The Patriarchate of the Serbian Orthodox Church

We now make a leap from the secular and the everyday toward the sacred. The building of the Serbian Patriarchate was erected in 1933–1935 according to the design of the Russian architect Viktor Viktorovich Lukomsky, on the site of the former metropolitan’s residence dating from 1863. Lukomsky belonged to the so-called “middle generation” of Russian émigré architects, who came into their professional maturity precisely in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes / Yugoslavia. A graduate of the Nikolaev Military Engineering Academy, he arrived in Belgrade in 1920 and became part of the wave of Russian architects that noticeably transformed the architectural appearance of the capital.

The function of the building predetermined its style. Lukomsky turned to the Serbian-Byzantine tradition, but did not copy it literally: he sought to rethink it while preserving its conceptual core. Before us is a modernized, authorial version of a historical language. Stylized columns, biforas, medallions, consoles, arched openings — all of this is a free interpretation in which one senses the hand of a master accustomed to thinking in large forms and clear compositions.

The main entrance is especially expressive. It is emphasized by massive engaged columns and crowned with the patriarchal coat of arms. Above the portal is a mosaic of Saint John the Baptist, made after a sketch by the émigré artist Vladimir Predojević. This image is not accidental: Saint John was considered the heavenly patron of the family of Patriarch Varnava, a bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Inside, the space continues the same idea. The interior of the first floor, with an arcade of semicircular arches on columns and capitals, refers to the Byzantine artistic tradition. There is no excessive splendour here: monumentality is achieved through rhythm, proportion, and the calmness of lines. The complex includes the court chapel dedicated to Saint Simeon the Myrrh-streaming, the Patriarchate Library, and the Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Lukomsky’s fate was not an easy one. After the war his situation was difficult; archival documents record the material hardships and losses of the final years of his life. But the Patriarchate still stands, which means that Viktor Lukomsky is forever inscribed in the history of the city to which he devoted a large part of his life.