The exhibition "Adornment of the St. Sava Cathedral in Belgrade" has opened at the Academy of Arts Museum in Moscow. According to the organizers, it is the first time the entire scope of the project to create mosaics for the largest Orthodox cathedral in the Balkans is presented to the public.

Spanning over 600 square meters, the exhibition covers the entire artistic concept of the cathedral's interior. It includes sketch projects, models of dome paintings, conchs, sails, entrance groups, colored cardboard compositions, sketches of choirs, and other architectural elements of the church. Additionally, archival photographs and films about the entire project are on display.

The exhibition will run from December 20 to January 31, following its ceremonial opening on December 19. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia welcomed the participants in their messages.

"The magnificent mosaics, reproductions of which you will see at today's opening exhibition, were created by the efforts of Russian and Belarusian mosaic artists. This is our offering to St. Sava and the gift of the Russian Orthodox Church to its beloved sister, the Serbian Orthodox Church. I am convinced that this gift will be a visible testimony of love between our Churches and peoples, not only for us but for future generations as well. Since the time of St. Sava, Orthodoxy has been the foundation of our good relations with our Serbian brothers," wrote Patriarch Kirill.

In the message from the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, it was noted, "Creating the decoration of the St. Sava Cathedral in Belgrade became a new page in the history of Christian art. It is particularly important for us that this is also a monument to Serbian-Russian friendship, spiritual connection, and common prayer to the Lord."

St. Sava's Church, Belgrade. Photo: © Bala-Kate / Lori's Photo Bank

The St. Sava Cathedral in Belgrade is one of the main architectural landmarks in Serbia and one of the largest Orthodox cathedrals in the world. It was consecrated in honor of the first Serbian archbishop and national hero, St. Sava (1175-1236). According to tradition, the decision to build the cathedral was made on the site where his relics were burned by the Turks in 1594.

The design of the cathedral began in the 19th century, but construction only began in 1935 and was subsequently frozen due to war. The main construction work was completed by 1989, and the cathedral was opened in 2004 without internal decoration.

Work on decorating the cathedral began in 2017. The total area of the mosaics is 17,000 square meters, making the cathedral an encyclopedia of Orthodox religious art with no analogs in the entire history of Christianity. Over 50 million tesserae (pieces of smalt) of various sizes were laid on the walls of the cathedral. The total weight of all the mosaics exceeds 400 tons. A team of Russian and Belarusian masters, under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church, worked on their creation. The artistic work on the decoration of the church was led by a member of the Russian Academy of Arts and People's Artist of Russia Nikolay Mukhin, who previously painted the Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow.