Medieval architecture and outstanding art in private Sofia tours
Nowadays, there are private Sofia tours that tell us interesting stories and facts of bygone times. A story like that is the one of the Boyana Church – the tiny jewel in the suburbs of Sofia.
Once upon a time, during the Middle Ages, there was the strong Bulgarian fortress that stood on the lower slopes of the Vitosha Mountain. Today that is the Sofia suburb of Boyana. Today’s Sofia used to be Sredets in the past and there were thirty-five fortresses and settlements, which formed the fortification systems of the city of Sredets. Boyana was one of the fortresses. Its name appeared for the first time in 969. The Boyana Church was built inside the bounderies of the fortress.
Boyana Church 900 years old
The church is about 900 years old and it has undergone many transformations and extensions during its existence. The Boyana Church was built in three stages; in the late 10th and early 11th, the mid-13th, and the mid-19th centuries. It is a two-storey church and it was originally constructed in the late 10th and early 11th century. Then, in the 13th century the central wing was added and in the middle of the 19th century the whole building was finished with a further expansion to the west.
Only the first two churches, built during the Middle Ages, possess significant aesthetic and architectural value. In private Sofia tours we learn that the First Church or the so-called East Church was designed and used as a chapel. It was a typical Greek-cross plan with a dome, and a concealed internal cross without free-standing support and without a narthex. It is made entirely of brickwork.
