{"id":12167,"date":"2019-05-14T13:00:59","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T13:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotelsimona.com\/?p=12167"},"modified":"2019-05-14T13:00:59","modified_gmt":"2019-05-14T13:00:59","slug":"boyana-church-of-st-nicholas-and-st-pantaleimon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotelsimona.com\/en\/blog\/sights-in-sofia\/boyana-church-of-st-nicholas-and-st-pantaleimon\/","title":{"rendered":"Boyana Church of St. Nicholas and St. Pantaleimon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boyana Church of St. Nicholas and St. Pantaleimon is situated at the foot of Vitosha Mountain, in Boyana Housing Estate in Sofia. It is one of the few medieval monuments of Christian art that have survived until the present day.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nThe church is one of the 100 Tourist Sites of Bulgaria and was included in the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1979.\u00a0<\/span>It was built in three stages: first stage \u2013 11th century, second stage \u2013 mid-13th century, and third stage – mid-19th century.
\n<\/span>The eastern part of the church is a small single-apsed, cross-in-square building with built-in supports that form a cross. The first layer of wall-paintings that covered the entire eastern part of the temple dates as far back as the 12th century. The second two-storey part of the church that belongs to the two-floor tomb-church type was built in the 13th century thanks to a donation made by Sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Desislava, who ruled the Sofia (Sredets) Region during that period. According to the ktitor inscription the church was redecorated in 1259. Zografs (painters) Vasilie and Dimiter, whose names were revealed during restoration works, put a new layer of wall-paintings over the first one in the old part of the church and also decorated the two levels of the new part of the church.<\/span>
\nBoyana Church owes its global fame mainly to the wall-paintings of 1259 which demonstrate the exceptional achievements of the Bulgarian medieval culture. Each of more than 240 figures depicted in the church has unique individuality and high artistic value. The portraits of ktitors Sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Desislava, and Constantine Tikh Asen (who ruled in the period 1257 – 1277) and Tsaritsa Irene are some of the oldest pictures of historical figures that have been preserved to this day. 18 scenes in the narthex including elements from the everyday lives of the painters\u2019 contemporaries depict the life of St. Nicholas \u2013 one of the temple\u2019s patron saints. The oldest surviving portrait of St. Ivan of Rila, the Bulgarian national saint who lived in the 10th century and who established Rila Monastery, can be found among the pictures of other saints in the church. The portrait of St. Ephrem the Syrian, whose all-seeing eyes follow the visitors everywhere, can also be seen among the pictures of monks and hermits.<\/span><\/p>\n

[foogallery id=”12151″]<\/p>\n


\nUseful information:<\/span><\/strong>
\nOpening hours:<\/span><\/strong>
\nNovember – March<\/span>
\nevery day from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm<\/span>
\nApril – October<\/span>
\n9.00 am \u2013 6.00 pm<\/span>
\nReservations for groups must be made in advance.
\n<\/span>
\nAdmission:<\/span><\/strong>
\nIndividual visitors \u2013 BGN 10<\/span>
\nStudents \u2013 BGN 2<\/span><\/p>\n

Combined tickets:<\/span><\/strong>
\nBoyana Church \u2013 National Museum of History \u2013 BGN 12.<\/span>
\nBoyana Church \u2013 National Museum of History \u2013 Zemen Monastery \u2013 BGN 14.<\/span><\/p>\n

*Groups of more than 10 people \u2013 BGN 8 per person<\/span>
\nFree admission for: People with disabilities and children under 7 years of age.<\/span>
\nLectures in Bulgarian \u2013 BGN 5<\/span>
\nLectures in English, German, French, and Russian \u2013 BGN 10<\/span><\/p>\n

Route to Boyana Church of St. Nicholas and St. Pantaleimon from Art Hotel Simona***:<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2022 Bus \u2116 83- transfer from the station “Gyueshevo st.” to “Ruchey Sq\u201c<\/span>
\n\u2022 Bus \u2116 64- from ” Ruchey Sq.” to \u201cBoyansko Hanche\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boyana Church of St. Nicholas and St. Pantaleimon is situated at the foot of Vitosha Mountain, in Boyana Housing Estate in Sofia. It is one of the few medieval monuments of Christian art that have survived until the present day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sights-in-sofia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t