St. Nikola & St. Panteleimon Boyana Church - Boyana, Bulgaria - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

The English portion of the sign reads:

"St. Nikola and St. Panteleimon Boyana Church (Kaloyan's church)

The church was built in three stages, dated:
second half of the 10th century - the beginning of the 11th century;
1259; 1845, its earliest section is the eastern one. It was built in the
second half of the 10th century or the beginning of the 11th century
as a church devoted to St. Nikola.

Architecture

In its plan, the eastern section is the type of cross-like churches.
The interior of the church is lit by two small narrow windows,
built high along the northern and the southern arm of the cross,
and the four windows of the dome. The church was probably
renovated in the 12th century.
To this building in 1259 Sebastocrator Kaloyan added a narthex over
which, as a second floor, St. Panteleimon church was built. The narthex
is a rectangular premise with a semi-cylindrical vault and an entrance
to the eastern section. The added floor is a dome church of the "tight
cross" type, accessible through a small, lateral external staircase.
In 1845, an external narthex was added to the the western side of St. Nikola
and St. Panteleimon Boyana Church, also called Kaloyan's church.
Boyana Chirch is famous around the world with its medieval mural
paintings. The earliest among them are dated from the 12th century;
they embellished the initial church building. Today only fragments
from them can be seen.
In 1259 the church was totally re-painted for the second time.
This is what the donor's caption of Sebastocrator Kaloyan tells
us about, preserved in the narthex.

PICTORIAL ARTS

(This) most holy church of Christ's priest Nikolay and of Christ's
most glorious martyr Panteleimon rose from the ground and was
built; with the zealousness, labour and the passionate love of
Sebatocrator Kaloyan, cousin of the King, grandchild of the Serbian
King St. Stefan. It was painted during the Bulgarian Kingdom, in the
time of the faithful, devout and Christ-loving Tsar Konstantin Asen,
indict VII, in the year 6767 (1259).

The rural paintings of 1259 belong to the masterpieces of Bulgarian
Medieval art. In the naps and in the narthex they are relatively well
preserved. They are distinguished by the accurate manner of painting,
the rich color palette and the marked interest towards the
psychological interpretation of the image. Especially striking are
the donor's portraits - of Sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Deislava.
The frescoes in the second floor church, St. Panteleimon,
are fragmentally preserved.

Bayonne Church is included in UNESCO's World Heritage list."

Group that erected the marker: Sofia Information and Communication System Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Boyana Church Boyana, Bulgaria URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed

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Date Logged Log   10/05/2015 Metro2 visited it