Church of St. Theodore Tyron

Overview

The medieval church of St. Theodore Tyrone is located in the center of the village of Zimevitsa. The church was restored a few years ago, but like many things in Bulgaria, the renovation was done halfway through. The roof and the facade have been renovated, but nothing has been touched inside, the valuable frescoes are awaiting restoration. The church is a one-nave, one-apse building with a semi-cylindrical vault. It was expanded in 1882, when the western wall was demolished to extend the space. The entire interior of the temple was painted, during the reconstruction the medieval frescoes were covered with a layer of plaster, which destroyed most of the old paintings. Images are preserved only on the east wall and here and there in the nave. The canon is observed in the apse: the holy fathers and above them the Wider Heaven. In the proscomedy the image of Christ removed from the cross and placed in the tomb, and in the southern niche is depicted Archdeacon Stephen with a model of a church in his hands.

It is said that the church has existed since Roman times. The legend says that in 1894 Hariton Kolaev from the town of Veliko Tarnovo arrived at the monastery in the village of Iskrets. He carried with him a parchment book, with a Church Slavonic text. It said that the church in Zimevitsa was built in 1086, but today there is no evidence of this. According to the article by Ivanka Gergova, the church "St. Theodore Tyrone" is from the XVI-XVII centuries. What this church needs most urgently is the restoration of the frescoes! In a completely finished form, the church "St. Theodore Tyrone", along with the church "St. Theotokos" in the village of Milanovo and many other ancient temples in the Iskar gorge, could enter a rich cultural and historical destination.