.^[81]

In January 2020, deputy mayor Goran Vesić announced a complete redesign of the plateau and the construction of the Patriarchate Building.^[82] The project was designed by architects Branislav Mitrović and Dejan Miljković. The project wasn't adopted by the city or any experts' commission or jury, but by the Serbian Orthodox Church itself. The central pedestrian pathway is to be expanded and between the library and the new Patriarchate Building an artificial forest, partially growing out of the water, was to be planted. The existing fountain will be dismantled and the new one "will not be a classical fountain". Though city officials claimed that there will be more green areas, from the officially presented architectural model it was obvious that there may be more trees, but less green areas overall. The first, smaller phase on the outskirts of the plateau were planned for October 2020, when the church should finally be finished.^[79]

The design was criticized by the Association of Serbian Architects which stated that the planned “forest” would degrade the historical, symbolical and social importance by reducing the area to a city park. It was also noted that mass gatherings organized on the plateau (funeral processions for Patriarch Pavle and prime minister Zoran Đinđić, the visit of Russian president Vladimir Putin) showed that the area's space is inadequate as it is.^[83] The massive Patriarchate Building, though planned from the start, is also deemed problematic. It is considered too big and robust for its location. It will also enclose the Krušedolska Street, the tenants in it, and obstruct the view from the street's numerous cafés on the park which has a touristic value.^[78] There are calls for keeping the square-like shape of the present plateau or even expanding it as it basically functions as the extended, open-air narthex of the church and should have room for as many visitors as possible as the 1990 design only addressed local residents' needs, neglecting the area's spiritual and religious character.^[77]

There were repeated calls for either an international or a domestic public design competition, instead of the clandestine process by which the church itself selected the design of public space.^[77]

Further details

Bells

Carillon in the NW tower

The church has 49 bells. Four free-swinging bells are in the SW tower. The remaining 45 are part of a carillon, the only ones in the Balkans. All bells were manufactured at the Grassmayr Bell Foundry in Innsbruck, Austria. All bells have been paid for by private donations. The fourth-largest bell is dedicated to Zoran Đinđić during whose presidency the building of the church was restarted after the Yugoslav wars. The biggest bell is a donation of Svetislav Prlinčević for which 110.000 dollars were paid. The carillon plays regularly the hymn of Saint Sava.

Nr.	Name	Year cast	Manufacturer	Diameter (mm)	Mass (kg)	Note	Belltower
01	Bell of Saint Sava	2001	Grassmayr Bell Foundry, Innsbruck	2.004	6.128	g0 0	SW-tower
02					3.956	a0 0
03					2.458	c1 00
04	Bell of Zoran Đinđić				1.460	d2 00
05					1.054	e1 0	NW-Tower
06					894	f1 00
07					744	fis1 00
08					626	g1 00
09					536	gis1 00
010					440	a1 00
011					372	ais1 00
012					312	b1 00
013					260	c2 00
014					219	cis2 00
015					187	d2 00
016					164	dis2 00
017					144	e2 00
018					126	f2 00
019					110	fis2 00
020					96	g2 00
021					85	gis2 00
022					75	a2 00
023					66	ais2 00
024					59	b2 00
025					53	c3 00
026					48	cis3 00
027					44	d3 00
028					40	dis3 00
029					35	e3 00
030					32	f3 00
031					30	fis3 00
032					27	g3 00
033					25	gis3 00
034					25	a3 00
035					21	ais3 00
036					19	b3 00
037					18	c4 00
038					17	cis4 00
039					16	d4 00
040					15	dis4 00
041					15	e4 00
042					14	f4 00
043					14	fis4 00
044					13	g4 00
045					13	gis4 00
046					12	a4 00
047					12	ais4 00
048					12	b4 00
049					11	c5 00

Appraisal

Italian art critic and professor of Architectural Design at Milan University, Pier Paolo Tamburelli, praised the building. He claimed that the building possesses an incredibly pure and dignified interior. With its large dome and with its four apses it has a unified and well-developed, profound and dense space. While based on classical examples, Tamburelli notes its own ferocity and gentleness which is expressed in the sensitivity to light.^[84] "The beauty of Svetog Save is not limited to the huge mass of concrete, the immense weight of incomprehensible and tremendous matter; the beauty of the church is not that of a mountain of concrete but a beauty that is all architectural, made of measurements, of relationships between different places and of a delicate order that nonetheless manages to govern the matter. ... the space of Svetog Save is not sublime, it is beautiful." Tamburelli notes that he wonders if it would be possible to reproduce a theory capable of re-appropriating the resources that have been used to build Saint Sava, and whether it would be possible to find all necessary design techniques to build a construction theory on it, as its classical design layout was laid in subtle casts and shades of concrete slabs.

The church has been compared to Sagrada Familia because of their long-running construction phase and their cultural and artistic importance. And both churches have served for liturgy during their lengthy construction.^[85]

Notable events

• Funeral of Zoran Đinđić (2003): Service held by Patriarch Pavle
• Pošta Srbije depicted on 14 November 2019 a floorplan and Aleksandar Deroko on a stamp and post envelope to commemorate his 125th birthday.^[86]
• Funeral of Patriarch Irinej (2020): Service held by Hrizostom Jević
• Irinej, 45th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, buried in the crypt on 21 November 2020.

See also

• Religious architecture in Belgrade
• List of buildings in Belgrade
• List of carillons
• List of tallest buildings in Serbia
• List of largest Eastern Orthodox church buildings
• List of tallest Eastern Orthodox church buildings
• List of largest church buildings
• List of tallest church buildings
• List of tallest domes

Notes

1. The official site specifies that, on the nave floor can be accommodated 7,000 worshipers. More precisely 6,300 worshipers on the nave floor and 700 in the choir (balconies). In the temple galleries (underground), three thousand worshippers can be accommodated. Also the official site specifies that, in total 10,000 worshipers, can accommodated on the nave floor and in the underground galleries. The nave floor criterion is considered standard without annexes. Also valued at 10,000 can be disputed including the annexes, to increase the value.
2. Nave floor - Top cross: 77.34 m
   Stairs: 0.96 m

Annotations

1. ^
   The church building is sometimes referred to as a "cathedral" because of its size although it is not a cathedral in the technical ecclesiastical sense, as it is not the seat of a bishop (the seat of the Metropolitan bishop of Belgrade is St. Michael's Cathedral). In Serbian it is called hram (temple), which is another name for a church in Eastern Orthodoxy.