Religious site · Vračar, Belgrade

Temple of Saint Sava

Monumental Serbian-Byzantine Orthodox church on the Vračar plateau, with a vast gold mosaic interior

Photo: Ben Asyö (@benasyo) / Unsplash

Discover Temple of Saint Sava

Rising above the Vračar plateau, the Temple of Saint Sava dominates the Belgrade skyline with its white marble walls and green copper domes. Up close the scale is remarkable: the building is 91 metres long, 81 metres wide and close to 80 metres high to the top of its cross, and it is visible from much of the city.

Step inside and the space opens into a single great hall crowned by the central dome, every surface covered in gold-ground mosaics of saints and scenes from the Gospels. Below lies a richly decorated crypt with its own church. The temple is an active place of worship, at the heart of Serbian Orthodox life in the capital, yet it welcomes visitors of all faiths outside service times, and the park and plateau around it are a popular place to sit and watch the city go by.

Don’t miss

01Central dome mosaic of the Ascension, around 1,230 square metres
02About 15,000 square metres of interior mosaics in stone and glass with gold
03The crypt with the Church of Saint Prince Lazar and the Serbian New Martyrs
04The smaller Church of Saint Sava beside the temple
05The Vračar plateau and park, with a monument to Karađorđe nearby

History & culture

The story of Temple of Saint Sava

Saint Sava, a 12th and 13th-century monk and prince of the Nemanjić dynasty, was the first archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church. In 1594 the Ottoman commander Sinan Pasha had his relics, brought from Mileševa Monastery, burned on Vračar, and the plateau became associated with the saint. A society for building a church in his memory was founded in 1895, and the site was chosen after several locations had been considered.

The design by architects Bogdan Nestorović and Aleksandar Deroko, in the Serbian-Byzantine style with clear echoes of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, won a competition, and construction began in 1935. War and the political circumstances that followed halted work for decades until it resumed in 1985. In 1989 the 4,000-tonne central dome was lifted into position, the exterior was completed in 2004, and the vast interior mosaic programme was finished in 2020.

Local life & traditions

The temple is a working church and a focal point for Belgrade's Orthodox community, hosting liturgies, baptisms and major feasts. The plateau in front of it is also a civic gathering place, where festivals, concerts and cultural programmes take place through the year, and families come in the evening to stroll around the park.

Things to do

Experience it like a local

Visit the main church to take in the mosaics under the dome, then go down to the crypt, which is decorated with marble, mosaics and frescoes. Guided tours organised through the temple cover the life of Saint Sava, the long construction story and the meaning of the mosaics, and some include the upper galleries.

Afterwards, sit in the surrounding park, where fountains and benches face the main façade, and look into the older, smaller Church of Saint Sava beside it. If your visit falls on Orthodox Christmas Eve (6 January), the plateau fills with thousands of people for the traditional burning of the badnjak (Yule log).

When to go

The temple can be visited all year, as most of the experience is indoors. Spring and autumn are pleasant for combining it with a walk around Vračar. Visit outside the main liturgy times for a quieter experience, and expect large crowds around Orthodox Christmas (6–7 January), Easter and the feast of Saint Sava on 27 January.

Plan your visit

Verified information

Opening hours (as published, Oct 2026): Temple of Saint Sava 08:00–20:00; the smaller Church of Saint Sava 07:00–19:00. Source: hramsvetogsave.rs ↗
Address: Krušedolska 2a, Vračar, 11000 Belgrade. Source: hramsvetogsave.rs ↗
Admission: Individual visits are free; visitors are asked to come outside liturgy times and keep quiet. Source: serbia.travel ↗
Guided tours (as published, Oct 2026): Guided tours of the main church and crypt from €10 per person (about 40 minutes), or €20 including the galleries; organised groups are not admitted during services. Source: dobrocinstvo.rs ↗

Checked against the sources on 27 October 2026. Opening times and fees can change — confirm before you go.

Travel tips

Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered, as a sign of respect in an active church.
Keep your voice low and avoid walking around during services.
Arrange guided group visits in advance so they do not clash with the liturgy.
Come back after dark, when the exterior is floodlit.

General guidance from our specialists, not official information.

Around Temple of Saint Sava: food, markets & places to stay

The temple sits in the residential Vračar district, with cafés and bakeries along nearby streets and the National Library of Serbia next door. Slavija Square, a major transport hub served by many bus and tram lines, is a short walk away, and Knez Mihailova and the Old Town are around 30 minutes on foot.