The Cathedral Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the main Orthodox church in Sarajevo and one of the largest on the Balkan Peninsula. The decision to build an Orthodox church in Sarajevo was made in 1859, construction work began in 1863. The church was built on donations collected by Orthodox believers in Sarajevo, surrounding villages, merchants from Belgrade, Dubrovnik, Vienna and Trieste, representatives of the Serbian nobility. 556 ducats were allocated for the construction of the temple by Sultan Abdul Aziz, who gave permission for the construction of an Orthodox church in Sarajevo in order to mitigate Europe, which accused the Ottoman Empire of religious intolerance and oppression of indigenous professors of Christianity. A significant amount was collected in Russia, in addition, icons for the iconostasis, church books, utensils and vestments were transferred. The consecration of the temple took place on July 20, 1872, and construction work was fully completed in 1874. The church was built by architect Andrei Damyanov. The temple has the appearance of a three-nave basilica with five domes, in the plan forms a cross. The length of the church is 37 meters, the width is 22.5 meters, the height is 15.5 meters, the diameter of the large dome is 34 meters. The 45-meter baroque bell tower is decorated with carvings. The internal walls of the church are painted with frescoes, and the windows are decorated with magnificent stained-glass windows. During the First World War, the Austrians removed the roof and bells from the church, and the interior was damaged. Restoration work was started in 1921. The roof was covered with copper plates, the flooring was restored, the iconostasis was covered with gilding and three new bells cast in Trieste were installed. Restoration work was completed on Christmas Eve 1922, and the first post-war liturgy was served at Christmas. The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary survived World War II without destruction. In 2007, a library was founded at the temple, the fund of which totals more than 2000 volumes of religious and fiction.