Church Of St. Sava, Gaborone
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The Church of St. Sava () is a
Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...
in
Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Botswana, largest city of Botswana, with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its metropolitan area is home to 534, ...
, capital of
Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...
. Built by the Serbian diaspora since 2015, it is the second Serbian Orthodox church in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
, following the one in
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. The Church of St. Sava is one of the tallest buildings in Gaborone, contrasting with the city’s traditionally low-rise architecture. The interior was decorated by Vladimir Skerlić, a Serbian mosaic and fresco artist from
Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
. Architecturally, it resembles Serbian churches from the late 19th and early 20th century.


History

Serbs began immigrating to Botswana in the 1970s, facilitated by a visa-free regime for Yugoslav citizens. The Serbian community in Botswana, consisting of about 30 families, has been organized within the Serbian Society since 2011. The project was initiated by the Serbian community, predominantly comprising families who immigrated during the 1990s due to
Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
. The land was donated by Milivoje Nikolić, a Serbian entrepreneur, and construction received support from various local and international donors, including contributions from
Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, and the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The church, consecrated by
Irinej, Serbian Patriarch Irinej ( sr-Cyrl, Иринеј, , ; born Miroslav Gavrilović; 28 August 193020 November 2020) was the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church from 2010 until his death in 2020. He had first been the bishop of Niš between 1975 and 2010, and then t ...
in 2018. The church was completed in 2021.


See also

*
Yugoslavia and the Organisation of African Unity During the Cold War period former Southeast European country of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia established and maintained significant political, cultural and economic exchanges and relations with newly independent African states. Wh ...
*
Yugoslavia and the Non-Aligned Movement The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement, an international groupation established to maintain independence of countries beyond Eastern Bloc, Eastern and Western Bloc from the major Cold War po ...
*
Serbs in South Africa Serbian South African is a South African citizen of Serbian descent or Serbia-born person who resides in South Africa. History The Kingdom of Yugoslavia did not give too much attention to the community of Yugoslavs in the Union of South Africa ...


References

{{Serbian Orthodox churches, state=collapsed 21st-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings Churches completed in 2021 Buildings and structures in Gaborone Churches in Botswana 2015 establishments in Botswana Saint Sava