Belgrade, the capital and largest city of Serbia, has an abundance of religious architecture. The city has numerous Serbian Orthodox churches and temples and is also the seat of the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Its two most prominent Orthodox Christian places of worship are the St. Michael's Cathedral and the Church of St. Sava, one of the largest Eastern Orthodox church in the world.[1][2]
Other notable Belgrade churches include St. Mark's Church, in which rests the body of the first Serbian Emperor, Stefan Dušan. The architecture of this church was greatly inspired by the Gračanica monastery in the province of Kosovo. The church of Sveta Ružica in the Kalemegdan Fortress is one of the holiest places in Belgrade for Serbian Orthodox Christians since this was the site where the body of St. Paraskeva was preserved for several years after the Ottoman conquest, before being taken to Romania where it still rests today.
Belgrade is the seat of a Catholic archdiocese, with a small Catholic community and several Catholic churches. One of these, St Anthony's, was designed by the noted Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik.
The Bajrakli Mosque, built in 1526 by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, is one of the oldest surviving structures in contemporary Belgrade.[3]
The Jewish community is served by the Belgrade Synagogue, which is the only currently active Jewish place of worship in the entire country, although not the only structure within the city limits.
Belgrade also had an active Buddhist temple in the first half of the 20th century. It was built by Kalmyk expatriates fleeing the outcome of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
Orthodox
edit- Church of St. Alexander Nevsky, Dorćol
- Church of St. Basil of Ostrog, Bežanija
- Church of St. Nicholas, Zvezdara
- Church of St. George, Banovo Brdo
- Church of Saint Sava, Vračar
- Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Topčider
- Russian Church of the Holy Trinity
- Church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, Zemun, built in 1780
- Ružica Church, Kalemegdan
- Chapel of Saint Petka (Paraskeve), Kalemegdan
- St. Michael's Cathedral
- St. Mark's Church
- Monastery of St. Archangel Gabriel, Zemun
- Rajinovac monastery
Roman Catholic
editIslamic
editProtestant
edit- Evangelical Church, Zemun, built in 1920s, Evangelical
Synagogues
edit- The Sukkat Shalom Belgrade Synagogue
- Zemun Synagogue, built in early 20th century, sold to a restaurant owner during Slobodan Milošević's rule; in 2020, ownership was returned to the Jewish community of Zemun[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Tanja Damnjanović 2005: „Fighting“ the St. Sava: Public Reaction to the Competition for the Largest Cathedral in Belgrade. Centropa, 5 (2), 125–135.
- ^ Ljubomir Milanović 2012: Materializing Authority: The Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade and its Architectural Significance. Serbian Studies, 24 (1–2), 63–74.
- ^ "Завод за заштиту споменика културе града Београда, каталози 2011,Бајракли џамија, аутор Хајна Туцић - Бајракли џамија (1-4)" (PDF). Retrieved 16 April 2023.
- ^ "Serbia: After years of legal wrangling, the synagogue in Zemun, an outlying district of Belgrade, is returned to Jewish community ownership". Jewish Heritage Europe. 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2024-09-20.