About the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Neimar, Vračar) in Belgrade, Serbia:
This is the primary Catholic cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Belgrade, The original church, known as the “French Church” due to the presence of French Assumptionists, was built in 1924–1925 and blessed on September 25, 1925, by Angelo Roncalli (later Pope John XXIII).
A new church, intended as a memorial to French and Serbian soldiers who died on the Salonika Front during World War I, began construction in 1938, but was halted in 1941 due to World War II. During the war, the unfinished structure was used by German forces for ammunition storage, and post-war Communist authorities repurposed it for various uses, including as a storage unit, music recording space for Radio Belgrade, and a drug rehabilitation center.
The building was returned to the Catholic Church in 1982 after the Assumptionists left. Construction resumed in 1987, and the cathedral was consecrated on August 14, 1988, as the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, replacing the older Christ the King church as the cathedral.
Architecture and Features:Designed by architect Branislav Marinković in a modernist style, the cathedral is a three-nave basilica with a transept and a monumental tower portal resembling a triumphal arch.
The interior, designed by Slovenian architect Franz Kvaternik, features frescoes by Slovenian painters Lojze Čemažar and Lucian Bratuš, blending Catholic and Orthodox iconography.
Traveling to the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Belgrade, Serbia.
The Cathedral is located in the Neimar neighborhood, Vračar municipality.
Address: Hadži Milentijeva, 75
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