Belgrade

Belgrade is one of the oldest continually settled cities in Europe. It is also the capital of the Republic of Serbia and its largest city. In ancient times, Belgrade was known as Singidunum, and it was an important political, economic, and religious center of the northeastern part of the Roman Empire. A religious relic that remains from the Roman period is Mithra's holy shrine.

Around 630, the Serbian (Slavic) settlers came to this area. After this, there are no records about this town for more than two and a half centuries. The town was mentioned again only in the ninth century, under the Slavic name Beograd (“White Town”—probably because of the walls made of white limestone).

In 1403, Belgrade obtained the status of capital. This event is marked by Ascension Day—Spasovdan—as its Saint's Day (slava), in honor of the restoration and progress of the city. This ancient slava symbolizes the rising up, or ascension, of the city from the ashes and its irrepressible hope and faith in the future. Ascension Day is a movable feast and always falls on a Thursday, 40 days after Easter and 10 days before Whitsun. This event is the biggest religious and political holy day in Belgrade.

Belgrade was a significant hub of anti-Ottoman opposition in early-modern times. After its conquest by the Turks in 1521, it became the center of one of the provinces (sanjak) of the Ottoman Empire. During this period, the city underwent substantial development, and it became the second biggest city (after Istanbul) in the European part of the Ottoman Empire. The growth/expansion of the city brought also demographic changes, and Belgrade became a multicultural and multireligious city. There were more than 250 mosques and masjids, dozens of Christian churches (Orthodox as well as Catholic), and also Askenazic and Sephardic synagogues in Belgrade during that period. There was an important Jewish yeshiva in the city as well.

The 19th century saw the liberation of Belgrade from Turkish rule and its establishment as the capital of the Kingdom of Serbia (1878). A number of important institutions of Orthodox Christianity were set up during that time, and Belgrade became a center of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the seat of its Patriarch. In this period were built the biggest churches in the city, for example, the Cathedral Church (1840).

In the present day, the majority of Belgrade citizens are of Orthodox faith (91%). Other important religious groups are Muslims (1.3%), Catholics (1%), and Protestants (0.2%). A formerly sizable Jewish community was destroyed during World War II, and the contemporary Jewish community has only 400 members. There is a very small group of nonbelievers in Belgrade (about 3%) compared with other capitals of the former Communist Bloc. All of Serbia, including Belgrade, was integrated into the globalized world after the fall of the Slobodan Milosevic regime in 1999. This influenced the growth of religious pluralism, resulting in Belgrade becoming the center of nontraditional religious groups (e.g., Buddhism) and many new religious movements.