Тhe crypt of the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Overview

Тhe crypt of the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, also called the Museum of Christian Art, was established in 1965 as a branch of the National Gallery.

The ground floor of the St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral was designed and shaped like a tomb. But it has never been used as intended. Instead, exhibitions of church valuables are held there. 

The exhibition presents Christian figurative art and is among the richest collections of icons in the world. It covers the period from the official conversion to Christianity under the Roman Empire in the 4th century to the Bulgarian National Revival in the 18th and 19th centuries. The icons, fresco fragments, manuscripts, and church plate are the property of the National Gallery, the National Archaeological Institute with Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the National History Museum, the National Ecclesiastical Museum of History and Archaeology, the museums in Shumen, Veliko Tarnovo, Nesebar, Ruse, Plovdiv, and the monasteries of Rila, Bachkovo, Etropole, and other monasteries.