Church of St. Clement of Ohrid

St. Clement of Ohrid Св. Климент Охридски
Saint Clement of Ohrid - Skopje.
Basic information
Location	Skopje, Republic of Macedonia
Affiliation	Macedonian Orthodox Church (Eastern Orthodox Church)
District	Centar
Architectural description
Architect(s)	Slavko Brezovski
Architectural style	Modern style

The Church of Saint Clement of Ohrid (Macedonian: Соборна црква - Свети Климент Охридски) often called simply Soborna Crkva (Соборна црква), located in Skopje, Macedonia is the largest cathedral of the Macedonian Orthodox Church today.

Architecture

The construction of the Orthodox Cathedral church, designed by Slavko Brezovski, began in 1972 and was consecrated on 12 August 1990, on the 1150th anniversary of the birth of the church patron, St. Clement of Ohrid. This rotunda type church, with 36m x 36m dimension, composed only of domes and arches, is one of the most interesting architectural examples in recent Macedonian history. The main church is dedicated to St. Clement of Ohrid, and the church below to the Holy Mother. One of the chapels is dedicated to Emperor Constantine and Empress Helena, and the other to St. Mina, the martyr. The icons in the iconostasis were painted by Gjorgji Danevski and Spase Spirovski and the frescoes were painted by academic painter Jovan Petrov and his collaborators.^[1]

Under the central dome there is a 3.5 m high archbishopric throne. Both chair in front of him are 2 meters high and under the canons, they are intended for the world emperor and his wife. The Central dome has an area of 650 m². The frescoes are work of the academic painters Jovan Petrov and his collaborators. For the first time in the world, in this church Jesus Christ is painted on the surface of 70 square meters, with about 1.5 meters eye diameter. Departure from the canon is that the prophets instead of standing position are shown in a sitting position. The second departure from the canons of the church are the large windows. To avoid a large amount of light there is mounted an acrylic crystal.

Lighting of the church is done by five tons hard polileum which is placed under the central dome. On it are arranged about 400 bulbs. The second polileum, which is in the middle, hangs over the altar in the Holy See.

At 45 meters high camban located in the yard, left (north) from the main entrance of the church bells are 3. The most severe 1000 kg, the second 500 kg, 300 kg of the third and they are all tripped in Austria.

The fountain in front of the church was a gift from the Islamic religious community.^[2]

Gallery

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  Saint Clement of Ohrid - Skopje.

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  The entrance of the church.

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  Statue of Dositheus II in front of the church.

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  Closer view of the church.

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  Interior of the church

References

1. www.macedonia.co.uk, Churches of Skopje: "Saint Clement of Ohrid"
2. Крале Марко: „Свети Климент Охридски“ (Macedonian)

External links

• 360 Panorama of the church

Coordinates: 41°59′55″N 21°25′35″E / 41.99861°N 21.42639°E