Church of St. Sava (Foča)

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St. Sava Church in the center of Foča

The Church of St. Sava ( Serbian : Црква Светог Саве, Crkva Svetog Save) is a Serbian Orthodox church in the eastern Bosnian town of Foča .

The church is dedicated to the Serbian national saint, the first archbishop and the illuminator of the Serbian people, Sava of Serbia . It belongs to the parish Foča in the Deanery Foča, the metropolis of Dabrobosnia of the Serbian Orthodox Church .

The church, built from 2006 to 2012, is considered the largest Orthodox church building in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of the largest Orthodox churches in the entire Balkan Peninsula .

The church with the surrounding park

location

The church is located in the center of Foča on Svetosavska ulica. It stands on the right bank of the Ćeotina river , a right tributary of the Drina in the middle of the fenced churchyard with a small park. Not far from the church, the Ćeotina flows into the Drina.

Near the church is the Aladža Park in the known from the Ottoman period derived Aladža Mosque stands.

The Opština Foča with the city of the same name as its center is located in the Republika Srpska , one of the two major entities of the south-eastern European country.

history

For a long time the Serbian Orthodox residents of the town wanted to build a large church in the center of Foča. The Church of St. Father Nicholas , built more than 160 years ago, stands on today's periphery of the city.

The decision to build the church was made in 1993. In 1994, during the Bosnian War , the first preparations began and the foundations of the church were laid. However, as a result of the economic situation after the end of the war, construction of the church was stopped prematurely. The church was built with the blessing of the then Serbian Patriarch Pavle (Stojčević) and according to a project plan by the well-known Belgrade architect Predrag Ristić .

In 2006 the construction of the church began. And on October 14 of the same year, the holiday of the Protection and Intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary , the foundations of the church were consecrated by the then Metropolitan of the Metropolis of Dabrobosnia Nikolay (Mrđa) . Patriarch Pavle Zdravko Krsmanović was the godfather of the church foundations.

The church under construction in November 2010

In September 2012 the church walls were in place and the concreting of the central dome of the church was completed and the church was covered with a roof made of copper roofing . On October 14th of the same year the ten church bells and the church crosses, which come from various donors, were consecrated and installed or set up in the church. The church crosses were made in Serbia and one is a gift from the President of the Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik .

Church services have been held regularly since Easter 2013. The Church works very closely with the Serbian Orthodox theological faculty and the Foča seminary.

In 2019, the 800th anniversary of autocephaly in the Serbian Orthodox Church, work began on the interior of the church. The marble iconostasis and the altar were installed in the church in May 2019. The floor mosaic project was designed by the architect Dušan Stanojević, who also designed the floor mosaics for the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Podgorica and the Cathedral of St. Jovan Vladimir in Bar .

In January 2020, underfloor heating was installed in the church. And work on the floor mosaic is also to begin in the same year. The interior of the church is also planned to be painted in the traditional technique and manner with Byzantine frescoes .

So far, more than three million convertible marks (KM) have been invested in the construction of the church, of which the government of the Republika Srpska donated around one and a half million KM. Other larger donors include the Opština Foča, the Metropolitan Region of Dabrobosnia and various individuals and the city's population. The current head of the church and president of the church building committee is Archpriest Nenad Tupeša.

architecture

The east side of the church with the apses and the round dome

. The Church of St. Sava m with the dimensions 50 long, 30 meters wide and over 30 meters and an area exceeding 1,500 square meters is in the style of Raska - Drina of medieval -Schule Serbian-Byzantine architectural style at the time of Nemanjić dynasty built .

The single - nave cross-domed church is designed in the shape of a trikoncho . The layout of the church is an elongated Greek cross , with a large semi-circular altar - apse in the middle and two smaller apses to the sides in the East, a distinctive round dome , which extends over the drum over the eastern part of the nave rises and an oblong narthex the starting at the west facade of the church pulls towards the center.

On the west facade of the church rise the two steeples of the church, as well as the gallery and balcony . At the meeting of the narthex and the nave, a small annex with a round dome is attached to the north and south sides of the church. The three main entrances to the church are on the west side of the church, there are also further entrances on the north and south sides as well as on the two ancillary buildings.

It has a (marble) iconostasis with icons , which is typical for Orthodox church buildings . The interior of the church is currently not frescoed , but this is planned.

supporting documents

Web links

Commons : Church of St. Sava in Foča  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 43 ° 30 ′ 25.9 ″  N , 18 ° 46 ′ 44 ″  E