St. Mark Orthodox Church — Attraction in City of Belgrade

St. Mark's Church or Church of St. Mark is a Serbian Orthodox church located in the Tašmajdan park in Belgrade, Serbia, near the Parliament of Serbia. It was built in the Serbo-Byzantine style by the Krstić brothers, completed in 1940, on the site of a previous church dating to 1835. It is one of the largest churches in the country. There is a small Russian church next to St. Mark's.

The church, dedicated to Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark, was built in the Interwar period between 1931 and 1940 in the Tašmajdan Park, in the centre of Belgrade. It was built slightly north of a wooden 19th-century church that was destroyed in 1941.

The original, wooden church, was built in 1835-36. Dedicated to St. Mark, it was built within an existing cemetery. At the same time Prince Miloš Obrenović, who was also a donor to this church, built the palatial church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Topčider (completed in 1834). Work on both churches was supervised by architect Nikola Živković (1792–1870). In 1838, Prince Miloš's eldest son Prince Milan and bishop Gavrilo Popović of Šabac were buried directly by the church. After the May Coup, the royal couple, King Alexander Obrenović I and Queen Draga Obrenović, were buried in this church. In ca. 1870, the church was the parish seat of Terazije with 312 homes and Palilula with 318 homes. It was destroyed during World War I by Austrian troops, then reconstructed in 1917. It was badly damaged in the 1941 German bombing of Belgrade and the rubble was cleared in 1942.

Due to the rapid growth of the city and population increase, it became necessary in the beginning of the 20th century to build a larger church in the Belgrade quarter of Palilula. Frequent wars did not allow this until 1930 when a pair of Belgrade architects, the brothers Petar and Branko Krstić, both professors of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture, designed the plans for the new St. Mark's Church. The present building of St. Mark's Church was built according to their drawings between 1931 and 1940. The eruption of World War II interrupted the full completion of the church. Only the construction work was finished. Divine service took place in the new church during the...

St. Mark's Church or Church of St. Mark(Црква Светог Марка/Crkva Svetog Marka) is a Serbian Orthodox church located in the Tashmajdan park in Belgrade, Serbia, near the Parliament of Serbia. It was built in the Serbo-Byzantine style by the Krstić brothers, completed in 1940, on the site of a previous church dating to 1835. It is one of the largest churches in the country. There is a small Russian church next to St. Mark's. St. Mark's Church was built in the Serbian-Byzantine style, according to the model of the Gracanica Monastery( Kosovo and Metohija) Grobnica cara Stefana Dušana se nalazi uz južni zid , radjena po projektu Dragomira Tadića, u mermeru, gde su položene mošti cara Stefana Dušana donešene iz manastira Svetih Arhandjela. The tomb of Emperor Stefan Dusan is located next to the south wall, worked on the project Dragomir Tadic, in marble, where the relics of Emperor Stefan Dusan were brought from the monastery of the Holy Archangels,Kosovo...

A good example of revival architecture - this church is based on the medieval Gračanica church located in the monastery of the same name in Kosovo. Sadly the interior frescoes are still unfinished, although this church has been in the making for almost hundred years now, the progress of completion was constantly marred by lack of funds, war or political climate of the time. Still well worth visiting for it's lovely polychrome facade, current resting place of the medieval Serbian Emperor Dušan the Mighty, as well as few other (more recent) royals buried in the crypt.

Trivia - there's a small Russian church that lies hidden behind this monumental gem - another gem in it's own right, a curiosity from back in the heyday when Russian immigrants loyal to the Imperial Russia fled the Bolshevik revolution and settled...