The ornately decorated ceiling with golden frescoes and wheel chandelier at the Church of Saint Sava (1935-2004) in Belgrade, Serbia


The Church of Saint Sava (lit. ''The Temple of Saint Sava'') is a Serbian Orthodox church which sits on the Vračar plateau in Belgrade, Serbia. It was planned as the bishopric seat and main cathedral of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The church is dedicated to Saint Sava, the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church and an important figure in medieval Serbia. It is built on the presumed location of St. Sava's grave. His coffin had been moved from Mileseva Monastery to Belgrade. The coffin was placed on a pyre and burnt in 1595 by Ottoman Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha. Bogdan Nestorovic and Aleksandar Deroko were finally chosen to be the architects in 1932 after a second revised competition in 1926-27 (for which no first award was granted, Nestorovic being runner up). This sudden decision instigated an important debate in interwar Yugoslavia which centered around the temple's size, design and symbolic national function. This was accompanied by a sizeable increase in the base area of the ambitiously conceived project. The new design departed from the competition guidelines issued in 1926, and was to replicate the dimensions and architecture of Hagia Sophia.


Size: 3840px × 5760px
Location: Krusedolska 2a, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia, Europe
Photo credit: © DE ROCKER / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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