After WW I Serbia,
Croatia and Slovenia became known as Yugoslavia. Various countries were added
until in 1946 Yugoslavia consisted of the original three countries plus
Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovinian and Macedonia.
St.
Sava Orthodox Cathedral
is the largest orthodox cathedral in the world. After 50 years of construction,
it still is not complete. The domed building, with a white marble and granite
façade is set in gardens. It is not
a cathedral in the technical ecclesiastical
sense,
as it is not the seat of a bishopery. In Serbian it is called a hram
(temple), which in Eastern Orthodox is another name for a church. In English, it is
usually referred to as a cathedral because of its size and importance. The Cathedral of Saint Sava is the
most
recent addition to a historic line of important architectural monuments and places
in Belgrade. The church is centrally planned, having the form of a Greek Cross.
It has a large 70-meter high central dome. The main 12 meter high gold plated
cross makes the dome 82 meters high. The church is visible from all approaches
to the city. There are 18 other gold-plated crosses of various sizes, while the
bell towers have 49 bells. The
Cathedral can receive 10,000 faithful at any one time. The choir gallery seats
800 singers. The basement contains a crypt, the treasury of Saint Sava, and the
grave of Saint Lazas. The façade is in white marble and granite and,
when finished, the inner decorations will be of mosaics. The central dome will
contain a mosaic of Christ. To give a sense of the monumental
scale, the eyes will each be about 4 meters wide.
Three hundred years after the burning of Saint Sava's
remains, a small church was built at the future place of the Cathedral in 1895.
It was later moved so the construction of the Cathedral could begin. In 1905, a
public contest was launched but all designs were rejected. Wars delayed further
construction until 1919. New appeals for designs were made in 1926. Forty years
after the initial idea, construction of the church began in May 1935. The work lasted until the invasion of Yugoslavia
in 1941 when work ceased altogether. The occupying German army used the
unfinished church as a parking lot. Construction began again in1985. The
greatest achievement of the construction process was the lifting of the 4,000 ton
central dome, which was built on the ground, together with the copper plate and
the cross. The lifting, which took forty days, was finished on June 26, 1989. Most
of the church is complete. The bells and windows are installed, and the facade is completed.
However, work on the internal decoration of the building remains unfinished so
visitors are not allowed inside.
We
were in Belgrade on a Sunday. We walked up the 130 steps from river level to
mall level where there was a great
environmental exhibit. Done by photography students, it showed pictures of
unbelievable trash heaps. The students were trying to tell people we cannot
continue to trash our earth. It was very well done.
Impressions:
Small cars. Traffic was light and drivers were civil
High literacy rate.
Looks prosperous, although young
educated people have difficulty finding jobs with decent pay.
Some litter in certain areas.
Lots of pregnant women
Lots of cigarette smokers
Yards are well maintained
Gorgeous architecture
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