Saint George Basilica Church, Orthodox basilica in the Triaditsa district, Sofia, Bulgaria
Saint George Basilica Church is a three-nave, cross-domed basilica of 35 m length, 20 m width and 20 m height, designed by architect Aleksi Nachev in the early Bulgarian national romanticism style with references to Romanesque and Byzantine architecture. Two rows of four columns separate the side aisles from the central nave, above which a massive dome sits on a drum; slightly projecting risalits mark the transept on the north and south facades. A square narthex stands at the west, flanked by two bell towers topped with cupolas, and the eastern altar part ends in three apses.
The church was designed by architect Aleksi Nachev in 1896; the foundation stone was laid on 24 April 1899. After Nachev died in 1908, Georgi Fingov led the completion in 1909, and the facades were plastered in 1915 under Stefan I. Dzhakov. It was consecrated on 11 November 1918 by Metropolitan Grigorij of Dorostol and Cherven, and in 1976 it received the status of a cultural monument.
The church keeps the stone on which Saint George of Sofia the New was killed and buried, found near the building. Its three altars are dedicated to Saint George the Victorious (6 May), Saint Ivan Rilski (19 October) and Saint Basil the Great (1 January). The iconostasis, bishop's throne and ambo are carved by Debar masters of the Filipovi family.
The church stands in a small park on Patriarch Evtimii Boulevard at number 90, in Sofia's Triadica district, near the pedestrian stretch of Vitosha Boulevard and the National Palace of Culture. It has three entrances to the nave, on the west, south and north sides, plus a fourth on the south facade leading into the altar area. The main doorways are topped by canopies carried on columns.
The church keeps the stone on which Saint George of Sofia the New was killed and buried, found near the building. The iconostasis, bishop's throne and ambo were carved by Debar masters of the Filipovi family, and the church held the status of cultural monument from 21 May 1976.
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