Church of the Holy Mother of God, Panagyurishte
Encyclopedia
The Church of the Holy Mother of God is a Bulgarian National Revival
Bulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...

 church in the town of Panagyurishte
Panagyurishte
Panagyurishte is a town in Pazardzhik Province, Southern Bulgaria, situated in a small valley in the Sredna Gora mountains. It is 91 km east of Sofia, 43 km north of Pazardzhik, and 37 km south of Zlatitsa. The town is the administrative centre of the homonymous Panagyurishte...

, Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the town of Pazardzhik. It embraces a territory of 4,456.9 km² that is divided into 11 municipalities with a total population of 290,614 inhabitants, as of December 2009.-History:The...

. It is situated in the central part of the town separated from the central square by the Town Hall and the Chitalishte
Chitalishte
A chitalishte is a typical Bulgarian public institution and building which fulfils several functions at once, such as a community centre, library and a theatre. It is also used as an educational institution, where people of all ages can enroll in foreign language, dance, music and other courses....

Videlina. In the same yards was located the Church of St Theodore which was Panagyurishte's oldest church.

St Theodore was constructed in the mid 16th century and used to be a small one nave edifice which is now connected with the larger new church. During the uncertain first decade of the 19th century it was destroyed by Ottoman bandits called kardzhalii and restored between 1808 and 1809 by orders of the Bishop of Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...

 Dionisius.

The construction of the Church of the Holy Mother of God started in 1818 near the southern wall of the old building and was finished in 1823. It was one nave basilica with a colonnade and was much larger than the old church. It was inaugurated by Dionisius as well. The edifice was constructed by craftsmen from Bratsigovo
Bratsigovo
Bratsigovo is a town in Southern Bulgaria. It is located in the foothills of the Rhodope Mountains, on the banks of the Umishka River in Pazardzhik oblast, and is close to the towns of Peshtera and Krichim....

 while the interior was decorated by painters from the famous Samokov
Samokov
Samokov is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a kettle between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia...

 school. The interior was badly damaged when the Ottomans burned Panagyurishte during the April Uprising
April Uprising
The April Uprising was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876, which indirectly resulted in the re-establishment of Bulgaria as an autonomous nation in 1878...

 in 1876. It was restored between 1878 and 1880 after the Liberation of Bulgaria
Liberation of Bulgaria
In Bulgarian historiography, the term Liberation of Bulgaria is used to denote the events of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 that led to the re-establishment of Bulgarian state with the Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878, after the complete conquest of the Second Bulgarian Empire, which...

.

In 2003 the church was renovated and the domes were covered with golden plates.

Gallery


File:Sv Bogoroditsa Panagyurishte2.jpg
File:Sv Bogoroditsa Panagyurishte3.jpg
File:Sv Bogoroditsa Panagyurishte4.jpg|
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK