Boyana Church

* This name is listed on the World Heritage List. ª The region is classified by UNESCO.

The Boyana Church also Boyana Church ( Bulgarian Боянска църква ) is a medieval Bulgarian Orthodox church in the same city district of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It is dedicated to Saint Nicholas and Pantaleimon ( Bulg Никола и Пантелеймон ).

The church was added to the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1979. The plant is one of the 100 national tourist objects. The church is now a museum, a branch of the National Historical Museum in Sofia.

Location

The church is located at Sofia's Boyana district at the foot of Vitosha Mountain, about 9 km south of the center of the Bulgarian capital. Nearby there is also the National Museum of History. In the Middle Ages the fortress here Boyana residence was the administrator of the province of Sredets, such as Sofia was then called.

Architectural History

The building has three phases from the 10th, 13th and 19th century.

Frescoes

Became well-known thanks to the church frescoes of 1259th They are present as second layer over paintings of even older origin, and represent one of the most complete and best preserved examples of medieval Eastern European art. On the walls there are depictions found 240 people in 89 different scenes. The painter is unknown, but probably belonged to the art school of Tarnovo. With its humanistic tendencies his work reflected not only recognizable in the 13th century reform movements within the Orthodox Church, but also made ​​a personal contribution to the delineation of the Byzantine art, in which the art of the Second Bulgarian Empire was one of their highlights.

18 scenes in the narthex depict the life of St. Nicholas dar. Others show scenes from everyday life of the time. Kaloyan and his wife Dessislava, as well as the Bulgarian Tsar Constantine Tich Asen and his wife Irina - Particularly interesting are the representations of the Founder of the Church apply.