This city is one of the oldest cities in all of Europe with records showing it was named and visited 200-400 BC. The fortress at the top of the hill was built by Romans circa 200-300 AD. Having been bombed over the centuries and used as military training grounds , the buildings and grounds are today a family park used by many Serbs.
The highlight of today’s tour was the Saint Sava Orthodox Cathedral. Construction was started in 1935, halted for WWI and II then in 1985 they started work again and is 95% completed. It stands 298 feet tall, 320 feet long and 280 feet wide and isconstructed of white marble and granite. The cupola alone weighs 4000 lbs and took 40 days to raise up and place on the top.
What appears to be paintings over the main entrance and inside are pictures made completely from mosaic tiles. The doors have a prayer printed in bronze in 24 languages from around the world. As we walked into the open floor of the cathedral, we were in awe at the grandeur and beauty of the portraits, and pictures on every surface. There are 161,000 square feet of mosaics.
The alter area is reserved for the priests and men of the congregation and then you must confess your sins and repent before you can enter through the Altar Doors or Heaven’s Gate as our guide described it. The door is set in what is called the Iconostasis, a decorated wall that separates the altar from the sanctuary.
In the sanctuary there are no seats. Services are attended by standing only and will hold 10,000 congregants. Situated around the sanctuary are mini-alters where one may pray, make a donations and kiss the kiosk to ask for blessing from many different saints.
From the cathedral we visited the Nikolai Tesla Museum. Tesla, born 1856 and died 1943, was an inventor of electric motors. A demonstration of how electricity is transmitted lit up 20 tubes.
There is a huge pedestrian shopping area near the port. We observed many outdoor cafe’s showing the Serbian Olympic teams in Paris.
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