On the way back home from our Balkans’ holiday we have visited Topola in Serbia to discover the beautiful church of St. George – the Mausoleum of Karadjordjevic (Karađorđević) dynasty located on the Oplenac hill.
In 1903 King Peter I, the first king of the Karadjordjevic dynasty, was coronated here.
Even from the outside church looks impressive. But what you see inside is even more amazing. The walls are covered with about 40 million pieces of tiny mosaic forming images … just see yourself:
In crypts there are tombs of the Karadjordjevic Dynasty. We visited the church in September 2013, almost three months after remains of Yugoslavia’s last king, Peter II, and three other members of his family – his spouse Queen Alexandra, the Queen Mother Mary and the brother Prince Andrej were burried. The liturgy was served by Patriarch Irinej of Serbian Orthodox Church. It was a huge and very important event for Serbians. Crypts are as beautiful as the rest of the church:
Visiting such places always reminds me the amazing high resolution panoramas, which makes Jan Zięba. I think that Oplenac would be a challenge even for him. Jan’s site with panoramas of interiors: http://zieba.wroclaw.pl/
The official Oplenac site: http://www.oplenac.rs/