The beautiful 19th century Gothic Revial Cathedral of St Sava in New York was destroyed by fire yesterday evening.
The blaze broke out as 700 members of the Serbian cathedral's congregation were inside, celebrating the Orthodox Easter. No one was injured.
More than 170 firefighters were called to the fire which could be seen for many blocks.
"We're all alive, but the building is gone," Father Djokan Majstorovic, parish priest, told RT.
"It's heartbreaking. My parents were the first couple married there in 1944 after it was reconsecrated as an Orthodox church," Melana Pejakovich, of Nevada, also told RT.
Formerly a church of The Episcopal Church by architect Richard Upjohn, it opened in 1855. It ceased being an Episcopal Church in 1915. The building was sold to the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1943. It was made an official New York City landmark and entered into the National Register of Historic Places.
The chapel was designated a New York City landmark in 1968, and the complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
According to reports from the scene, the fire is being treated as suspicious.
