TOURIST PROGRAM
1. SOFIA CITY TOUR
12 July 2010
Alexander Nevski Memorial Church
Built by Russian architects inspired by the glories of ancient Byzantium, this multi-domed ecclesiastical monster has been Sofia’s visual trademark ever since its completion in 1924. It was built in memory of the Russia’s nineteenth-century contribution to Bulgaria’s liberation, although the Aleksander referred to in the title is actually a medieval prince of Novgorod who battled Teutonic Knights. Decorated from floor to ceiling with frescoes and illuminated by flickering candles, the vast interior is as atmospheric as they come
Church of St. Sofia
A church since the fifth century and rebuilt many times since, this was used as a mosque during the Ottoman period and then abandoned when an earthquake rendered it unsafe for services. With most of its medieval decorations and frescoes lost, it’s a comparatively plain church by Sofia standards, but the patterned brickwork provides the interior with enormous visual appeal. A fragment of original Roman mosaic flooring, preserved under a pane of glass in the right-hand aisle, stands in testimony to the church’s ancient origins.
Russian Church of St. Nicholas
Of all the places of worship in Sofia this is the most vivacious, its green steeple and five golden domes outshining pretty much everything else on this central boulevard. Built just before World War I to serve Sofia’s Russian community and modeled on Muscovite churches of the sixteenth century, it looks as if a small piece of the Kremlin has been plonked in the middle of the Balkans. A path to the left of the main entrance leads to the crypt, last resting place of Archbishop Serafim, who served as head of the Russian church in Bulgaria in the early twentieth century. An enormously popular and pious man during his lifetime, Serafim is nowadays accorded almost saintly status by the Sofians, who come here to write prayers on scraps of paper which are then posted into a box next to his sarcophagus.
Archaeological Museum
Housed in a beautifully restored fifteenth-century mosque, this attractive display of Thracian, Greek, Roman and medieval Bulgarian artefacts is by far the most eye-pleasing museum that Sofia has to offer. Imposing chunks of Greek and Roman masonry are strewn around the main hall, while upstairs lie many of the headline-grabbing Thracian treasures unearthed by Bulgarian archaeologists in recent years. Most mesmerizing of all is the solid gold burial mask of a fourth-century-BC Thracian ruler, excavated near the central Bulgarian town of Shipka in summer 2004. A series of Orthodox church paintings depicting the life and martyrdom of St George run around the first-floor gallery, while a room full of exquisite medieval Bulgarian jewelry looks contemporary enough to provide today’s designers with a rich seam of inspiration. The bilingual Bulgarian-English labeling is unusually thorough, and the collection is just the right size to be easily digestible in one trip.
The Presidency
Directly opposite the archeological museum is the entrance to the suite of offices where the Bulgarian president does his nine-to-five job, guarded by soldiers dressed in ceremonial nineteenth-century uniforms. The changing of the guard, which takes place on the hour, involves a lot of ritualistic marching about, and is well worth watching.
Rotunda of St. George
Hidden away in a courtyard behind the Sheraton Hotel, this dainty red-brick doughnut of a building is the oldest surviving structure in the city which still serves its original purpose. Built by the Romans in the fourth century but much changed since, it’s justly famous for the twelfth- to fourteenth-century frescoes inside the central dome. It’s a powerful ensemble, with an all-powerful Christ looking down on successive circles of white-bearded disciples and holy men. Painted over during the Ottoman period (when the building was used as a mosque), these frescoes were only unearthed in the twentieth century. Admission: free, but donations appreciated.
Boyana Church
If medieval church art turns you on then the UNESCO-listed Boyana church will have you foaming at the mouth with excitement. Just about every square inch of the interior is covered with bible scenes and saintly portraits rendered by thirteenth-century artists. Nobody knows the identity of the painters, but their mastery of realistic depiction and sophisticated use of colour puts them on a par with Italian artists of the early Renaissance.
It is a tiny church consisting of two parts: the oldest dates from the 10th century, when it served as the chapel of Boyana fortress. A second floor was added in 1259 by the Sevastokrator (or local governor) Kaloyan, who used the church as his family chapel. It was Kaloyan who commissioned the frescoes for which Boyana church is famous. Restored in various stages over the past forty years, the main body of the church was never open to the public in its entirety until December 2006.
Highlights include portraits of Kaloyan and wife Desislava dressed in sumptuous robes, and the earliest known portrait of the white-bearded St John of Rila, Bulgaria’s national patron saint.
National Museum of History
Located in a park-shrouded former government palace on the northern side of the Okolovrusten put (Sofia’s main ring road), Bulgaria’s National History Museum offers a highly enjoyable chronological journey through oh, at least eight millennia of human civilization on the Balkan peninsula. The building itself is a fascinating oddity, having served Bulgaria’s communist leaders as an official residence until 1989. If anybody ever launched a lifestyle magazine for would-be dictators, the marble halls and ornate ceilings in evidence here would make ideal front-page material.
Next up is the Thracian room: unfortunately, many of Bulgaria’s most famous Thracian treasures are touring western museums at present, and it is not known quite when they will come home. However there is still plenty of Thracian gold- and silverware, fantastically decorated with mythical animals, to make a visit here worthwhile.
Biggest disappointment is the medieval section, which is largely based on replicas of items kept elsewhere, or on photographs of ruined castles and churches throughout Bulgaria.
Upstairs on the second floor lies a knock-out display of brightly-coloured folk costumes and kilims, and a fascinating collection of posters, photographs and domestic nick-nacks documenting the social history of twentieth-century Bulgaria.