Church of Saint Sava

Church of Saint Sava tickets: which one to buy

The church stands on the Vracar plateau above central Belgrade, about twenty minutes on foot from the main pedestrian street or a short ride on the trolleybus, and entry is free. The crypt below has its own entrance round the side and is also free, and it should not be skipped, since many visitors look at the main space and leave without seeing the more impressive half.

Walking tours of the city include the church along with the fortress, the bohemian quarter and the communist-era architecture across the river, and free tip-based tours run daily. The Tesla museum is ten minutes away and needs a separate ticket. Dress modestly; scarves are available at the door. Services are Orthodox and long, and visitors are welcome to stand at the back. Allow an hour for the church and crypt together. A small parish church from 1935 stands beside the main building and stays open when the great church is closed.

Visiting Church of Saint Sava: what to see

The building marks the spot where the Ottomans are believed to have burned the relics of Sava, the first Serbian archbishop, in 1594. Construction began in 1935, stopped for the war and the communist decades, and resumed in the 1980s; the exterior was finished in 2004 and the interior only in 2020. The model is Hagia Sophia, reinterpreted in white marble and granite, and the scale is enormous, among the largest Orthodox churches in the world by volume.

The central dome, weighing four thousand tonnes, was assembled on the ground and lifted into place in one operation in 1989, which took forty days. Inside, the vaults are covered with mosaic on a gold ground, made with Russian assistance and running to tens of thousands of square metres, the largest such scheme completed in modern times. The crypt below is lower, denser and painted in deep colours, and many visitors find it the more moving space. A separate treasury below displays vestments, icons and gifts sent by other Orthodox churches.

Church of Saint Sava opening hours and the best time to go

The feast of Saint Sava on the twenty-seventh of January is the great day, marked across Serbia as a school holiday, and the church is packed. Orthodox Christmas in early January and Easter in spring also fill it. Otherwise it is open all day, every day, and mornings are quietest. The mosaics need light and the interior is at its best on a bright day; on a grey Belgrade afternoon in winter the gold goes flat.

The park around the church has benches, a monument and the national library, and is a pleasant place to sit. Summer evenings in Belgrade are lively and the riverside clubs run until dawn. Trolleybuses from the centre stop at the door. Photography inside is permitted without flash, and the best position for the dome is directly under it, looking straight up. The plateau around the church is one of the highest points in Belgrade and catches a breeze in summer.