St. Mark's Church, Belgrade

Located in Tasmajdan Park near Parliament, the Church of Saint Mark is a Serbian Orthodox church built in the Byzantine style. The building you see today was mostly completed by 1940, but there was a church dating from 1835 on this same site.

That original church was built of wood and also dedicated to Saint Mark. It was built in an existing cemetery. Here, King Alexander Obrenovic I and Queen Draga Obrenovic were buried after they were assassinated during the May Coup in 1903.

The original church was hit by German bombs and badly damaged on Palm Sunday in 1941. The rubble was cleared in 1942.

At the time, the new church's exterior had been completed, but finishing work was stalled due to the war. Nevertheless, divine service took place inside during the war. Officially, the building was consecrated in 1948.

The church has three altars. One of the altars contains a mosaic that is believed to be one of the largest in the world, spanning 1,400 square feet (130 square meters). It is made of Venetian glass and is titled "Mother of God, Larger than Heaven."

The park surrounding the church is worth a stroll. The grounds were rearranged in 2017. Large amounts of pavement were removed, and green spaces with granite slabs were added in their place. To the church's right is a ceremonial space, patterned after Capitoline Hill in Rome. It is meant to be an expansion of the church.