Historic Landmark
St. Petka church

In the center of Sofia is the Orthodox Church "St. Petka ' . Very close to it is located other relevant Church - "St. Nedelia ". Currently, "St. Petka "is a working temple , declared a cultural monument. The church is named after St Petka Ikoniyska that is patroness of Samardzija - masters of saddles and harnesses . Their neighborhood was located in the area in the Middle Ages and were worshiping and maintained temple.

The temple is well preserved and falls each day in front of thousands of people crossing the city center. The building of the church "St. Petka " was built in the XI century, according to historical evidence in place before seven centuries there was another ritual building. Best preserved frescoes in the church are HІVv . Above this layer there is another , from the fifteenth and sixteenth century , painted by one of nine saints Sofia - Pimen Zografski .

The Orthodox Church is a small single-nave building partially dug into the ground . Beneath it lies an ancient religious place , where they found ancient Roman tombs. The church walls are one meter thick , made ​​of bricks and stones. The iconostasis in the church is the work of masters such as Debar Filipovi .

One controversial and far hypothesis is related to "St. Petka' . According to the hypothesis , supported by scientists and writer Nikolay Hajtov , the temple was buried Apostle of freedom Vasil Levski . The grounds for these claims are controversial interpretations of the results of the excavations in 1956 and some reports in the press since 1937 , relay stories of the descendants of the perpetrators reburial . Nowadays east apse of the church you can see the plate with the inscription : "In the altar of this church as the people's memory , and a number of scientific data patriotic Bulgarians are buried in 1873 Apostle of freedom Vasil Levski hierodeacon Ignatius ." So far, the dispute is not unanimously decision in the scientific community .

When in 1382 Sofia fell under Ottoman rule , the overall appearance of the city changed. Many Christian churches were destroyed or deserted . Information about the demolition of the church "St. Petka " But no . It was neither destroyed nor closed doors. On the contrary, the church chronicle mentions that at that time was " repaired " . According to the description of the German traveler Stefan Gerlach , visited Sofia in 1578 , existing churches at this time were twelve. He describes "St. Petka - old " in Metropolis " as a modest -looking , small basilica church with rich murals - type hramostroitelstvo necessary as the Balkans before the arrival of the Turks, but , as is the author , " very appropriate in small financial capacity of the Orthodox and limitations of Sharia norms . "

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