Magnificent mosaic in dome of St. Sava's Temple/PHOTOS

Magnificent mosaic in dome of St. Sava's Temple/PHOTOS

Although the mosaic will be officially unveiled in the coming days by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, b92.net is publishing photographs from inside this Serbian Orthodox church - the largest Orthodox temple in Europe - with the permission of the author, Politika's photojournalist Zeljko Jovanovic. This is one of the most important projects of mosaic decoration anywhere in the world. The magnificent artwork was made in Moscow, the work of 70 artists led by Russian Academy of Arts member Nikolai Mukhin.

It took a year to complete the 40-ton mosaic, that was then cut up and transported to Belgrade in special trucks. The project, worth 4 million euros, was financed by Russia's energy giant Gazprom Neft.

The Church of St. Sava is the largest Orthodox church in Europe, whose construction began in the 1930s in Belgrade's central Vracar municipality, at the site where the occupying Ottoman Turks burned the relics of St. Sava (1175-1236) - the founder and the first patriarch of the autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).