This paper focuses on the architectural competitions for Orthodox Christian
churches in Serbia since 1990, both on the analysis of the designs submitted
and the competition requirements. The first competition for an Orthodox
church in Serbia after World War II was announced for Pristina in 1991. After
that, competitions for the temple in Cukarica, Novi Beograd, Nis, Aleksinac
and Krusevac were conducted. Thanks to the fact that architectural
competitions allow a greater degree of creative freedom to the architects
than regular practice, various solutions were offered, from replicas of
models from architectural history and tradition to fully non-traditional
proposals. Depending on the relationship to tradition, architectural design
approaches can be classified into three main groups: radically modernizing,
conservatively traditionalist, and compromising. Of the six competitions
conducted, four churches were built, which are among the most architecturally
successful newer churches in Serbia. This points to the importance of the
implementation of the architectural competition in this field of
architecture. The diversity of the award-winning projects shows that there is
awareness of the possibility for the further development of church
architecture, favouring a moderate approach.