Church of St. Paraskeva

Overview

The church “St. Paraskeva - Petka ”rises in the central part of the town of Troyan. It is the oldest church in the municipality (with the exception of the two monastic churches in the Troyan Monastery). It was built in 1835 and was consecrated on October 14 of that year. To this day it continues to function as a temple and a monument of culture and architecture.

The facade of the church impresses even Felix Kanitz, who after his visit to Troyan defines it as the "architectural beauty of the city". According to the plan, the church is a pseudo-basilica, with a spacious and spacious and completely frescoed interior.

To the north, the church has a wide front door, above which there is an arched slab with a carved relief. It depicts St. George in two symmetrically arranged motifs. Above the door there is a shallow niche in which St. Petka is painted. On the south side there are two doors, one of which is for the altar.

Of interest are the unique sculptural cornices of the temple, which depict archangels, pigeons, snakes, dragons, etc .. On the stone sculptures show traces of red ocher, which was characteristic of Bulgarian art in the period 12 - 14 century.

In 1877 Troyan was set on fire, and among the few buildings that survived the fire was the church (perhaps thanks to its 1.6 m thick stone walls). However, all its wooden parts burned down - the holy throne, the iconostasis of the altar, the bishop's throne, church books and many chronicle notes, ancient manuscripts.

With free donations and labor, the Trojans quickly rebuilt their temple. The new woodcarvings were created in the period between 1901 and 1934. The iconostasis was carved by Metodi Balalchev in the style of the Tryavna school with many plant and animal motifs. The frescoes in the church were painted in two stages - in 1911-1912 by the Pleven artists Yosif Kish and Vasil Brashlyanov and in 1936 by Georgi Zhelyazkov, Georgi Bogdanov, Iliya Pefev and Alexander Davidov.

The icons from the iconostasis are of undoubted interest. It is assumed that the oldest (painted by the Revival master Ivan Popraykov, defined as one of the most prominent representatives of the Baroque in Bulgaria) were donated to the temple by the Troyan Monastery. The other icons are the work of different painters - Pencho x. Naidenov from Troyan, Racho Tiholov from Gabrovo, Petko Iliev from Kazanlak, Tsanyu Zahariev from Tryavna and others.
Since 2013, a shrine has been kept in the Trojan church, donated by the Archbishop of Iasi and the Metropolitan of Moldova and Bukovina Theophanes - the miraculous vestments of St. Petka Tarnovska (Bulgaria).
St. Petka enjoys great respect among the Bulgarian people and is revered as their heavenly protector. Until the end of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, the relics of the saint were in Tarnovo, later they were transferred to Vidin and Belgrade, and from 1641 they were laid in the church "Holy Three Saints" in the Romanian town of Iasi.
Since 1989, there has been a tradition for the relics of the saint to be disguised several times a year, and the clothes removed from them to be donated to churches whose patron is St. Petka.