Old Church

Old Church, built in 1818 as an endowment of Prince Miloš, is devoted to the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. Prince Miloš Obrenović as the ktetor of this Church didn’t spare money for the building of the Church. It was the first metropolitan cathedral and the Church yard in free Serbia. At the portal of the Old Church numerous decisions important for Serbian history were taken, for example, Serbian Constitution. Here in 1835 the Parliament of the Purification Day assumed   the first Serbian Constitution. All the Parliament meetings were held in the Church portal till 1859 and after it – in the new-build Parliament building. Although during the Ottoman rule all the orthodox churches had to be lower than the mosque, Prince Miloš adroitly dodged this law and built a taller church than was expected. Prince’s endowment was reconstructed several times. The bells of the Church rang for the first time in 1829.