The Orthodox Temple of Saint Sava Belgrade

The (Orthodox) Temple of Saint Sava (Serbian: Храм Светог Саве) in Belgrade, Serbia is the largest Orthodox Church Temple currently in use. The church is dedicated to Saint Sava, founder of the Serbian church and an important figure in medieval Serbia. It is built on the Vračar plateau, on the location where his remains are thought to have been burned in 1595 by Turkish Sinan Pasha. From its location, it dominates Belgrade’s cityscape, and is perhaps the most monumental building in the city. The building of the church structure is being financed exclusively by donations. The parish home is nearby, as will be the planned patriarchal building.
Architecture

It finishes Belgrade’s line Kalemegdan – Trg republike – Terazij] – Beograđanka – Slavija – Temple of Saint Sava. The peak is 134 metres (439.6 ft) high (64 metres 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 (298.5 ft) long from east to west, and 81 m (265.7 ft) from north to south. It is 70 m (229.65 ft) tall, with the main gilding|gold-plated cross extending for 12 more metres (39.4 ft). Its domes have 18 more gold-plated crosses of various sizes, while the bell towers have 49 bells.

It has a surface area of 3,500 square metres on the ground floor, with three alleries of 1,500 m2 on the first level, and a 120 m2 gallery on the second level. The temple can receive 10,000 faithful at any one time. The choir gallery seats 800 singers. The basement contains a crypt, the treasury of Saint Sava, and the grave church of Saint Hieromartyr Lazar, with a total surface of 1.800 m2.

The facade is done in white marble and granite and, when finished, the inner decorations will be done as mosaics. The central dome will contain a mosaic of Christ Pantocrator. To give a sense of the monumental scale, the eyes will each be about 3 metres wide.

Construction process

The construction has progressed very slowly.

Three hundred years after the burning of Saint Sava’s remains, in 1895, the Society for the Construction of the Temple of Saint Sava on Vračar was founded in Belgrade. Its goal was to build a temple on the place of the burning. 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 1905, a public contest was launched to design the temple; all five applications received were rejected as not being good enough.

Soon, the breakout of the First Balkan War in 1912, and subsequent Second Balkan War and First World War stopped all activities on the temple’s construction. After the war, in 1919, the Society was established again. New appeals for designs were made in 1926; this time, it received 22 projects. Though the first and third prize were not awarded, the second-place project, made by architect Aleksandar Deroko, was chosen for the building of the temple. Forty years after the initial idea, building of the temple started in May 10, 1935, 340 years after the burning of Saint Sava’s remains. The cornerstone was laid by bishop Gavrilo Dozic-Medenica (the future Serbian Patriarch Gavrilo V).

The project was designed by Aleksandar Deroko and Bogdan Nestorovic, aided by civil engineer Vojislav Zadjina.

The building lasted until Second World War Axis occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941. The temple’s foundation was created, and the walls erected to the height of 7 and 11 metres. After the 1941 bombing of Belgrade, all work ceased. The occupying German army used the unfinished temple as a parking lot, while in 1944 the partisans and the Red Army used it with the same purpose. Later, it was used for storage by various companies. The Society for Building of the Temple ceased to exist and has not been revived.

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In 1958, Patriarch Germanius renewed the idea of building the temple. After 88 requests for continuation of the building—and as many refusals, permission for finishing the building was granted in 1984, and Branko Pesic was chosen as new architect of the temple. He remade the original projects to make better use of new materials and building techniques.

Construction of the building began again on August 12, 1985. The walls were erected to full height of 40 metres.

The greatest achievement of the building 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 walls. The lifting, which took forty days, was finished on June 26, 1989.