Medieval Church of St. Nicholas village Sofronievo

Overview

Bulgaria abounds in historically significant places that are being forgotten. One of them is the church "St. Nikola ”near the village of Sofronievo in Northwestern Bulgaria, municipality of Moesia, reg. Vratsa. The construction of the church dates back to the XVI century and it is the only medieval building of this type, preserved to this day, although it is in poor condition. However, this does not prevent one from feeling the true spirit of the Christian faith, preserved in the Bulgarian people throughout its centuries-old history.

The cultural monument "St. Nikola ”is only a part of the historical heritage in the region. According to archeological data, the first human presence in these lands dates back to 10,000 BC. There are over 10 discovered mounds in the area. Remains of mammoths were found during excavations of some of these mounds. From 1673 there is information that the village is known as Sirbeniche. Later it was renamed Sarbenitsa, by which name it was known until 1934. Then the government of Kimon Georgiev renamed it Sofronievo, as it is known to this day.

Despite the many significant discoveries in the region, the church "St. Nikola ”remains the main symbol and tourist attraction of the village. It is a single-nave single-apse building without a narthex. It is 4.5 m long and 3.9 m wide. Roughly cut stones are used for its construction, and mortar is used for soldering. From the north and west walls you can see the foundations of an older building - walls with a width of 0.66 m. Probably the apse of the current church belongs to an older temple building, which existed around the XIII century and later used in shaping the current volume. . The floor is paved with bricks. The walls were exquisitely painted, but very few of the frescoes are preserved today. Inside the church, there is a fragment of the "Wider Heaven" in the apse and insignificant parts of the "Christ Pantocrator" of the vault. The temple had a beautiful wood-carved iconostasis with valuable icons, some of which have been preserved, but most have been looted by treasure hunters along with some of the bricks embedded in the floor.

Drilling was carried out in the yard of the temple. The results of them show that in the lowest layers of the earth at this place lie the remains of burials from the Thracian era. And the visible landmarks in the courtyard are the ancient stone crosses, which date from the 14th to the 19th century. These crosses testify that the areas around the church were used as a cemetery yard. Impressive is the large number of these tombstones and their specific decoration, which is unique to each cross.