VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
The Cathedral of Saint Sava is an Orthodox church dedicated to Saint Sava – the most revered Serbian saint. The cathedral was built on the Vracar plateau where Saint Sava's remains were transferred from the Monastery Mileseva and burned upon Grand Vizir Sinan Pasha's decree in 1595. Saint Sava (1175-1235) was the Autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church's founder, its first Archbishop, the father of Serbian literature and an educator.
In 1894, the government decided to commemorate the Serbian saint. Three hundred years after the burning of his remains, the Society for the Construction of the Cathedral was founded in 1895. However, the construction, which was based on the designs of architects Bogdan Nestorovic and Alexandar Deroko, only commenced in the 1930s. During WWII, the construction was cancelled. The authorities only allowed the construction to recommence in 1985.
Architect Branko Pesic redesigned the original project. Basic construction was completed in 1988. The church's exterior trim and white marble lining were finished in 2003. A park was built around the church.
The Cathedral of Saint Sava, which is 91-metres long, 81-metres wide and 71-metres high, with a 400-tonne dome, ranks among the world's largest church edifices. According to the designers' estimates, the cathedral can hold about 10,000 people at the same time. The sanctuary has a total area of 700 square metres. A 6-metre high crypt contains Saint Tsar Lazar's grave church and patriarchal burial vaults.
The church's construction has not yet been completed. At present, work on the internal decoration is conducted with the support of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the state and Serbian Orthodox believers from all over the world. The church's ongoing decoration will be completed in about two years and the mosaic decorations will be finished in 5-7 years.
A small church erected in 1935, which is also dedicated to Saint Sava, is located near the cathedral.
A monument commemorating Karageorge, the leader of the First Serbian Uprising against Turkish rule in the early 19th century, stands in front of the cathedral at the entrance to the park.
