A huge mosaic will decorate the world's largest Orthodox church
Russian and Serbian artists have completed the creation of a mosaic covering an area of 2 thousand square meters for the Church of St. Sava on Vracar in Belgrade. Together with the previously made dome, this project for the interior decoration of the temple became one of the largest examples of mosaic art in the world.
The meeting of the recruitment committee took place at the Russian House in Belgrade, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“This event is especially important given that the Orthodox Christian world is facing problems. In this difficult time, when we observe a schism, as well as an anti-Orthodox atmosphere, there are forces that care about unity in Orthodoxy, the survival of Orthodoxy, and this gives us strength for the future,” said Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Botsan-Kharchenko.
Metropolitan Porfiry of Zagreb and Ljubljana conveyed to those gathered the blessing of Patriarch Irinej, who was unable to attend today’s session for good reasons. He recalled that the decoration of the temple was completed by the most important date of the Serbian Orthodox Church - the 800th anniversary of the autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the founder and first archbishop of which is Saint Sava.
“With this Saint Sava brought the light of enlightenment, created the center of our spiritual life and determined the identity of our people, which lies in the fact that Serbs are Orthodox Christians. We have a common spiritual identity with the Russians and with all Orthodox peoples...And we know that in fact both the Russian and Serbian people are building a common temple together,” said Porfiry.
The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and Russia, the Ministry of Culture of Russia, the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches, Rosotrudnichestvo, Russian House, Gazprom Neft, as well as experts from the Russian and Serbian sides.
The cathedral in Belgrade, dedicated to the founder of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Saint Archbishop Sava of Serbia, was founded in 1894 on the site of the burning of the saint’s relics by the Turkish authorities in 1594. Construction continued throughout the last century with significant interruptions.
The beginning of the active phase of construction of the cathedral dates back to 1935, however, it was interrupted by the Second World War and the communist Yugoslav period and resumed only in 1985. The author of the current project in the Serbian-Byzantine style is the famous Serbian and Yugoslav architect Alexander Deroko. By 2004, all work on the construction of the cathedral was completed. Then we began to decorate the interior of the temple.
Since 2015, on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rossotrudnichestvo has been the general coordinator of the work on decorating the interior of the temple. The Church of St. Sava the Serbian is one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world with a floor area of 3650 square meters and a height with a cross of 79 meters, it can accommodate 10 thousand people.
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