Arhangela Mihaila) is a Serbian Orthodox cathedral church in the centre of Belgrade, Serbia, situated in the old part of the city, at the intersection of Kralja Petra and Kneza Sime Markovića streets.
During the Austro–Turkish conflicts in the beginning of the 18th century it was destroyed, and the Austrian authorities were explicit in their order not to restore the damaged Serbian temples.
Former Metropolitan Mojsije Petrović, who had expected the support of Russian Czar Peter The Great, who had meanwhile died, started renewal of the Church from its foundations, decorating it with a new iconostasis.
Following the Sultan's Hatisheriff on the day of St. Andrew in 1830, which granted Serbs the freedom to perform the religious service, and by the order of Prince Miloš Obrenović a wooden bell tower was built beside the old church.
An anecdote was saved until present days about a threat of Belgrade's vizier Husein-Pasha Gavanozoglu (1827–1833) referring to Duke Petar Čukić, who was in charge of construction of the bells, that he shall be punished for that.
Its foundations were consecrated on 15 July 1837,[6] a contemporary described as an exceptional happening, witnessed by Metropolitan Petar Jovanović, Church dignitaries of high rank, Princess Ljubica and successors Milan and Mihailo, serfs, children and "folk of both sexes".
Although the author of the design remained controversial for a long time, it is certain that the Church was built by constructors from Pančevo, according to project made by Franz Jancke Friedrich Adam Querfeld.
The artist was under the influence of the historical school of Vienna and German Nazarenes, but his distinct feeling for a dramatic colour scheme and plastic-dramatic rhythm created a recognizable Serbian manner.
He has created unique monumental compositions of religious content at the walls of the cathedral church, highly evaluated in newer Serbian painting.
Its gradual broadening included the church yard of the cathedral, which was not fenced during the first decades of the 19th century and it served as a graveyard, where prominent Serbian persons of those times were buried.
The skull of Duke Karađorđe was buried in the south part of the Church yard until 1837, when it was, according to wish and order of Princess Ljubica taken out and transferred to Topola.
The first Belgrade Singers Society – performing Serbian sacred music, which is active today as well, was founded in 1853 at the cathedral church.
[9] The special value of the church is its treasury, in which the relics of Serbian saints emperor Stefan Uroš V, parts of the relics of Lazar of Serbia, despot Stefan Štiljanović, and the graves of Miloš Obrenović, Mihailo Obrenović, Metropolitan Mihailo, Metropolitan Inokentije, Patriarch Gavrilo V, Patriarch Vikentije II, Vuk Karadžić, Dositej Obradović.
On the main facade, a portico stands out, with low columns and an arched portal above which is a sculpted coat of arms of the Serbian Orthodox Church.