Boyana Church

Boyana is tiny, three joined churches built in three stages between the late tenth and the mid-nineteenth century and easy to walk past, and it is on the World Heritage list because of what covers its walls. In 1259 an unknown master painted a cycle of frescoes here in which the saints and donors have individual, particular faces, with expression and weight and a sense of real people rather than the flattened types of the period, work that stands a full century before comparable painting in Italy. Some ninety scenes survive, including portraits of the local nobleman who paid for the work and his wife in the dress of the day. Because the paint is fragile and breath damages it, visitors go in small groups for a strictly limited number of minutes.

History

The church was built in three stages: the small eastern church in the late 10th or early 11th century, the two-storey central part, with a family tomb below and a chapel above, commissioned in the mid-13th century by the sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Desislava, and a western extension paid for by the local community in the mid-19th century. Its walls carry 89 scenes with 240 human figures. It was added to the World Heritage List in 1979; conservation and restoration work began in 1954, visitors were partly let back in from 2006, and since 2 October 2008, with the church kept at 17-18 degrees under low-heat lighting and run by the National Historical Museum, groups of up to eight visitors have been allowed in for ten minutes (Wikipedia, Boyana Church).

The main sights

• The 1259 frescoes - the individualised faces that make the church famous.
• The donor portraits - the local sebastocrator and his wife in period dress.
• The layered building - three chapels built across three different centuries.
• The setting - the wooded slope below Vitosha on Sofia's edge.

When to go

Year-round; it is a short visit and combines well with the National History Museum nearby and with Vitosha mountain. Groups are small and timed, so there can be a wait at busy periods, and the church closes on some public holidays.

Before you go

You get a very short time inside, typically around ten minutes with a small group, and photography is banned, which frustrates people who have travelled for the frescoes. The interior is dim by necessity. It is small enough that some visitors feel the ticket is steep for the time allowed, though the painting genuinely justifies the fuss.

Nearby

The National History Museum is minutes away; Vitosha mountain rises directly above.

Key facts