“ST. ARCHANGELS MICHAEL AND GABRIEL” CHURCH, HASKOVO CITY

“St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel“ church was built in 1861 by greekafing Bulgarians. It is the second in the city and is known as the Greek Church or the Church of The Rich. A three-nave basilica with a big relatively low semicircular apse and a wide U-shaped narthex. Many of the icons in the temple have donor Greek inscriptions, also mentioning the year of creation. Among them stand out “Archangels Council” – the patronal icon of 1866, “St. John the Baptist “from 1872,” Blessed Virgin “,” Nativity “. Richly carved iconostasis, the bishop’s throne and small iconostasis are the work of famous master Yane Spirov. The frescoes in the “St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel “are wonderful, especially the arch of the church. Surely we can say that the work of an artist with extensive experience. The compositional distribution of the figures in the scenes of the arches and the patronal cycle is very well thought out. Few know that in 1877-1878, during the Russo-Turkish War, in front of the temple had stood the largest of the seven gallows in Haskovo. In 1972 the church was declared a cultural monument. The dome of the bell tower of the church “St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel“ blazed gold in 2003.