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Church of Saint George, Sofia

4th-century churchesAncient Roman buildings and structures in BulgariaBulgarian Orthodox churches in SofiaRoman sites in BulgariaRound churches
StGeorgeRotundaSofia
StGeorgeRotundaSofia

The Church of Saint George (Bulgarian: Ротонда „Свети Георги“, romanized: Rotonda "Sveti Georgi") is a Late Antique red brick rotunda in Sofia, Bulgaria. Built in the early 4th century as Roman baths, it became a church inside the walls of Serdica, capital of ancient Dacia Mediterranea during the Roman Empire and Byzantine Empire. The Early Christian church is considered the oldest building in modern Sofia and belongs to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The building, a cylindrical domed structure built on a square base, is famous for the 12th-, 13th-, and 14th-century frescoes inside the central dome. Three layers of frescoes have been discovered, the earliest dating back to the 10th century. Magnificent frescoes of 22 prophets over 2 metres tall crown the dome. Painted over during the Ottoman period, when the building was used as a mosque, these frescoes were only uncovered and restored in the 20th century.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Church of Saint George, Sofia (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Church of Saint George, Sofia
Saborna, Sofia Centre (Sredec)

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N 42.696875 ° E 23.322875 °
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Св. Георги Победоносец

Saborna
1000 Sofia, Centre (Sredec)
Bulgaria
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StGeorgeRotundaSofia
StGeorgeRotundaSofia
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Church of St Petka of the Saddlers
Church of St Petka of the Saddlers

The Church of St Petka of the Saddlers (Bulgarian: Църква „Света Петка Самарджийска“) is a medieval Bulgarian Orthodox church in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It is a small one-naved building partially dug into the ground located in the very centre of both the modern and the antique city, in the TZUM underpass. The church features a semi-cylindrical vault, a hemispherical apse, and a crypt discovered during excavations after the Second World War. The walls are 1 m thick and made from brick and stone. The church was first mentioned in the 16th century and was constructed at the place of a former Roman religious building. It is today a monument of culture known for its mural paintings from the 14th, 15th, 17th and 19th century depicting biblical scenes. The church is dedicated to St Petka, an 11th-century Bulgarian saint. The Church of Saint Petka acquired its present name due to it being a patron of the saddlers in the Middle Ages, who performed their rituals in the church. The adjective samardzhiyski ("of the saddlers") was derived from the Ottoman Turkish word semerci, meaning "saddlemaker". According to one theory, Bulgarian national hero Vasil Levski is buried in the church. Press reports from 1937 retelling the stories of those who carried out a reburial, which might have been for Levski and reports from the 1956 excavation speculating that bones found might have been those indicated by the 1937 press, led to the skeleton labeled "No. 95", being sent for professional examination. When Magdalina Stancheva museologist and head of the Archaeology Department at the Sofia Regional Historical Museum received the bones, she sent them to the laboratory run by Petîr Boev at the Archaeological Institute for examination. The bones were either destroyed by mice or lost. Nikolai Khaitov, a popular writer, accused Stancheva; archaeologists Georgi Dzhingov and Stamen Mikhailov; Krîstiu Miiatev, director of the Archaeological Institute; and Todor Pavlov, president of the National Academy of Bulgaria of participating in a conspiracy to prevent investigation into Levski's burial site and publicly accused Stancheva of mishandling the remains. Two commissions met over the controversy in the 1980s, and confirmed that there was no proof which could substantiate that the bones were Levski's, as the bones were missing.