Things to see and do in Belgrade: Visit St Sava Temple

The most photographed icon of Belgrade, St Sava Church, is centrally located and visible from every corner of Belgrade. The façade of the church, the windows and bells were finished in 2009 but inside it's still a “work in progress” which still doesn't stop you admiring its sheer size. The guide mentioned that the basement of the Church is almost the same size as the church above ground itself if not bigger. 

This place, St Sava Church, has a very important place in Serbian culture and its history. The Church is dedicated to the first Archbishop of the Serbian Church, who was born as Rastko Nemanjic, the son of the first ruler of Serbia. In his youth he decided to become a monk and was re-christened with the monastic name Sava. He later established the monasteries of Hilandar on Mount Athos in Greece and Žiča. He died in Bulgaria only for his body to be moved to Mileseva Monastery where it stayed until 1594 when the Ottoman Turks removed the remains and burned them on the Vracar hills in Belgrade - St Sava Church is built on the very same spot. 

Three hundred years after the burning of the body the idea of building a church took hold although it was put off by many wars and the communist reluctance to build a church in the middle of Belgrade. Finally permission was granted in 1985 and building started soon after.  

The church is built in the Byzantium style with the figure of the cross forming its base and a large central dome above and four semi-domes lower down, with galleries all around supported by an arcade underneath. Does that sound familiar? You might have seen this construction somewhere else in Europe?

If you have visited Istanbul and the magnificent Hagia Sofia then you'll spot its resemblance to St Sava Temple.  Istanbul (once known as Constantinople) was established by the Roman Emperor Constantine (born in Serbia) who decreed that Christianity be the main religion of the Roman Empire. Constantinople, or the New Rome, became the capital of the Byzantine Empire for more than 1000 years and today the Hagia Sophia is the best surviving example of Byzantine architecture.

St Sava Temple is the largest working Orthodox temple in the world.

For more information about day tours in Belgrade and Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com or visit our site at www.ReadyClickAndGo.com

The King and I

I wanted to tell him all about my grandfather, his Military life during WWII as a Royalist in Serbia, his arrest by the communists and journey to the UK as a prisoner of war but the distance between the waiting lounge and the plane was just too short. We managed to exchange pleasantries about Kate and William’s wedding which he attended as a guest of Queen Elizabeth.  Only when we entered the plane and he sat down in his business class seat I realised I had missed another chance again. The commotion on the flight was overwhelming when the whisper went around that The King was on board.

Alexander II Karadjordjevic was born 1945 in London after the Royal Family was expelled from Kingdom of Yugoslavia. He was born in suite 212 at Claridges Hotel which Churchill famously declared to be a temporary Yugoslavian territory in order for the future King to be born in his own country. The newly-born Crown Prince was baptized in Westminster Abbey with Godparents King George VII and HRH Princess Elizabeth. He wasn’t allowed to visit his Kingdom until 1990, only after the country started disintegrating into small independent states. The return of the King wasn’t smooth as he didn’t have any rights until his Serbian passport was returned to him ten years later in 2001. Since then he has managed to “rent” his own Royal Palace from the present government where he lives now.

My grandfather was born in the Kingdom of Serbia, Croat and Slovenes and he attended the Royal Military Academy for four years between 1937 -1941. Upon graduation he was posted to a small place south of Belgrade where he served as Commandant until 1943 when he was arrested by the partisans, held prisoner until 1945 and then through the efforts of the Royal Family and the Red Cross transferred to the UK.

In a similar fate to his King my grandfather wasn’t allowed to get back to Yugoslavia until well after his retirement and he waited a long time to get his documents too. After years of hardship he managed to buy an estate in the village in Serbia where he was posted after graduating from the Royal Military Academy just before WWII broke out.

My upbringing, noted for numerous declarations to the SFRY (The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) and Tito, brotherhood and unity, would be interrupted by long summer holidays spent with my grandfather and his recital of poems which never meant anything to me. They were too passionate about King and Country, something we didn’t learn about at school, didn’t talk about and as such it didn’t exist.  Not until 1993, when during our Christmas on the 7^th January I, the King and my grandfather gathered at St Sava Church in London.  King Alexandar II Karadjordjevic was present with his family sitting on the right side of the Church where we all could see him. I was a new arrival from the country which was decaying at the speed of light and my grandfather was there even though he died decades ago.  After the liturgy the anthem broke out strongly and the whole church seemed on fire. Through the thick smouldering candlelight I could see my grandfather standing proudly and shouting the anthem at the top of his voice. He would have called it singing.

After the service I aimlessly searched around the church for some comfort, looking for anything which could bring me a part of the country which I was missing badly. In one of the corners, almost hidden, was a glass bookshelf and it looked left, forgotten and in need of dusting.  Uncertain, making sure no one was watching I opened the glass window and took a small book printed on rough paper which smelled very rustic. The book opened itself somewhere in the middle and I began to read.  It was collection of the poems which I recognised not from my school days but from my grandfather and the summer holidays we spent together. The coincidence was great. Puzzled I went to the priest with so many questions.

“Darling, the book is a collection of poems the prisoners of war recited during their journey from Serbia to the UK after WWII. As you know after WWII finished a lot of Royalist were imprisoned by partisans and thanks to the Royal Family and their connections the prisoners were transferred by ships firstly to Italy and then to the UK and some onwards to the USA.  The crossing was very long, dark and there was not much food around so the prisoners recited poems to each other to forget about the state of affairs they were in. In order to remember them we published the book. ”

I bought three. And I learned every single poem from it. Next time, I am going to recite them to my King, Alexander II Kardjordjevic.

www.ReadyClickAndGo.com can organise a private day visit to the Royal Palace complex in Belgrade, Serbia with a fully licensed English speaking history guide. For more information please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com

There is a good possibility that you may even meet the King!

Kovačica, centre of Naive Art in Serbia

We crossed the only bridge in Belgrade over the Danube River – the old metal, heavy thing built in 1935.  Once on the other side of Belgrade we continued towards Pancevo city, well known for its accident-prone factories which sometimes pollute the whole of Belgrade. As it was Sunday, the day for the local antiques market, we couldn’t resist stopping for a quick browse for a “good deal”. We didn’t get anything except an old CD for 50p which worked until song number four. Regardless, we considered it a good deal.

Crossing the Danube River means entering the flat Pannonia Plain where you orientate yourself only by the next tree or lonely house.  Considering that the official alphabet in Serbia is Cyrillic and that road signs are rare then that tree or house takes on more importance during your journey. Nature at this time of year (May 2012) generously painted everything in a lush green cloaking the trees and houses from sight. Everything looked the same especially for four city girls.

Confused and tired by the oppressive heat we decided to stop along the way at Salas, called Sekin Salas which means Sisters Ranch. If you want to experience the real Serbia you should try to stay at one of the many ranches which offer a combination of rural Serbia with good food, clean air and lots of activities – horse riding, fishing, cooking classes…embroidery classes…During our hour stop we managed to meet the loveable Rasha, a ginger corgi who we considered stealing away, but after realising that Rasha has friends on the Ranch – three cats, two goats, a pheasant, an over-protective chicken with eight yellow chicks and two more dogs lazily asleep in the front garden – we decided that Rasha had a better life than we did, so we left him in his natural surroundings.

After refreshments and taking photos of everything that represented the old, disappearing Serbia that was so generously on display in the house, we continued driving towards Kovacica, a place well known for its Slovak naive art.

The Museum of Naive Folk Art is situatedcentrally on the main street. The Museum itself is very small but very rich in the numbers of paintings they own so the exhibition keeps changing all the time. The first one to strike you is a huge, colourful and lively painting by Jan Glozik illustrating the 200 years since the Slovak people moved from what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the eastern border, nowadays Serbia, by order of the Emperor. The painting consists of 200 people representing each year since they moved to this part of the world. If you have a very good eye you can see a self-portrait of the painter incorporated into the maze of colours.

The left side of the museum has an exhibition of another famous naïve art painter, Martin Janos, whose paintings emphasise the hands and feet and thereby the hard manual work on the farms of the region. The third room is dedicated to the Queen of naïve art, Zuzana Halupova. There are 31 paintings exhibited here, most of them oil on canvas. She, as with Martin Janos, has a leitmotifwhich is that each painting has a girl in a pink skirt somewhere in it. Zuzana never had kids of her own and so she put one in every one of her paintings. She was member of the children’s charity UNICEF and in 1974 she painted the UNICEF Christmas Card which was sold worldwide.  She left more than 1000 paintings to the museum but due to the lack of the space only a certain number can be shown. There are talks about a new, bigger Museum to be opened in a different location.

Outside the Museum there is a courtyard with three galleries, in one of them you can have your own portrait painted. All the galleries are run by local painters who can tell you about local life and how they have preserved their culture and traditions for over 200 years. Mr Pavel Babka, a successful painter who exhibits all around the world and is the owner of the largest gallery, pointed out that even when a painter becomes worldwide successful, he still stays in Kovacica, within very strong Slovak Community.

To create your own perfect day tour of  Kovačica email Tara at Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com for ideas and we can customise a tour to suit you with a private guide to show you around. See our website www.ReadyClickAndGo.com for sample sightseeing tours of Serbia.

Its Christmas Eve in Serbia!

Tonight is Christmas Eve in Serbia and the last day of 40 fasting days before Christmas. According to tradition, today's lunch is a lenten lunch which usually consists of soup, fish, stuffed wine leaves, beans and salads and during the day we also eat dried fruit, walnuts, red wine and honey. Before lunch the tradition is to bring into the house a branch of an oak tree which symbolises the tree brought by a shepherd and given to Joseph and Mary to make a fire in the stable where Jesus was born. In the villages around Serbia the branch of oak is cut in the forest but in the big cities it's usually bought at the market or in church, and it is burned tonight to represent light and warmth bringing a new beginning. There are lots of traditions which symbolise Jesus's birth, for example, it's good to bring straw into the house to symbolise the crib in which Jesus was born, and to have coins scattered around the house similar to the gold coins given to Jesus by one of the Kings.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day and according to tradition, we go to the midnight liturgy, then in the morning a guest (ideally a young healthy male!) is allowed into the house on this day, bringing the new year. The greeting on the Christmas Day is Hristos se rodi which means Jesus is born - the reply is Vaistinu se rodi which means Verily is born. After returning from the morning liturgy the custom is to serve a Christmas lunch which means the end of the 40-day long fast. The feast starts with prayer, lighting a candle and incense. Lunch is different rotiserie meats, lots of cakes, salads and drinks, and a loaf of home-baked bread in which is hidden a coin - whoever finds it can expect lots more money during the coming year! The custom is to exchange presents and spend the whole day at home, visiting friends and family the next day.

Churches that follow the Julian Calendar celebrate Christmas Day on 7th January – Serbian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, Jerusalem Church, Egyptian Kopti, some Etiophians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Macedonias and Montenegrians.

Merry Christmas!

For more information about Serbia please check www.ReadyClickAndGo.com or email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com

Build it Bigger in Belgrade, Serbia

In our post “The Newest Attraction in Belgrade“ dated 30th December 2010 we mention one of Belgrade’s most eye-catching landmarks taking shape, a new bridge across the Sava River that will be the largest asymetric single-pylon cable-stayed bridge in the world.

The main span of 376m has no supports actually in the Sava so as not to restrict shipping even during construction, and the deck is anchored by 80 stay cables as thick as a man's arm and a single pylon 200 metres high – one of the highest points in the city. The whole bridge including the main span will be nearly a kilometre long and 45 metres wide with 6 road traffic lanes, 2 railway lines and 2 cycle and pedestrian paths, and it is due for completion in September 2011. See more at http://www.savabridge.com/project.htm

You can watch program about Construction of the Serbia's Largest Bridge on the Discovery Channel on the 6th May at 10pm.
 

For more information about traveling in Serbia please email Tara@ReadyClickAndGo.com