St Sedmochislenitsi Church

 

Church was built in 1528 as a mosque under the orders of the Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent. It was called Imaret mosque and Kodja dervish Mehmet-Pasha mosque. It is also known as The Black Mosque because of its minaret reveted with black stone. It was built on the ruins of an old Christian church and pagan sanctuary.
This was the project of the prominent Aga Kodja Mimar Sinan.

In the period 1901-1903 it was turned into a church again according to the design of the architects Alexander Pomerantsev, Petko Momchilov and Yordan Milanov. Patrons of the church were the Slavonic enlighteners – St. Cyril and St. Methodius and their disciples – Kliment, Naum, Sava, Gorazd and Angelariy.

The church was built in national-romantic art nouveau style. The iconostasis is also in late art nouveau style, constructed with ceramic tiles and covered with an entirely gilt plaster decoration.
Its painting started in the 1920s and finished in 1996. In the 1930s a wall-clock was attached to the west side of the belfry.

Parts of the holy remains of St. Climent and St. Gorazd as well as the martyr St. Harlampy are preserved there.

19.01.2018