ST. NICHOLAS ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL – Sremski Karlovci

On the site of the present-day Cathedral Church, there was a smaller church dedicated to the same saint as early as the 16th century. In 1758, Metropolitan Pavle Nenadović decided that the old church should be demolished and that construction of a new Cathedral Church should begin on the same site. The foundations were consecrated on 7 May 1758, and with contributions from the Metropolitan, the people and the monasteries, the church was completed within four years, according to plans drawn up in Vienna. The Cathedral Church was built in the Baroque style as a three-nave cathedral. The front of the church is dominated by two large bell towers, with a smaller one between them. The windows feature stained glass made by German craftsmen, while above the choir apse is a large stained-glass depiction of St Nicholas. The altar area contains a large iconostasis painted by Teodor Kračun, who died tragically, and Jakov Orfelin. Kračun painted the figures of the Evangelists in the corners of the dome, as well as the icons in the upper section of the iconostasis, which are decorated with 24-carat gold leaf. Jakov Orfelin completed the work on the iconostasis. At the bottom of the iconostasis, on the right-hand side, is the icon of the Virgin Mary with the Christ Child, believed to be the work of unknown Russian masters from the 14th century. The altar area also houses a reliquary containing part of the relics of St Arsenije of Srem, a disciple of St Sava and his successor as Archbishop. Between the altar area and the nave are two thrones: the one on the right was intended for the Patriarch, while the one on the left was reserved for the King or Crown Prince. During the patriarchate of Georgije Branković, the renowned Serbian painter Paja Jovanović was commissioned by the Patriarch himself to create several paintings depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments, as well as four compositions depicting events from medieval Serbian history. The facade of the Cathedral Church was remodelled in 1909–1910, during the patriarchate of Lukijan Bogdanović, according to a design by Vladimir Nikolić. Almost all of the Metropolitans and Patriarchs of Karlovci are buried in the crypt of the Cathedral Church, with the exception of Arsenije III and Arsenije IV, whose remains are interred at Krušedol Monastery, and Patriarchs Georgije Branković and Lukijan Bogdanović, who, owing to frequent flooding, were laid to rest in a crypt built for them beneath the Upper Church.