The preparations for the construction of one of the biggest Orthodox shrines in the world were launched back in 1894. The Cathedral was erected on the site where, legend has it, the holy relics of the first Serbian archbishop, St. Sava, werw translated from the Monastery of Mileševa and incinerated by order of Sinan- pasha in 1594.
The construction works commenced in 1935. according to the design of architect Bogdan Nestorović and architect Aleksandar Deroko only to be disrupted by the outbreak of World War II and the bombing of Belgrade. The period of Tito’s Communist Yugoslavia followed and the Cathedral had to wait for some better times to come. It was not before 1985. that the construction works resumed. The interior height of the Cathedral, from the floor to the top of the dome is 65 meters and the exterior height with the cross is 79 meters. The Cathedral has three choir galleries, which may accommodate 700 choristers, and the gallery of a belvedere. The ground- floor and galleries of the Cathedral can house 10,000 believers. Underneath the Cathedral floor lie the treasury, St. Sava ‘s crypt and the sepulchral church of the Holy Prince Lazar. Icon painting, which still lies ahead, will be made in the mosaic technique. The main dome is envisaged to feature a huge mosaic of Christ Pantocrator. The construction of the Cathedral is funded exclusively through charity. The parish home is situated in the vicinity of the Church where the envisaged Patriachate building will also stand.
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