Balkanologie Revue d'études pluridisciplinaires

Vol. VII, n° 2 | 2003 Volume VII Numéro 2

Nationalism in Construction: The Memorial Church of St. Sava on Vračar Hill in Belgrade

Bojan Aleksov

Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/balkanologie/494 ISSN: 1965-0582

Publisher Association française d'études sur les Balkans (Afebalk)

Printed version Date of publication: 1 December 2003 Number of pages: 47-72 ISSN: 1279-7952

Electronic reference Bojan Aleksov, « Nationalism in Construction: The Memorial Church of St. Sava on Vračar Hill in Belgrade », Balkanologie [Online], Vol. VII, n° 2 | December 2003, Online since 19 February 2009, connection on 02 May 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/balkanologie/494

© Tous droits réservés Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72 \ 47

NATIONALISM IN CONSTRUCTION : THE MEMORIAL CHURC H OF ST. SAV A ON VRAČAR HIL L IN BELGRAD E

Bojan Aleksov*

During the combat we all saw St . Sava, robed in white, and seated i n a white chariot drawn by white horses, leading us on to victory.1

The role of St . Sava, whom the late Serbian Patriarch German praised a s the "Su n o f Serbia n heaven " in Serbia n ora l tradition durin g medieva l an d Ottoman period was to always watch over Serbian people2. In many popular le­ gends and folk tales he is the creator of miraculous springs, a master of the for­ ces of nature with all features o f a God who blesses and punishes. Often crue l in punishing and horrendous in his rage, St. Sava, has the features o f a primi­ tive pagan god and, though a Christian saint, in the eyes of popular culture he embodied a pre­Christian pagan divinity or the ancient Serbian god of the un­ derworkR In the ag e o f nationalism however , the Serbia n cul t o f St . Sava acquire d different task s representin g an d reproducing , dependin g o n circumstances , powerful image s o f national golden age, national reconciliatio n and unifica ­ tion and/or martyrdom for the Church and the nation. For more than a century

' Central European University. 1 The reply o f a Serbian schoolmaster who was serving as a private in the Serbian army in the battle o f Kumanovo, waged on the 23rd and 24th of October 1912 , on being asked what it was that gave the soldiers such tremendou s elan, afte r th e sever e gruelin g the y receive d durin g th e firs t day' s figh t (Pric e (Crawfurd), Balkan Cockpit, London, 1915 , p. 154). It was the battle that decide d the outcome o f the Firs t Balkan War. 2 Patriarch Germa n i n a statemen t t o a specia l editio n o f Intervju, entitle d "Rastko , S v Sava , Vračar " 01/04/88, p. 51. 3 Ćajkanović (Veselin), O srpskom vrhovnom bogu (O n Serbian Suprem e God) , Beograd : Srpska kral ­ jevska akademija, 1941 . 48 / Balkanologie VII [2], décembre 2003, p. 47-72

now, a church dedicated to this saint is being built in Belgrade, aimed to epito­ mize and monumentalize these images. In my paper I will interpret the cons­ truction o f St. Sava Church as an architectural illustration o f Serbian nationa­ lism encounterin g numerou s politica l an d ideologica l shift s o f Serbia' s troublesome twentieth century. To do so I will attempt to unpack the narrative and images invoked by the Church and other protagonists in the construction. Furthermore, I intend t o investigate an d revea l politica l and ideologica l un ­ derpinnings of the institutions and personalities behind the construction, and finally, expose the distance between their objectives and realization. Though envisage d a s a plac e o f worship , I will conside r the Memoria l Church o f St. Sava as a national monument par excellence for several reasons. Firstly, it was initiated i n line with the nineteenth centur y urge to erect mo­ numents to commemorate importan t personages o r patriotic events. Its pro­ tracted building continued to share the features o f the erection of national mo­ numents, which typically involve production / reproduction / manipulation of their meaning s ove r time . Secondly , nationa l protagonist s involve d i n th e construction wrap the motivation behind the project i n religious symbolism , which is in line with Benedict Anderson's defining the content of nationalism by dominant cultura l systems preceding it, religion being in this case the ob­ vious precedent4. However, a closer historical scrutiny and contextualizatio n unveil pragmati c politic s aime d a t mobilizin g popula r suppor t behin d reli ­ gious symbolism. This is related t o yet another similarit y o f St . Sava Churc h building to that o f other modem national monuments and that is the involve­ ment of persons and institutions for whom it is a purely secular matter, or the matter of modern secular nationalism. Finally, St. Sava Church achieved a place in the repertoire o f national symbol s and a status o f a focus o f not only reli­ gious but national rites and rituals. In order to analyze the motive s behind endorsing a church as a national monument I will draw on a wide array of "monument" studies as well situate and relate the construction o f St. Sava Church to other national monumentali­ zation projects in Europe 5. Despite some obvious similarities, especially with Moscow's Churc h o f Chris t th e Savior , the stor y o f th e St . Sav a Memoria l Church in Belgrade displays many unique features. They stem from this mo­

4 Anderson (Benedict) , Imagined Communities : Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London : Verso, 1983, p. 12. 5 Sidorov (Dmitiri). « National Monumentalization and the Politics of Scale : The Resurrection o f Christ the Savio r i n Mosco w » , Annals of the Association of American Geographers (AAAG), 90 (3) , 2000 ; Atkinson (David), Cosgrove (Denis),« Urban Rhetoric and Embodied Identities : City, Nation, and Empire at th e Vittori o Emanuel e I I Monumen t i n Rome , 1870­194 5 » , AAAG, 8 8 (1) , 199 8 ; Harvey (David) , Monument and Myth: The Building of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Oxford : Blackwell, 1985 ; Koselleck (Reinhart), Jeismann (Michael), eds., Der Politische Totenkult, Münche n : Wilhelm Fin k Verlag , 1994 ; Denkmale und kulturelles Geddchtnis nach dem Ende der Ost­West­Konfrontation, Berli n : Akademie der Künste, 2000 ; Michalski (Sergiusz), Public Monuments, Londo n : Reaktion books, 1998. Bojan Aleksov ­ Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 4 9

nument's peculia r contex t i n th e Serbia n / Yugosla v history . Mor e signifi ­ cantly, the construction o f St. Sava Church stands out as an on­going process, a work­in­progress still open for insertion of new meanings. The symbolism o f St . Sava Church transformed fro m the visual emble m for the drive at unification o f all Serbs at the turn o f the twentieth century to the inter­war stress on the Serbian (pre)eminence in multiethnic Yugoslavia to post World War Two Communist suppression of its construction as the symbol of Serbian nationalism, whose revival it indeed represented in the 1980s, only to be abandoned in the 1990s as the nationalist project fell to disarray. In the following pages I will first look at how the cult of St. Sava evolved and the idea to construct a church as the national monument came into being. This decision required a thorough nationalization and sacralization o f the chosen site. I will further focu s on the debates about the design for the church that mirrored po­ litical divisions among the Serbian artistic and political elites. In the last part I will describe the vicissitudes that followed the never­ending construction and examine how they affected the building o f St. Sava Church as a monument in reality and discourse.

RISING UP FROM THE ASHES

St. Sava was born in 1169 as Rastko, the third son to Nemanja, ruler of Ras, the forerunner o f the medieval Serbian State . As a young prince he ran awa y from the royal court to become a monk Sav a on Mount Athos, a tale often tol d among the Serb s as the greatest exampl e o f self­sacrifice6. Ther e he founde d the first Serbia n monastery and began his endeavors for which he later acqui­ red the title of the first Serbian Illuminator / Enlightener7. With the remains of his father, the founder o f the holy dynasty, Sava later returned to Serbia to re­ concile an ongoing feud amongst his brothers. Conflicting sources speak of his influence i n obtaining the crown for his brother Stephan from Pop e Honorius III in 1217. What is historically more certain is that Sava secured autocephaly for the Serbian national Church from the enfeebled and exiled Byzantine Emperor

5 Fo r a hagiographic accoun t i n Englis h se e Velimiiovi ć (Bisho p Nikolaj), The Prologue from Ochrid, Birmingham : Lazarica Press, 1985 ; J. Matl summarizes the findings on St. Sava's life and influence, lis­ ting all major historiographic works on St. Sava (Matl (Josef), « De r heilige Sawa als Begründer de r ser­ bischen Nationalkirche. Seine Leistung und Bedeutung fur den Kulturaufbau Europa s » , in Matl (Josef) , Südslawische Studien, München : Südosteuropäische Arbeiten, 63,1965). 7 The Slavic word prosvetitelj i s derived from a verb prosvetiti meanin g to sanctify rather than to enligh­ ten. Obolensk i translate s i t a s Illuminato r (i n Obolenski , The Byzantine Commonwealth, Londo n : Weidenfeld an d Nicolson , 1971) . The Serbian Orthodo x Churc h uses the word Enlightener i n its Englis h language publications. 50 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

and Patriarc h i n Nicaea, and becam e it s first Archbishop . Moreover, St . Sava helped to restore Serbs , exposed both to Roman Catholicism and the Bogomi l heresy, to the bosom of the Orthodox Church8. Upon his death, St. Sava was ca­ nonized together with his father in an act that, as historian Blagojević argues, gave the Serbia n people saints « who had come from amon g their ranks and would i n heave n b e tireles s protector s o f th e Serbia n State , Serbia n rulers , Serbian people and the entire patrimony »9. During th e fou r centurie s lon g perio d o f Ottoma n domination , whic h began in the fifteenth century , St. Sava was central for both formal religion and traditional, oral culture, the two forces generally held responsible for keeping alive the national spirit o f the Serbs. His miracle working body in the monas­ tery of Mileševa was venerated by pilgrims who came from near and far to im­ plore his intercession. When Serb s began a rebellion against the Turks at the end o f sixteent h century , carryin g banner s wit h image s o f St . Sava , Sina n Pasha, an Albanian conver t in Ottoman ranks, as some contemporary report s and subsequent tradition have it, decided to remove what was in his opinion the sourc e o f their inspiration. In 1594 or 1595, Sinan Pasha brought St . Sava's relics t o Belgrad e an d accordin g St . Sava' s hagiographies , burne d the m o n Vračar hill, its highest point , s o that the rebellious Serb s in the Banat , across the Danube, could see the smoke and flames10. The exact circumstances howe­ ver are less clear and the whole issue divided Serbian historiography over the last hundred years, with some even claiming that St . Sava's relics were not bur­ ned a t all . Fo r the Serbia n Churc h an d St . Sav a cul t promoters o n the othe r hand, the burning of St. Sava relics acquired the outmost importance, through which the Sain t gained a posthumous martyrdom, partaking symbolicall y in his people's suffering "unde r the bitter Turkish yoke". In fact, St. Sava posthumous cult when transmuted into legend and poetry during the Ottoman period figured him only in a stereotypical dichotomy of a saint­protector o f Christian people versus the infidel Muslim­Turk, epitomized in the image of Sinan Pasha11. Among those responsible for bolstering the mo­ dern cul t o f St . Sava as a national hero , not leas t was the Catholi c Habsbur g Empress Maria Theresa, whose Empire became a refuge for many Serbs fleeing from th e Ottomans. In 1776 , she ordered the Syno d o f Serbian Bishops to pro­

8 Se e Cirkovi c (Sima) , et al., Istorija srpskog naroda vol . I I (History o f the Serbia n People) , Beograd : Srpska književna zadruga, 1981, pp. 297­315,315­328. 9 Blagojevi ć (Miloš) , « O n the Nationa l Identit y o f Serb s i n Middl e Age s » , in Samardž i (Radovan) , Duškov (Milan), eds., Serbs in European Civilisation, Beograd, 1993. 10 Samardžić (Radovan), Istorija srpskog naroda (vol III/1), Beograd : SKZ , 1993, pp. 248­285. 11 Deteli ć (Mirjana) , « O mogućnostima rekonstrukcij e mitsko g lik a Sv . Save u srpsko j deseteračko j epici » (On the Possibilities o f Reconstruction o f St . Sava's Mythical Personality in Serbian Deca­syllabl e Epic), Balcanica, 2 5 (1), 1994, p. 260. Bojan Aleksov ­ Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 5 1

claim St . Sava the sol e "patron o f Serbia n people" , in a n effor t t o reduc e the number o f feast days in the Serbian Church Calendar 12. The cult of St. Sava, as we know it today, finally began to emerge only at the beginning o f the nineteenth century , at the daw n o f the ag e o f nationa­ lism, parallel to the liberation struggles o f the Serbs, when it, according to the Church historian, assumed the new role to « nourish national pride and flam e the patriotism and readiness for sacrifice » 13. Over the course of the nineteenth century, secular contents intermingled with religious celebration and national romanticism shifted the focus from ecclesiastical and religious rites to enligh­ tenment ideas, the glorious Slav past and resistance to foreign culture and op­ pression. The feast o f St. Sava left the churches where it originated to become a national school holiday, a celebration o f the Serbian language, the Sla v idea and a plea for the unification and liberation o f Serbs from foreign domination . The cult was continuously enriched with new contents as St. Sava's preserved hagiographies were unearthed and reinterpreted. After Arsenije Teodorović in 1807, depicted St. Sava reconciling his two brothers over their father's relics, St. Sava's role as unifier became the single most exploited image in the narrative surrounding the cult 14. National romanticism soo n added the firs t figurativ e representations o f the burning o f St. Sava's relics by the Turks. The origins of the hymn « Uskliknimo s ljubavlju » (Le t us sing out with our love to St. Sava), whose verses emphasize Serbia n unity and renewal are less clear but by the middle o f the centur y i t becam e a n unofficia l nationa l anthem . Othe r ele ­ ments suc h a s procession s fro m churche s t o schools , performance s wher e schoolchildren recited patriotic poems, and special St. Sava's sermon followed . In 1867, Vladan Đordević, a medicine student in Vienna and a future Serbia n Prime ministe r reporte d : « fro m Pes t t o Peć [th e sea t o f th e Serbia n Patriarchate], from Niš an d Timo k to the Adriati c sea , in al l four countrie s where Serbian people live thorn apart from eac h other, and even in all coun­ tries and cities o f Europe where only few Serb s gather, everywhere is celebra­ ted St. Sava »15.

12 Th e Churc h calenda r feature d 1 3 Serbian, besides th e alread y grea t numbe r o f universa l Christia n saints, turning the good part o f the year into feast an d leisure days. In a similar fashion St . Constantine and Helene were proclaimed Greek and Saint Parasceva Romanian patron saints. See Grujić (Radoslav) « Kul t Sv . Save u Karlovačkoj mitropoliji XVII I i XIX veka » (The Cult of St. Sava in the Metropolitanat e of Karlovci in 18th and 19th Century), Bogoslovlje, 10 (2­3), 1935, p. 143. 13 Grujic (Radoslav), art.cit. 14 The image appeare d o n the fresc o i n the Churc h o f the Assumptio n o f Virgi n Mar y i n Zemun . Se e Medaković (Dejan) , « Istorijsk e osnov e ikonografije sv . Save u XVII I veku » (Historical Foundations o f the Iconograph y o f St . Sav a i n th e 18 th Century), i n Babi ć (Jovan) , Blagojevi ć (Dimitrije ) et al, Sava Nemanjić ­ Sveti Sava ­ istorija i predanje, Beogra d : SANU, 1979, p. 400. 15 Matica, 2,1867 , p. 495, cited in Gruji ć (Radoslav), art.cit. 52 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

In the late nineteenth century, the veneration of St. Sava acquired additio­ nal significanc e unde r th e direc t influenc e o f Russophile s an d Slavophiles , whose chief proponent in Serbia was Belgrade Metropolitan Mihailo. Whereas the Holy See featured Cyri l and Methodius, "Apostles of Slavs", to strengthen the religious and ecclesiastical adherence of Catholic Slavs and, hopefully, win over those Slav s of the Byzantine rite, the Serbian Church raised the flag o f St. Sava to awaken and assemble Serbs scattered in four countries and under diverse ec­ clesiastical jurisdictions16. The campaign fo r ecclesiastica l and national adhe ­ rence waged in Ottoman Kosovo and Macedonia engaged fully both the Church and th e Stat e and on e o f the mos t importanc e auspice s under whic h i t wa s conducted was the Association o f St. Sava, formed i n 1886 in Belgrade17. At the same time, students of Prizren seminary, the first Serbian seminary founded in the area under the Ottomans, christened their association with St . Sava's secu­ lar name "Rastko", emblematically blurrin g and supercedin g the division bet­ ween the religious and secular under national imperatives. In suc h a n overwhelmingl y nationalis t politica l atmospher e i n Serbia , Metropolitan Mihailo was charged, in 1895, to head the Committee made up of Serbia's foremost citizens for the construction of a church on Belgrade's Vračar Hill, dedicated to the memory o f the greatest Serbia n saint , Enlightener an d Unifier. The idea to build the churc h on that very spot, where three hundre d years earlier Sina n Pasha scattere d the ashe s o f Sain t Sav a finally becam e a reality. The Construction Committee sent out a rousing appeal to the Serbia n people for funds describin g the building o f the churc h on the hil l where the saintly ashes were scattered a s paying due respect to St . Sava and comin g to terms with ancestors, without which the present and future community of St. Sava's descendants coul d not liv e in harmony and prosper 18. In her study on The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, Verdery, though focusing on Serbia, overlooks the greatest Serbian cult of all, in which the "need" of a dead body to get a "pro­ per burial" acquires a new dimension 19 Th e sacralization o f space or its trans­ formation fro m th e profan e t o the "other­worldly " is , a s Phili p Arie s ha s shown, closely linked to the presenc e o f the dead , burial grounds o r cemete­

16 Dartel (Geert van), Ćirilometodska ideja i Svetosavlje (Cyrillo­Methodian Idea and Svetosavlje), Zagreb : Kršćanska sadašnjost , 1984 , is the pioneering attempt to describe the interactions o f these two compe ­ ting ideologies. 17 For the activitie s o f St . Sava Associatio n in Kosov o and Macedonia , se e Miki ć (Đorde) , « Delatnos t Društva Sv . Sav e n a Kosov u (1886­1912 ) » , Naša prošlost, 1975 , pp. 61­8 7 ; Hadži­Vasiljevi ć (Jovan) , Spomenica Društva Sv. Save 1886­1936, Beograd, 1936. 18 « Th e Appeal to the Serbian people » sent out by the Committee for Construction in 1895, republished in Pešić (Branko), Spomen hram Sv. Save na Vračaru u Beogradu 1895­1988 (St. Sava Memorial Church on Vračar Hill in Belgrade 1895­1988) , Beograd : Sveti arhijerejski sino d SPC , 1988, pp. 17­22. 19 Veidery (Katherine), The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, Columbia : Columbia University Press, 1999. Bojan Aleksov - Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 5 3

ries20. It was St. Sava himself who, by bringing back his father's body, fostered this belief, so central to Serbian medieval thought, that the welfare of the king­ dom was dependent o n its possession o f the miracle­working relics of its holy founder21. But the relics of St. Sava had been burned so the spreading o f ashes performed this task, adding a new dimension to Verdery's study on the politi­ cal meaning and role played by bones. In St. Sava's hagiography and numerous accounts develope d thereafter , St . Sava' s ashe s wer e take n b y th e win d and spread , consecrating the soil wherever his cult was maintained o r where­ ver Serbs lived, dispersed by numerous migrations. The flames that arose also acquired mythica l meaning , becoming th e « Serbian spiritua l hearth » and eternal fire (torch) «that gave us warmth, home and spirit »22. The body did not turn into dust but into light that, according to an article written in the 1980s, « for 39 0 years warmed the Serbia n heart, helping i t to keep its national es ­ sence, its faith, its language, its Christian Orthodox, its Saint Savaian being »23. The actual site was transformed an d « the Church grew out o f the martyred / suffering dus t o f St. Sava on Vračar hill » as Metropolitan Amfilohije descri ­ bed24. In line with Verdery's observations on other examples, nationalism here manifests itsel f i n a kind o f ancestral worship, which i s why Anderson sug ­ gested treating nationalism as if it belonged with "kinship" and "religion", ra­ ther than with any other modern ideology 25. Still, before the construction coul d proceed there were a series o f impor­ tant practica l and symboli c actions made i n orde r to prepare the ground fo r construction or the sacralization and nationalization o f the site. The search fo r the precis e sit e where the relic s had been burned began , long before, shortly afte r th e Serbia' s liberation from the Turks and the esta ­ blishment o f its semi­independenc e i n 1830s . When i n 1844 , the Ministry o f Education officiall y demande d fro m Metropolita n Petar , information abou t the exact whereabouts of the cremation, he warned that « it would be sinful to accept a spot merely according to people's guesses » 26. It was not until a little

20 Aries (Philippe), The Hour of Our Death, New York : Vintage Books, 1982, pp. 62­71. 21 Obolenski, op. cit, p . 331. 22 Becković (Matija), « Služb a Svetom Savi. Hram gradi nas, ne mi njega » (Service to St. Sava. We are not Building the Church. The Church is Building Us), Glas Crkve, 3, 1988, p. 5. 23 The text o f MDJ published in Pravoslavlje on the occasion of the second initiation of works, republished in Pešić (Branko), op. cit, p . 63. 24 Radovi ć (Amfilohije) , « Duhovn i smisa o hram a Sv . Save na Vračar u u Beograd u » (The Spiritua l Meaning of St. Sava Church on Vračar Hill in Belgrade), Gradac, 82­83­84,1988, p. 185. This article was later published a s a separate book. 25 Anderson (Benedict), op. cit, p. 5. 26 Jakšić'­Durkovi ć (Ljubomir) , « Traganj e z a mestom gd e j e spalje n Sv . Sava » (Th e Searc h fo r th e Location where St . Sava was burned), Glasnik Srpske Pravoslavne Crkve, 1946. 54 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

known priest from Belgrade , made a thorough search in 1878, and reported to Metropolitan Mihailo, a location in Vracar that supposedly had a small church destroyed b y th e Turk s i n 1757 , which was , accordin g t o peopl e wh o live d nearby, alway s spare d fro m hail . Furthermore , h e explaine d t o th e Metropolitan that the inhabitants di d not want to admit this earlier because they feared the Prince would immediately claim the land and they would be moved somewher e further awa y [sic] . It seems that earthl y concerns such a s the elevatio n and visibility o f the platea u o f Vračar and ready available land for construction played a decisive role in the Metropolitan's decision to accept this location , despite the aforementione d warnin g o f his predecessor. A s for the exact year when St . Sava's relics were burned, the Construction Committee asked the Serbia n Roya l Academy o f Sciences for help. The Academy's histo­ rians judged that it took place in 1894, but the Metropolitan and the Church ne­ vertheless opted for 1895, since the year suggested for commemoration already passed by and 189 5 was anyhow previously commonly thought to be the year when the burning of relics occurred 27. The next important ac t was the renaming o f the surrounding area which was called Englezovac (Englishtown) at the time, owing its name to the weal­ thy and influential businessman Mackenzie, actually a Scotsman, who owned most of it28. A group of citizens gathered as "The Society for the Embellishment of Vračar" on March 31,189 4 to solve this proble m and suggeste d to the Cit y Council the renaming o f Englezovac to Savinac [Sava' s Hill]29. The distinguis­ hed participants o f the meeting thought i t « a shame for the Serbian capita l that a whole district be called Englezovac » and unconceivable that a national shrine lie s o n foreig n property . Eventuall y Mackenzi e contribute d aroun d eight thousand square meters of his land for the cause. As he died before legal formalities wer e completed , this decision befel l hi s heir, a devout Protestan t preacher, Gratan Guinness, who assured that their English names were inscri­

27 Jakšić­Durković (Ljubomir), Podizanje Hrama Svetoga Save na Vračaru u Beogradu, (Th e Erection o f the Church of St. Sava on Vračar Hill in Belgrade), Beograd : Sveti arhijerejski sino d SPC , 1986, p. 29. A si­ milar problem occurred in Hungary at that time in connection to the Millenary celebrations. In 1882, the Hungarian government solicited the help of the Academy o f Sciences to determine the exact year o f the Magyar Conquest. But the scholars widely disagreed over the matter and eventually in 1892 the govern ­ ment decide d on its own that the Millennium should be commemorated o n 1895. To make it even more absurd, the next year the date had to be postponed for one year by government decre e since the time to finalize th e building s an d ceremon y plan s ha d ru n out . Ger ö (Andras) , Heroes Square Budapest, Budapest: Corvina, 1990, p. 6. 28 As a member o f the Plymouth Brethren , Mackenzie came to Belgrade and initiated a number o f pro­ jects to foster religiosit y among the peopl e and the economic development o f the countr y but, largely misunderstood, the y al l faile d an d hi s presence wa s generall y disliked . J akšić­Durković (Ljubomir) , op. cit, p . 44. 29 The records of this extraordinary meetin g fo r the renaming o f this part o f Belgrade were kept in ful l and published in Beogradske opštinske novine (Belgrade City Newspaper) on 1 7 April 1894. Bojan Aleksov ­ Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 5 5

bed i n the lis t o f Great Benefactors, right afte r the members o f Royal famil y and senio r Church dignitaries 30. Finally, to paraphrase Antony Smith , Vračar landscape became a sacredscape and ethnoscape 31. In 1895, the Committee first built a small church near the spot of the future Memorial Church ­ the so­called Forerunner Church ­ and only collected fund s until 1904, when it initiated the first competitio n fo r the future church , mar­ king on e hundredt h anniversar y o f th e Firs t Serbia n Uprisin g agains t th e Turks. Most o f Serbs still lived outside o f Serbia's borders, and many o f them still lived under Turks. Thus the choice when to start the construction, its pro­ minent location and envisaged extensive physical layout of the Church indica­ ted fro m th e beginning intention s beyond the religiou s ; its dominance an d immensity was to impress and accentuate the Piedmontian rol e o f Serbi a in the unification o f Serbs. This coupling of the secular and religious dimensions set irreversibly the future positio n o f the Vračar Hill Church in the visions of national monumentalization advance d by ecclesiastic and Stat e hierarchy a s well as lay builders o f the nation. At that time, other Europea n capital s ha d large churches inherited from the past o r built in the second half o f the nine­ teenth century when they also acquired the function o f a national shrine. The erection o f national monuments and the commemorative events surrounding them became an established factor i n stimulating loyalty to existing institu ­ tions and the State. But belated at its start, the pace and profile of the never en­ ding construction o n Vračar Hill was throughout the twentieth centur y dis­ turbed b y tragic historica l event s an d eve n mor e s o b y contestin g politica l visions of its symbolism for Serbia .

BYZANTIUM LOS T

After years of weak response from both the people and State institutions in collecting funds and turbulent events that included a bloody dynastic coup, the Construction Committee finally announced a competition fo r church de­ sign in 1905 . Given that ther e was a lack o f competen t expert s i n Serbi a t o judge the architectura l submission s fo r the ne w church , the Committe e en ­ gaged the Art Academy of St. Petersburg for this task. Article Two of the com­ petition announcement clearl y stated that « the church should be a respecta­

3° Palairet (Michael) , « Čovek koj i je izgradio Englezova c ­ Fransi s Mekenzi u Beograd u (1876­1895 ) » (The Man who Built Englishtown ­ Franci s Mackenzie in Belgrade 1876­1895) , Istorijski časopis, 39,1992, p. 160. 31 Smit h (Anton y D.) , Myths and Memories of the Nation, Oxfor d : Oxfor d Universit y Press , 1999 , pp. 149­159­ 56 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 4?-?2

ble monumen t o f Serbia n gratitude , paying a due respec t to this grea t an d cherished sain t and patron o f Serbian schools ; it should be monumental i n size an d i n the Serbo­Byzantin e styl e » 32. Agreeing to the notio n o f a fre e competition for the project, the committee imposed one major conditio n on the style , although Churc h dogma does not envisag e a single styl e but onl y demands a distinct position and spatial direction o f church33. Why was this style so important ? Serbian Churc h architectur e an d paintin g i n th e eighteent h centur y abandoned it s traditional Byzantin e styl e and leaned towards contemporar y European o r mor e precisel y Centra l Europea n artisti c trend s foun d i n th e Habsburg monarchy 34 Th e Cathedra l o f Belgrad e built i n 184 1 with it s neo­ classical style facades and a Baroque bell­tower became the chief achievement and symbo l of this new architectural style . It was not until the historicism of the Romantic era brought to the fore the search for the medieval heritage. This task befel l th e disciple s o f Viennes e Professo r Teophi l Hansen , wh o i n th e 1880s launched a so­calle d neo­Byzantin e style , which represente d a trend y historicist eclecticis m base d rathe r artificiall y o n element s o f Byzantine , Islamic an d medieva l Romani c architecture 35. Thoug h the y introduce d a Byzantine ordering of space, their designs had little to do with Serbian medie­ val churches. At the sam e time, the nationalis t campaig n i n the stil l Ottoman Kosov o and Macedonia, carried out by the St . Sava association among others, brought about the (re)discover y o f Serbia n medieval churches in these areas, notably the church of monastery Gračanica near Pristina. The desire to revive the glo­ rious medieval past and furnish Serbi a with its own national style in art, was further misle d by the misconceptions o f the French art historian Millet ascri­ bing Gračanica to the Serbian national genius and characterizing it as the na­ tional monument o f Serbia n architectur e unde r Byzantin e influence 36. Thu s the notion o f Serbo­Byzantine style arose, a style of architecture dominant i n Serbia during the reign of King Milutin at the beginning of the fourteenth cen ­

32 The competition announcement was published in Srbske novine o n 13/05/05. 33 Mirkovi ć (Lazar) , Pravoslavna Liturgika (Th e Orthodo x Liturgics) , Beograd : Sveti arhijerejski sino d SPC, 1982, p. 81. 34 See Jovanović (Miodrag), Srpsko crkveno graditeljstvo i slikarstvo novijeg doba (Modern Serbian Church Architecture and Painting), Beograd / Kragujevac, 1987, p. 53.

35 Vasić (Pavle), « Crkven a umetnost ko d Srba u XVII I and XI X veku » (Serbian Churc h Ar t in 18 th an d 19th century ) i n Srpska Pravoslavna Crkva 1219 ­1969, Beograd : Sveti Arijerejski Sino d SPC , 1969, p. 349. On Hansen and it s school see Jovanović (Miodrag), Srpsko crkveno graditeljstvo i slikarstvo novijeg doba, Beograd : Društvo istoričara umet. Srbije, 1987, pp. 109­130. 36 Millet (Gabriel), L'Ancien art serbe : les Églises, Paris : E. de Boccard, 1919. Bojan Aleksov ­ Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 5?

tury with the Gračanica as its archetype37. Out of all spheres o f art, the eccle­ siastical architectur e mad e th e mos t radica l brea k wit h Europea n trends , which it abandoned for the sake of a revived Serbian­Byzantine style, regarded as a pure manifestation o f the Serbia n national spirit . The ascension o f thi s style to the level of undisputed architectural genre was clearly underpinned by a dual imperative to celebrate simultaneousl y both an ancient an d a n emer ­ ging State 38. The ideolog y o f national regeneratio n translate d int o th e lan ­ guage of architecture rejected European influences and proclaimed a return to medieval Serbian golden age. However, in what was only the first o f many difficulties to characterize fu ­ ture construction, the Russian jury informed the Committee that none o f the five projects submitted had satisfied the conditions set forth, and considering the importance o f the Churc h it could not sugges t an y to be put forward fo r execution39. Although the Orthodox hierarchy in Russia at that time stil l sup­ ported the historicist designs of the nineteenth century, the jury was probably looking for something innovative. Within semiofficial artisti c circles, the need to revive church architecture was seriousl y discussed 40. Still , despite the fac t that the projects submitted by Serbian architects were far from the envisaged criteria and that ultimatel y the jury failed t o select a plan, the architectura l style an d scale , importan t symboli c an d ideologica l step s i n buildin g th e church as a National Monument were set. The Serbo­Byzantine style deployed representations o f the past aime d to justify th e nationalist expansionis m o f the present. However, the Balka n war s an d th e Grea t Wa r brough t th e projec t t o a standstill for many years. It was only in 1919, that the work of the Committe e was reinitiated under the presidency o f the newly elected Patriarch Dimitrij e

37 Despite al l the glorificatio n i n Serbia , this vie w ha s a negative consequence , a s the Gračanica wa s viewed outside of Serbia only as a high achievement o f a provincial school, while it is in fact the greatest example o f the Late Byzantine architecture a s shown by the work o f Ćuric, which show s Serbia's com ­ plete tur n towar d th e Byzantin e spiritua l worl d an d civilizatio n durin g th e reig n o f Kin g Milutin . See Ćurčić (Slobodan), Gračanica : King Milutin's Church and Its Place in Late Byzantine Architecture, University Park : Pennsylvania State University Press, 1979. In the inter­war period another great church was built in Belgrade (St . Marko), which was a bare enlarged replica of Gračanica.

38 The Serbian King Petar also opted for the Serbo­Byzantin e styl e in the competition fo r the Royal Family Mausoleum church that ran parallel to that for St . Sava Church. See Jovanović (Miodrag), Oplenac, Topola , 1989, p. 27.

39 Pešić (Branko), op. cit. , p. 27.

4° The commissions by individual o f private groups (such as Old Believers) in Russia nurtured freedo m i n the expressio n o f style . A great sta r o f Russia n churc h architectur e o f the period , Alekse i Schusev , wh o later designed the Lenin Mausoleum and other symbols o f Soviet power, preached against « the tasteles s brilliance o f official Orthodo x churc h design » but fo r « a place o f worship whos e interio r and exterio r would exemplif y tha t endearing , naive and a t the sam e time divers e sense o f artistry o f the Orthodo x church » . Quoted in Brumfield (Willia m Craft), A History of Russian Architecture, Cambridg e : Cambridge University Press, 1993, p. 432. 58 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

and th e protectio n o f Kin g Aleksandar, o f newl y create d Kingdo m o f Serbs , Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia from 1929) . The Patriarch insisted that the old plans wer e irrelevan t an d tha t a pla n shoul d b e develope d t o reflec t th e contemporary situation o f the Serbian people and State, and to commemorate Serbian achievements o f the period. After year s o f debate, the Committee de­ cided to launch a new competition in 1926, which reiterated some o f the pre­ vious conditions : « the church should be elevated ; it should be of monumen­ tal proportion s an d accommodat e 6 000 peopl e » , while the styl e was agai n un­precisely defined a s « in the spirit o f old Serbian architecture » 41. This time however, the loca l jury, comprised o f the mos t prominent publi c figures an d renowned architects and civil engineers, deemed the submitted projects as un­ satisfactory. Nevertheless, the intellectual and political atmosphere of the period soon determined what the jury could not. In the new Yugoslav State, the Serbian Church lost much of its privileged position an d ha d t o accommodat e t o religiou s pluralism . Eve n though al l Orthodox Serb s finall y rallie d i n on e Stat e heade d b y their Monarch , th e need fo r a n integrativ e an d bondin g nationalist ideolog y had no t receded . The Serbian Churc h had to assembl e dioceses , which were under fiv e diffe ­ rent jurisdictions , eac h claimin g a well­established an d distinc t tradition , modes o f administration an d political ideas. No less difficul t wa s the inte ­ gration o f Serbs o f different cultura l and historica l backgrounds that foun d themselves i n th e ne w State . For man y o f them , namel y th e Serb s fro m Serbia, i t wa s th e firs t experienc e o f livin g i n a multiethni c countr y an d moreover a multiethnic countr y where they actually constituted less than a half o f its population. Finally, there was the issue o f binding the Serbian in­ telligentsia to the Churc h with which it was confronted almos t fro m it s in­ ception a t the en d o f the eighteenth century , a conflict increasingl y percei ­ ved as destructive both for the Church and the nation . It was exactly in this challenging time that the Serbian Church's potential was boosted by the arrival of many prominent Russian clerics and theologians, who together with thousand s o f thei r compatriot s foun d solac e i n the bro ­ therly Yugoslav nation afte r th e October Revolution 42. Under the influence o f the conservativ e branc h o f Russia n emigratio n personifie d i n th e Karlovc i Synod established in Yugoslavia, Serbian theologians and philosophers began to search for different socia l and State models, for authentic Orthodox answer

41 Pešić (Branko), op. cit, p . 37 . 42 Se e Raeff (Marc), Russia Abroad, Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1990, pp. 118­155. N. Zernov, who was one o f the Russian emigres in Belgrade, testifies about this intellectual atmosphere (i n Zernov (Nicolas), The Russian Religious Renaissance of the Twentieth Century, Londo n : Darton, Longman & Todd, 1963, pp. 210­249) . Bojan Aleksov ­ Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 5 9

to what Spengler defined a t the dusk o f WWI as Decline of the West 43. The so­ lutions to problems o f democracy and capitalism were sought i n pre­Modem patriarchal form s o f Balka n society , i n Byzantin e model s o f harmon y i n Church and State relations. St. Sava's name was borrowed to label Serbian na­ tional ontolog y ­ Svetosavlje 44. Thus , came th e ne w reinterpretatio n o f St . Sava's heritage, in the form of newly­coined notion of Svetosavlje45. It sought to replace St. Sava the Enlightener and patron o f children and education, whom one of the Svetosavlje founding father s describe d as « having no muscles an d blood cells , being lik e a shado w wit h a sou l mad e o f cobwe b » 46. Instea d Svetosavlje stood for an integral national principle through which « Christian ethos transformed into Slav ethnos » . Taking the obvious Christianization that Medieval Serbi a experience d wit h St . Sav a a s a base , Svetosavlje o r Sain t Savaian ethnosophia became for its promoters « sanctification o f the national, the lifting up of national in Christian » . Only national Svetosavlje was the way to co­national, supranational and universal Christianity. In th e newly­founde d journa l o f theolog y student s carryin g it s name , Svetosavlje received its programmatic exhibition by Russian theologian Teodor Titov. For Titov, Svetosavlje was Christianity permeated with greatest Christian virtues o f love , aspiration t o perfectionism , self­denial , asceticis m togethe r with the new elements such as Pan­Slavism, pan­orthodoxy, and religious to­ lerance, necessar y fo r th e rapprochemen t wit h th e Yugosla v Roma n Catholics47. Another Russia n emigre , Serge j Troicki , insisted tha t Svetosavlje was a Pan­Slavi c nationa l ideolog y o f rapprochement an d unificatio n o f al l Slavs. In light o f intensification o f conflicts wit h the Catholi c Church , young theologian, Danilo Medan, proposed Svetosavlje as a solution , which di d no t see a n enem y i n Catholicism , a brotherly Christia n religion . Instead, in hi s view, Svetosavlje objects to the politics of Catholicism which aimed at « ensla­ vement an d oppressio n o f Sla v peoples, their awakenin g an d developmen t ; absorption o f their racial and cultural individuality » 48. During 1930s , the au ­

43 The study o n the influenc e o f Russian emigre s o n Serbia n religiou s an d secula r thought i s yet t o b e written. The translation o f Spengler' s boo k t o Serbian appeare d onl y i n 1937 , but wa s widel y discusse d earlier. Špengler (Osvald), Propast Zapada, Beogra d : Geca Kon, 1937.

44 There were various attempts to translate the term Svetosavlje rangin g fro m Saintsavais m t o St. Sava's heritage. Its origins an d development ar e discussed late r in the paper . The Church o f St . Sava o n Vračar Hill is in Serbia n calle d Hram Sv . Save (Templ e o f St . Sava). In English translation i t i s referred t o a s th e Church or Memorial Churc h o f St . Sava.

45 See Buchenau (Klaus) , « Svetosavlj e un d Pravoslavlje . Nationales und Universale s i n der Serbische n Orthodoxie » (forthcoming). It is the first wor k on the inter­war invention o f Svetosavlje. 46 Najdanović (Dimitrije), « Svetosavsk a paralipomena » , Svetosavlje, 1 (2), 1932, p. 63.

47 Titov (Teodor), « Svetosavlj e » , Svetosavlje, 2 (3,4,5), 1933, pp. 97­104.

48 Medan (Danilo R.),« Kontur e Svetosavske ideologije i njen znača j u prošlosti i sadašnjosti »(Contour s of Saint Savaian Ideology and its Significance i n the Past and Present) , Svetosavlje, 6 (2­3) , 1937, p. 92. 60 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

thors aroun d Svetosavlje journal develope d th e polemica l attitud e toward s Islam, Catholicism a s well as western cultur e and atheism i n general, which were all perceived a s enemies o f the Serbia n Church and people. All of them however, besides Catholicism, refer to contemporary issues and have nothing to do with the life and work o f Saint Sava. Naturally, the proponent s o f Svetosavlje fostered th e importanc e o f th e Memorial Churc h construction throughout the following perio d propagatin g their ideas o f national monumentalization. Whereas the idea to build the St . Sava's shrine at the end of the nineteenth century was motivated by his role as a national Enlightener and unifier, the inter­war period transformed i t in the symbol o f absolute identificatio n o f the religio n an d nation that too k place , theoretically with the ideology of Svetosavlje and practically with intensifie d distancing an d animosit y betwee n Catholi c an d Orthodo x Churche s i n th e Kingdom of Yugoslavia49. The revived interest in Byzantium, which also arose, was different than the previous romanticist glorification o f the golden medie­ val age 50. The new clai m was that the medieva l Byzantin e identificatio n o f Church, Kingdom and people was absolute, their relationship harmonious and prosperous, exemplified wit h the numerous great churches built throughou t Serbia by kings and the nobility, most o f whom stil l remain a s testimonies to the present day. In 1930 , the Constructio n Committe e receive d a new chairman , th e re ­ cently enthroned Patriarch Varnava, with whom the Serbian Church entered a period o f its greatest construction work, building hundreds of churches throu­ ghout the country , twelve in Belgrade alone, all o f which still occupy an im ­ portant positio n i n the cit y landscape 51. Recuperating the "great an d sacred " endeavor o f building the "Cathedral of Serbian Orthodoxy", Patriarch Varnava insisted it should « reflect in its decorations, mosaics and frescoes the whole of Serbian histor y »5 2. Eventually afte r year s o f uncertainty h e cu t the Gordi' s knot o f contested architectura l and political visions and decide d to alter th e plan. The Committe e commissione d tw o architects , Nestorovi ć an d Deroko , whose work s ranked high in the secon d competition an d whose desig n wa s

49 Th e Serbian Orthodox Church exercised previously unseen clericalism during the so­called Concordat crisis in 1937, when i t opposed an d finally prevented the adoptio n o f Concordat with the Hol y See. The Serbian Church complained that the Catholi c minority was granted a more favorable position than that enjoyed by the Orthodox majority. Pavlowitch (Stevan K.), Yugoslavia, London : Ernest Benn, 1971, p. 95. 50 Unde r generou s roya l sponsorship, the second congres s o f Byzantologists too k plac e i n Belgrad e i n 1927, wit h a variet y o f event s an d ar t exhibitions , receivin g hig h medi a coverage . Se e Jovanovi ć (Miodrag), Srpsko crkveno graditeljstvo i slikarstvo novijeg doba (op. cit), p. 200. 51 Leči ć (Momir), « Izgradnj a i obnov a crkav a i manastr a o d 1920­194 1 » (Th e Constructio n an d Reconstruction o f Churche s an d Monasterie s fro m 1920­1941) , in Srpska Pravoslavna Crkva 1920­1970, Beograd : Sveti arhijerejski sino d SPC , 1971, pp. 65­125.

52 Quoted in Peši ć (Branko) , op. cit, p . 41. Bojan Aleksov ­ Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 6 1

reshaped to embody the current ideological leanings, where church's scale and Byzantine look were central. Deroko's concept imitated Constantinople's Saint Sophia's cruciform mode l with a large dome that replace d the previous idea l model o f Gračanica's large nave with five cupolas. The idea behind Belgrade' s most ambitiousl y conceive d architectural projec t was clearly to replicate th e most exceptional magnificence and grandeur o f the church in Constantinople. The size and design were combined to anticipate the Serbian Church's success in overcoming the deep polarization o f the Serbia n societ y and to show that Serbs could unite and grow only with their Orthodox Church. This decisio n howeve r instigate d th e greates t eve r controvers y amon g Belgrade's architects and artists 53. The transformation o f architectural desig n wrought by the Modernist style already expressed in Russia, Germany, Holland and elsewhere acquired many advocates i n Belgrade as well. New materials, particularly steel and reinforced concrete , enabled the architect to break fro m the traditional church form. In the debate that ensued, prolific modernis t ar ­ chitects Zloković, Dubavi, Brašovan and sculptor Meštrović rejected the idea of imitating Gračanica o r St. Sophia, exclaiming that bonding with the past, ra­ ther tha n wit h contemporar y needs , doe s no t mea n artisticall y creating . Others raised the issue that the Roman Catholic Church launched an interna ­ tional competition , a n ide a rejecte d b y th e Orthodo x Church , whic h acknowledged the right to compete only to Yugoslav citizens and Russian emi­ gres. To this Patriarch Varnava answered that he preferred the competition to be open only to Serbian architects, even i f they were inferior to foreign archi ­ tects, on the grounds that they could more easily reach the conscience and soul of the Serbian people. The defenders o f the Committee's position relied on the ideological appeal of newly founded ideology of Svetosavlje : what other style could we imagine for the Memorial Church of St. Sava than Serbo­ Byzantine, which would no t eve n exis t a s a special offshoo t o f Byzantine style , had not St . Sava laid foundations o f our medieval Church and culture, so that w e could justly cal l this style Saintsavaian. (... ) It is not the matter o f copying or imi­ tating on e or another church, but o f opening further spac e for the [Saintsavaian ] spirit, which is still alive. The critic s o n the othe r han d insiste d tha t th e pla n wa s lookin g back ­ wards, pointing to the long time span that had elapsed since Justinian. Under the Ottoman Empire, these opponents claimed, the Orthodox Church was not allowed to expand and instead of looking forward, it turned inwards and to its "glorious" medieval past. A prominent ar t critic , Kašanin, joined the barrag e against imitating medieval constructions comparing it with writing contem ­

53 Excerpts from the debate waged in the 1930s in various Belgrade newspapers and journals were repu­ blished in Pešić (Branko), op. cit., pp. 42­57, which I used in the following pages. 62 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 42-72

porary history in the style of Middle Age chronicles54. Summing these argu ­ ments, architect Boškovi ć points out that eve n in medieval times there were various styles or variations on a style so that Gračanica or any church could not be taken as a given model55. Furthermore, none o f the proposed models offe ­ red a solution to the stipulation of a monumental contemporary building : the interior room arrangement wa s disproportionate ; too decorative a composi­ tion of minor ornaments was incongruous to the monumental sizing; the stri­ vings and needs of contemporary life and the use of new building techniques also demanded a the new solution. St. Sophia, Bošković thought, was far from Serbia. It was constructed befor e the Serbs moved to the Balkans, and in the epoch of their great construction activity, it ceased to be a model : « St . Sophia is foreign to us in its type, spirit, eve n in its total psychologica l conception , which is aimed at pomp and flash » . Thus, he claimed, if the committee wa s looking for an original creation it had to be new. As for the lack of adequate ar­ chitects or the Church' s traditional stand on art, he proposed a new competi ­ tion with only sketches submitted, as this would solicit « contributions in line with the contemporary spirit , using completel y new form, that the Church could then accept if it psychologically responded to religious needs ». Other argument s not strictly relate d to style were als o raised. Architect Dobrović insiste d tha t ther e wer e othe r need s tha n raisin g a monumenta l sized church. He proposed building a memorial building to St. Sava that would house different educationa l institutions and then separately build small chur­ ches in various Belgrade neighborhoods, which did not have them, as more ap­ propriate t o the memory o f St . Sava . He also praise d th e Roman Catholi c Church for its modernization efforts, for owning a radio station, building chur­ ches according to modern constructio n methods , and adjusting it s liturgy to new spatia l forms . B y doing this , Dobrovi ć believe d th e Catholi c Churc h « responded to the challenge of socialism and began to create its own socialism, neutralizing material arguments and advantages preached by Bolshevism ». The polemic reached its peak when the Belgrade section of the Association of Yugoslav engineers and architects on February 11, 1932, demanded from the Construction Committee , the Ministry of Public Works, the Patriarch and the King the re­opening of the competition. Previously, the King's decision to illus­ trate the Roya l Mausoleum Churc h with mosaic copies of medieval icons in­ stead of opting for original artistic contributions was also widely criticized but in vain56. But this time King Aleksandar vetoed the decision of the Committee

54 Kašanin (Milan) , « Skic e za hram Sveto g Sav e » (Sketches for St. Sava Church), Srpski književni glas­ nik, 21,1927 , p. 32.

55 The article from Srpski književni glasnik, 3 5 (5), 1932, reprinted in Intervju, 01/04/88 , pp. 66­68.

56 Jovanovi ć (Miodrag) , Oplenac (op. cit), pp. 236­238. Bojan Aleksov ­ Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 6 3

to commence construction 57. It was only then that one o f the chief designers, Deroko, finally entere d the debate defendin g the expertise o f the Committe e and rejecting a Modern form for a sacral construction : « St. Sava Church is in­ extricably linked to an ol d Church and it s religion, which draw s its strengt h from suc h a rich past and architectural tradition so that even a contemporary ruler did not hesitate to build his palace except in the style o f his distant pre­ decessors »58. After pressur e fro m the Patriarch, the Kin g eventually withdrew hi s ob­ jection an d th e preparation s coul d proceed . The work s commence d i n 1935, with a spectacula r processio n le d b y the Patriarc h Varnav a an d mor e tha n 1 000 priests . The Assembly o f Bishop s dedicate d the whole year to St . Sava and much was done to intensify the collection of funds fo r the construction of the Vračar Church. Still, the repl y was weak an d the best explanation come s from the Construction Committee report : insufficient o r nonexistent preparatio n o f th e societ y fo r suc h effort , dispute s about th e true locatio n where the relic s were burned , no clea r vision about th e greatness o f the task and the amount o f money necessary to build it, poverty, poor performance o f the fun d raisin g committees, Bishops who focused o n the mor e needy tasks, disputes among politica l parties which prevente d an y common ac ­ tions. The Church itself was not spared from these disputes. (...) There was no inte­ rest o f State, government an d loca l authorities either , which further contribute d to the general lack o f response among the people. 59 The colossal dimensions of the St. Sava Church remained an idealized pic­ ture of the State thorn apart by ethnic grievances and regional differences an d of the society having recently abandoned its egalitarian principles to encoun­ ter serious clas s and power divisions. By 1941, onl y the base was constructe d and the whole church raised to the height o f around ten meters.

THE SECOND TRY

The Secon d Worl d Wa r halted constructio n fo r man y years . During th e war, the Wehrmacht use d the construction sit e as a garage and i n 1944, tur­ ned i t int o a fortifie d defens e agains t th e advancin g Russia n an d Partisa n

57 Pešić (Branko), op. cit, p. 57. 58 The Palac e for King Aleksandar wa s in fact buil t in the twentieth centur y academi c styl e with the or­ naments reinterpretin g th e medieval churche s i n Serbia o f the so­calle d Morava style . 59 Izveštaj Društva za podizanje hrama Sv . Save u Beogradu­na Vračaru za 1938 godinu (Repor t o f the Society for the Construction of St. Sava Church on Vračar Hil l in Belgrade for 1938), Beograd : Privrednik, 1939, pp. XXIX­XXX. 64 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

troops60. The Serbian Orthodox Church as a whole suffered a savage assault du­ ring the war, and the after­war communist takeover reinforced this assault. The new communis t authoritie s expropriate d th e constructio n sit e and close d it . Years of tense Church and State relations precluded any possibility of building such a monumenta l churc h i n th e capita l o f socialis t an d federativ e Yugoslavia61. The sixties and seventie s brought som e stability in Church an d State relations, but the numerous appeals of Patriarch German, who headed the Serbian Church through these years, for the return of the land and continuation of work s wer e nevertheles s repeatedl y repelled 62. Th e issu e provoke d bitte r disputes within the Churc h as well as some clergy criticized the Patriarch fo r being too cautious and circumspect in his dealings with the government 63. Asking for the renewa l o f construction, it was argued that s o many mo­ numents were being built to recent heroes [Partisan fighters from the WWII or communist ideologues] , while the Orthodo x floc k wa s prevente d t o comme ­ morate a great personality fro m th e distant past , who als o inspired people' s fight fo r freedom , justic e an d honesty. It was als o claimed that th e Churc h wanted to give the city a remarkable architectural monument that would with « its size and spectacular dome become a crown of Belgrade, connecting its nu­ merous buildings , which wer e scattere d lik e Babylonia n towers , creating a sense o f unit y an d fullness , givin g a beautiful silhouett e an d grea t appea ­ rance » 64. Theologian Vladan Popović in a series of texts in the late sixties pla­ ced the issu e within the contemporary international debate and criticism o f modernist architecture and urbanist concepts, defining the Church of St. Sava as a return to an essential aesthetic and human values as opposed to the de­ humanizing and automatized modern city. The Church, he stressed, wished to foster internal growth of personality, one's freedom, choice, beauty and values of life as well the "primitive" sense o f roots, which directl y conditions man' s openness to the world65. Still, arguments describing the church as a means of

60 Pešić (Branko), op. cit., p. 9. 61 See Alexander (Stella), Church and State in Yugoslavia since 1945, Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 197 9 ; and th e chapte r o n Serbia n Orthodo x Churc h i n Rame t (Sabrin a Petra) , Balkan Babel, Boulder : Westview Press, 1996, pp. 165­184. 62 Peric a (Vjekoslav) . Balkan Idols. Religion and Nationalism in Yugoslav States, Oxfor d : Oxfor d University Press, 2002, pp. 125­126. 63 Stanković (Slobodan) , « Th e LC Y (Communist Party of Yugoslavia) Fears a Religious Revival » , Radio Free Europe Report, 28/03/85. On the Patriarch's appeals, Pešić (Branko), op. cit, p. 83. 64 Stefanovi ć (Miodra g D.), « Hra m Sv . Save » , in Srpska pravoslavna crkva 1920­1970 (op. cit.), p. 132. 65 Teološki pogledi, 196 8 and 1969 . Similar arguments were put forward by the proponents for buildin g the Kocatep e Mosque in Ankara (Turkey ) in the context o f the Atatürk Memorial and Modem architec ­ ture. Se e Meeke r (Michae l E.) , « Onc e Ther e Was , Onc e Ther e Wasn't . Nationa l Monument s an d Interpersonal Exchange » , in Bozdoğan (Sibel), Kasaba (Resat) , eds., Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey, Seattle : University o f Washington Press, 1997. Bojan Aleksov ­ Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 6 5

humanization, openness to the world, a symbol o f people's common struggl e for good and human prosperity, in the late sixties and seventies could not but fall on the deaf ears of the inimical authorities. Popović's texts, which referre d to the globa l debate o n modernity i n architectur e fro m religiou s angl e als o went unnotice d b y the Serbia n intelligentsi a completel y disassociate d wit h the Church at the time. The walls of St. Sava Church erected before the war remained, resembling a ruin, which constantly awakened the memory and, as Patriarch said in one of his epistles, recalled the notion o f an "open wound"66. Another cleric called them "weeping walls" . The suffering o f the Churc h together with her peopl e during an d afte r th e Worl d Wa r Tw o onl y deepene d th e identificatio n o f Serbdom and Orthodoxy. « The war and the period after » , wrote Metropolitan Amfilohije, « were lik e the ne w burning o f St . Sava's relics, the renewe d at ­ tempt t o destroy, humiliate an d frighten th e spiri t o f the Orthodo x Serb s a s once was the aim o f Sinan Pasha. The crucifixion o f St . Sava's people became the crucifixio n o f St. Sava's Church. »67 For Serbian dissident nationalists , the "open wound" o f the Churc h o f St . Sava also stood to illustrate Serbia n grie ­ vances over their being persecuted in Kosovo or the constitutional discrimina­ tion against Serbia within Yugoslav federation. As the dead body of a saint suf­ fered, no w th e Churc h t o hi s memor y suffered , evokin g th e mos t suitabl e image fo r th e dominan t nationa l ideolog y o f sufferin g an d martyrdo m i n Eastern Europe, of which the Serbs were not least representative 68. During the years of repression, the communist regime in Yugoslavia was the most sensitive to churches acting as outlets of national(ist) feeling. What it couldn't promote at home the Serbian Church insisted on abroad where most of the churches built for the Serbian Diaspora during this period were dedica­ ted to St. Sava, testifying t o the unabated resolv e to the principles o f identifi ­ cation of nation and religion as forged in the inter­war Svetosavlje ideology69. The revival of religion in the eighties further intensifie d this imagery. This re­ vival wa s als o a manifestatio n o f th e dee p crisi s o f th e communis t rule d Yugoslav federation i n the early nineteen eighties. Before, the regime was di­ vided as to the demands for the continuation of the construction o f the church with majority perceivin g it as a bare display of Serbian nationalism. Now the

66 Pešić (Branko), op. cit, p . 142. 67 Radović (Amfilohije), art. cit., p. 185. 68 Verdery (Katherine), op. cit, p . 114. 69 Fo r other churches dedicated to St . Sava se e Pavlovi ć (Leontije) , Kultovi lica kod Srba i Makedonaca (Personal Cult s b y Serb s an d Macedonians) , Smederevo , 1965 , pp. 63­6 5 ; and Jankovi ć (Mila n D.) , « Hramov i Svetoga Save u Srpskoj pravoslavnoj crkvi » (Churches Dedicated to St . Sava in the Serbia n Orthodox Church) in Spaljivanje moštiju Svetitelja Save (The Burning of Holy Relics of St. Sava), Beograd : Sveti arhijerski sinod SPC , 1997. 66 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

change was inevitable o r desirable. The President o f the Serbia n Republic wi­ thin the Yugoslav Federation, Dušan Čkrebić, who on June 19, 1984, received the Serbian Patriarch German to finally grant him the approval for the resumption of works, recently testified : with no difficulties I got the approval from al l the leading people in the republi c to lif t the ban o n the church' s construction. There was no one against it . (... ) The older Serbia n politica l leaders, who had been in offic e when the decision to ba n the construction was taken, did not make any difficulties, manifesting i n that way their silent solidarity with us, younger ones, but also redeeming fo r one political decision made long time ago, which insulted the Serbian people for years.70 This major shif t happene d before Milosevi c ros e to prominence and was employed by the party elite that he replaced few years later accusing them of betraying the Serbian national interests. It marked a gradual shift in the ideo­ logical focus o f Yugoslav communists. After Tito's death, it was just a matter of time when and which of the ruling communist elites in the Yugoslav republics would embark on a new track. How quickly the Serbian communists becam e ardent supporter s o f th e constructio n effor t i s illustrate d b y th e word s o f Dragan Dragojlović, the Serbian Minister for Religious Affairs in the mid­nine­ teen eighties : a histori c time an d collectiv e misfortune ove r centuries o f yok e have made thi s historic personalit y (St . Sava ) a spiritua l founde r o f Serbia n identity . (... ) Th e church dedicate d to St . Sava, which i s being built o n Vračar, with it s current di ­ mensions obviousl y exceeds the usual needs o f a church. However, with it s size , the church probably strives to cover the life and deeds o f St. Sava, or historic spa­ ces of his personality and in a way to bring them to life, as well as the legends, real and desired , historic and irrational, which i s all part o f one consciousness, ready to, in its time and according to its tradition, commemorate a part of its history and thus commemorates itself a s well. 71 Endowing the Serbia n Churc h with the task o f commemorating th e na ­ tion and virtually representing it, the Serbian Communists initiated a reorde­ ring o f meaningful world s that ensue d i n Eastern Europ e afte r 1989 , which Verdery describe d a s reinsertin g expressl y sacre d value s int o politica l dis ­ course72. Th e continuatio n o f work s wa s suppose d t o remed y th e havo c wrought o n the social , cultural an d politica l tissue o f the natio n durin g th e previous forty years . Together with the carrying o f the bones o f Prince Lazar across the country as a part o f the commemoration o f the Battle of Kosovo, the construction of the church was the major symbolic attempt at reordering, reaf­

70 Ćkiebić (Dušan), « Zidanj e hrama » (The Building of the Memorial Church), Vreme, (557), 24/01/02. 71 Dragan Dragojlović in a special statement to Intervju, 01/04/88, p. 51 . 72 Verdery (Katherine), op. cit., p. 37. Bojan Aleksov ­ Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 6 7

firming an d bonding the nation 73. Metropolitan Amfilohije , on e o f the mos t active Church hierarchs, spoke of the St. Sava Church « being resurrected afte r many years of being crucified with a deeper meaning that it had at the begin­ ning » elaborating: from th e initiall y conceive d monumen t o f dee p gratitud e t o th e firs t Serbia n Enlightener, this church i s acquiring an all­ encompassing essence and meaning . (...) Overcoming it s crucifixio n an d resurrectio n an d turning int o a n all­encom ­ passing sign of not only regional, Serbian but a universal character, the Church of St. Sava becomes a challenge and cal l to all, to a radical change and transforma ­ tion o f thought, knowledge and ability , or the ways o f living and thinking in ge­ neral. 74 The Churc h commissione d a renowne d architec t Brank o Peši ć a s Chie f Architect (Proto­Master) and consecrated the ground for a second time on May 12,1985. More than a hundred thousand people gathered for yet another pom­ pous open­air ceremony radiating two visible messages. The beginning of the work o n the site , where i t was s o abruptly halte d almos t fift y year s before , symbolically excised the time in between, breaking of f with the recent rejec­ ted past and adjoining the distant idealized one. Secondly, the reports from the celebration projected a n image o f a vast throng o f believers coming from al l over the nation an d assemblin g an d uniting i n front o f the church . The pre­ sence of an immense crowd was in itself to justify the immensity of the church and its significance . In his speech the Patriarch recalle d how the spiri t an d legacy o f St . Sava helped its fatherland t o « overcome huge temptations through the centuries, to resis t an d surviv e Marica' s catastroph e an d th e Kosov o tragedy , th e Albanian Golgotha and Jasenovac (...) guarding its national name, religion, lan­ guage, customs, its Christian, Orthodox and the spiri t o f St . Sava » 75. In this exemplary time compression, among the four temptations mentioned, two are from the fourteenth and two from the twentieth century. The two former were battles tha t resulte d i n th e los s o f th e Serbia n medieva l Kingdo m t o th e Ottoman invader s while the latter refer to the immense human losse s Serb s experienced during the course of two world wars76. By remembering the dead and death itself on the site of the future Memorial Church, the Patriarch called

73 Prince Lazar, killed as the leader of the Serbian forces in the Kosovo battle in which the Serbs lost their independence to the Ottomans, was also proclaimed a s saint and his cult is second to that o f St. Sava. Verdery sees in the ritual carrying of Prince Lazar's bones also an attempt to set the boundaries of grea­ ter Serbia (ibid., p. 18). 74 Radović (Amfilohije), art. cit., p. 185. 75 Pešić (Branko), op. cit, p. 80. 76 "Albanian golgotha" was the retreat in front o f united Austro­Hungarian and German forces in 1915­ 1916 that cost Serbia's army and people many lifes. Jasenovac was the biggest concentration camp in fas­ cist Croatia during WWII, where the Serbs were the principal victims. 68 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

upon the meaning of the monument, similar to the one proposed by Vernan in his study of the ancient Greek colossus, whereby the colossus, while substitu­ ting the corpse in the depths o f the grave, embodies and immortalizes not the dead, but lif e beyond death 77. The Patriarch's speec h uses death an d glorifie s the self­sacrific e o f the dea d to awaken an d nourish the spiri t o f the peopl e after forty years of communist rule in light o f the problems o f Serbs in Kosovo and economic crisis across the whole country. There was no better myth fo r awakening, for the cul t o f St. Sava's embodies and immortalizes self­sacrific e for the sake o f the people. The Memorial Church provided the visual imagery for Christia n notions o f the sufferin g an d resurrection, easily translatable t o the political rhetoric of the revival of the strength and spirit of the Serbian peo­ ple, after years of humiliation and defeat . In a fund raisin g speec h given in Lo s Angeles, poet Matija Bećkovi ć als o saw in the St. Sava Church an embodiment o f all Serbs and all of Serbia :« we are not gathering [funds ] fo r the Churc h ­ w e are gathering ourselves. (...) St. Sava Church does not belong to anyone, we belong to it. It is built by all times and by all generations, by our Patriarchs, ancestors, forebears and fathers. (... ) St. Sava Church is all of Serbia »78. The featuring o f dead ancestors is a crucial point of reference for the living in moder n nationalism . Th e past ha d t o wi n ove r the presen t throug h th e Memorial Church , whose victor y was alread y accomplished, as Metropolita n Amfilohije professed, in the victory of the scattered and indestructible ashes of St. Sava on which it was to be built. Matija Bećković coined a motto ­ « W e are not building the Church , the Churc h is building us » . Few remembered tha t some fort y year s earlie r communis t propagandist s use d the sam e motto i n mobilizing the youth to volunteer their labor in the reconstruction and indus­ trialization o f the country. Their version was : « we are not building the rail­ way, the railway is building us ». The works were ambitiously conceived. Donations were collected all over the world and forecasts were made that, with new technology means, in a few years the greates t Orthodo x Churc h in the world coul d b e built « despite al l earthly obstacles and in order to prolong the life o f tradition and myth o f St. Sava » . The chief architect envisage d the building o f a crypt chapel dedicate d to the Kosovo martyr St. Lazar, a treasury to hold all the nation's cultural trea­ sures, a cinema and big concert and lecture hall and library where the adde d functions obviousl y expresse d the new rol e o f the Serbia n Churc h i n societ y and the all­encompassing importance o f the national monument under cons­

77 Vernan (Jean­Pierre), Mythe et pensée chez les Grecs II, Paris: Maspero, 1971, p. 67 (cf. notamment le cha­ pitre « Figuration de l'invisible et catégorie psychologique du double : le colossos »). 78 Bećković (Matija), art. cit., p. 11 . Bojan Aleksov - Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 6 9

truction79. The original project was modified and now it was expected that the church would be capable o f receiving up to 1 5 thousand peopl e which is more than any other Orthodox Church in the world can receive80. Fifty year s afte r th e famou s polemi c among Belgrade' s architects , there were considerably fewer debate s and certainly less fury ove r the church's de­ sign. The architectural reversio n corresponded to the intended symbolis m o f the reversal of the communist practice accused of eradicating Serbian religious and national consciousness. The opting for the old design as a powerful imag e of the presumed break with the communist past and the beginning of the new epoch wil l b e late r repeate d wit h Moscow' s Churc h o f Chris t th e Saviour 81. Astonishingly, little criticism was raised eve n though the construction follo ­ wed the same project under drastically different condition s o f the site and its visual and spatial arrangement in a new setting. The church's architect Branko Pešić could proudly declare : « th e Constantinople church definitely marks a beginning of great Byzantine architecture, which we are ending fourteen cen ­ turies later » 82. Few, like Dobrović before the war, questioned the idea of building such a colossal church, its sheer size being a modern and Church's most notable fea ­ ture, and proteste d t o the immoderat e callin g fo r the churc h to become th e biggest Orthodox church in the world. An article in the Church journal warns that the monumentality an d architectural features o f St . Peter's in Rome are fully enslave d to its representational function , almos t disablin g the discree t spiritual reintegration o f a Christian pilgrim but provide s only obscure argu ­ ments why the same should not apply to St . Sava Church83. In the meantime, hundreds o f new neighborhoods arose all over the country, without place s of worship, such as New Belgrade with over 200 000 inhabitants. In the only pro­ tracted discussion on this matter, Metropolitan Amfilohije acknowledge d the magnitude o f the church as its largest challenge : « external monumentalit y was always man's conscious or unconscious attempt to cover with external ef ­ fect and force his internal fear, helplessness, misery and spiritual poverty »84. The Metropolitan's majo r objection s however , concerne d th e applicatio n o f modern building techniques and materials such as concrete and prefabricate d blocks. Most o f his remarks remained unanswered a s Serbian Churc h hierar ­ chy and contractors rushed to complete the construction and sought to see the

79 All of these ambitious plans were later abandoned. Pešić (Branko), op. cit., p. 115. 80 Pešić (Branko) , Godine hrama Svetog Save, Beograd : M. komunikacije, 1995, p. 60. 81 Sidorov (Dmitiri), art. cit., p. 548. 82 Intervju, 01/04/88 , p. 77. 83 Mojović (Dragan), « St . Sava's Church as the Oath o f Return to the Center » , Teološki pogledi, 1999.

84 Radovi ć (Amfilohije) , art. cit., p.186. 70 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

end o f Serbian misfortunes with the completion of their Memorial Church. The idea to build a Memorial Church to St. Sava, according to the same project and on very spot where it was halted by communist authoritie s was simply over­ whelming85. In an exemplary act that illustrates the nationalist striv e to demonstrat e symbolically the Serbia n national unity and resurgence, the Episcopal Syno d in 198 8 approved a cross, specially designed to b e placed on the dom e o f St . Sava Church by sculptor Nebojš a Mitrić86. The cross that the Synod describe d as "the Cross of Saint Sava" was the Greek cross decorated with four Cyrillic let­ ters ­s ­ (c) , standing fo r th e traditiona l Serbia n sloga n "sam o slog a Srbina spašava" (only unity saves the Serbs). This decision not only reiterated the po­ litical intentions behin d the church' s construction , present fro m it s very in ­ ception, but brought it to the extreme since, as some critics had it , the desig n was clearl y non­canonical an d thus indicate d the Synod' s preference fo r the rallying effects o f the national monument rather than the traditionally concei­ ved church building. The construction work continued paralleled with the deepening o f politi­ cal and economic crisis in Yugoslavia, with conflicting interests of leaderships of its constitutive parts being the greatest danger for its survival. Serbia led by Milosevic spearheaded the nationalist hysteria that even rose some eyebrows in th e Serbia n Church . I n thei r annua l epistl e o n St . Sava' s da y i n 1988 , Patriarch and the Bishops warned : the State must not be an Empire, while where Empire begins Fatherland ceases to exist. Therefore, i t is a big misfortune t o oppress other peoples, just as it is to b e oppressed from the others. (...) Saintsavaian patriotism was born in silence and joy of creation without chauvinist selfishness an d blood spilling. Along with it arose the sens e o f the nee d t o shar e its people' s heritage with othe r people s an d th e wish for accepting other peoples' cultural wealth. 87 Soon, serious inflation an d an economic crisis slowed the pace of the cons­ truction work on St. Sava Church. In 1990, the economic crisis yielded as a pri­ mary concern to that of the very existence of the Yugoslav State. The next year, the Stat e collapse d into a bloody war fo r the secon d time in fifty years , only this time without foreig n occupatio n to precede it. At the same time, serious affairs wrecked the building efforts. Once the cupola was lifted and the church roofed, the next task envisaged was to cover it in marble. Most o f the remai­

85 Certain revisions of the plan were undertaken but only in relation to the technical feasibility or details such a s lighting, acoustics etc. Pešić (Branko) , Spomen hram Sv. Save na Vračaru u Beogradu 1895­1988 (op. cit.), pp. 114 ­117. 86 Pešić (Branko), « Spome n hra m Svetog a Sav e na Vračaru » , in Spaljivanje moštiju Svetitelja Save (op. cit.), p. 366. 87 Intervju, 01/04/88 , p. 97. Bojan Aleksov Nationalism in Construction: the Memorial Church of St. Sava in Belgrade \ 71

ning money was spent on purchasing the marble plaques , which soo n were discovered to be radioactive. Other rumors held that the structure was sinking. The works were stopped, Chief Architect Pešić resigned and numerous accusa­ tions resounded in the press. The tragic circumstances and the results o f wars waged from 1991 , have shifted people' s attention from the Vračar Church as the source o f their unity and revival . The aspiration fo r lavishnes s vanishe d a s the ideologica l cons ­ tructs o f national reaffirmatio n an d resurrectio n di d not materialize . A new common myth appeare d suggestin g that the church mus t no t b e complete d because by the time this happens there will be no Serbs left. The myth's justi­ fication argument combines the senselessness of the last wars, which claimed the lives of so many Serbs along with others, with the unattainable ideals em­ bodied in the construction o f the Church of St. Sava.

EPILOGUE

After year s o f oblivion the Serbia n Churc h in mid­1990 s dre w attentio n back to the St. Sava Church and began holding services on the plateau in front of the constructio n sit e o r recentl y eve n insid e th e unfinishe d church . Th e Chief Architect Pešić appealed : let u s get ou t o f this war an d hel l with the biggest eve r victory, with the fulfill ­ ment o f the Serbian people's oath to erect the church to its Enlightener St . Sava on the very spot where four hundred years ago his holy relics were burned with th e aim to destroy what was the holiest and best in the Serbian people. Let us finis h the church as a proof that we can not be defeated, let us prove that the ashes of St. Sava were not in vain ! Everything else would mean the victory of Sinan Pasha, of all our occupiers, old and new enemies.88 In th e atmospher e o f th e complet e breakdow n o f th e Serbia n society , where basic economic and political security could not be provided, not to men­ tion spiritual or cultural revival, "Serbian National Cathedral" was again hailed as a celebration o f "victory over the enemy" and the segment o f its role as the act o f societal repentance for the communist er a was lost89. In the year 2000, after the overthrow o f Milosevic and almost a ten­years break, the works has begun again. In a striking contradiction to the proclaimed vision of the St. Sava Church a s the endowmen t o f the nation , the new Serbia n Prim e Minister ­

88 Bordević (Duška), « Zvon a zvone, hram ne tone » (Bells are ringing, the Church is not sinking), Oko, 2000, p. 4. 89 Se e Merick (Rade) , « Th e Serbia n Nationa l Cathedra l » , in 199 8 Calendar of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Unided States of America and Canada. 72 / Balkanologie VII (2), décembre 2003, p. 47-72

Bindic urge d a few profitabl e Stat e and private banks and companies to do­ nate in order to complete the church by 2004. The Royal family which came to settle in the country, after Milošević was ousted, also joined the effort 90. But the new beginning was again marred by controversy, this time regar­ ding the bells bought from th e Austrian bell­maker Grossmayer . Their recent installation and ceremonial ringing was supposed to announce the continua­ tion of the construction efforts and moreover an appeal to all for prayer and re­ pentance, s o needed afte r th e most recent troubled events 91. State minister s sponsored som e o f the forty­nin e expensiv e bell s delivered fro m Innsbruck , which were made to play in four octaves and to perform the hymn o f St. Sava every day at noon. The critics immediately pronounced this Glockenspiel­lik e device agains t Orthodo x canon s an d describe d i t a s a manifestatio n o f Orthodox kitsc h an d nationalis t hysteria 92. Other s proteste d tha t th e bell s were made in Austria by a Catholic Church bell­maker. But the largest disap­ pointment cam e with thei r firs t performance , when eve n those standin g i n front o f the church could not hear them ring, despite promises that the sound should reach twenty kilometers. Because o f either acoustics, position o r qua­ lity of the bells, fiery discussions erupted once again reflecting the central role of St . Sava Church in the contest o f visions of how the nation should be com­ memorated. Mor e tha n a centur y afte r it s constructio n wa s initiated , th e Church o n Vračar Hill is still awaiting completion an d to assume the monu ­ mental and memorial role it was assigned. Manifesting Serbia n unity and re­ surrection seems to be as hard now as it had been anytime over the last century.

9° Mikić (Verica) , « Hra m cemo ipak završit i » (We Will Eventually Finish the Church) , Glas Javnosti, 14/11/00. 91 Jović (Rev. Savo B.), « Osvećen a zvon a za Spomen­hram Sveto g Sav e na Vračaru » (The Bells for the Memorial Church of St. Sava on Vračar Hill Consecrated) on Serbian Orthodox Church News Internet Page 26/11/01 (available from http://www.spc.org.yu/Vesti/11/26­11­01_14.html) . 92 Panovi ć (Zoran) , « Glokenšpi l kao pravoslavne orgulj e » (Glockenspiel as Orthodox Organ), Danas, 05/01/02 ; Simonović (Petar), « Šapat svetosavski h zvona » (The Whisper o f St. Sava's Bells), Reporter, 30/04/02.