Skywatch Friday: Church of Saint Sava
We were in Belgrade, Serbia last month and had the opportunity to visit the Church of Saint Sava, an Eastern Orthodox church.
It's dedicated to Saint Sava, Serbia's first archbishop and the patron saint of Serbia. Sava died in 1236. After the Serbs rebelled against Ottoman rule in 1594, the Ottomans brought Sava's sarcophagus and relics to Belgrade and burned them. It's said this church was built on the spot where the burning took place.
As you might recognize, the church was inspired by Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. Construction on the church began in 1935 and was only completed in 2020. Construction was stalled by WWII and the communist regime that followed.
This is the Memorial Chapel of Saint Sava, a small chapel that was built in three months in 1935 and is located adjacent to the much larger church.
I cannot even begin to tell how how beautiful the inside of the church is. The wheel chandelier is one of the largest and heaviest in the world and is 20 meters across.
It's the fourth largest Eastern Orthodox church in the world and can hold 7,000 people.
There are mosaics everywhere! The guide told us there are five million pieces of gold mosaic. They cover 161,000 square feet making it the largest mosaic surface across Christendom. The installation of the mosaics started in 2016 and was completed in 2020. I was in complete awe.
People were coming inside to pray while we were there. It made me wonder about the Orthodox religion, I don't know anything about it.
The Church of Saint Sava is a definite must visit if you're ever in Belgrade. We've visited a lot of churches in Europe and this is one of the most beautiful.
Here's a 30 second clip I took of the inside.
Comments
Worth a Thousand Words