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A total of the 18 scenes in the narthex depict the life of St. Nicholas. The painter drew certain aspects of contemporary lifestyle. In The Miracle at Sea the ship and the sailors’ hats recall the Venetian fleet. The men’s feelings and the sea storm have been rendered very realistically.

The lunette over the narthex entrance depicts the Virgin and Child, St. Ann and St. Joachim and the Blessing Hand of the lord. The lower parts of the walls feature St. Catherine, St. Marina, St. Theodore Studites and St. Pachomius. The southern arcosolium is given to the composition Christ among the Doctors and the northern arcosolium, to the Presentation of Virgin Mary to the Temple.

Two most revered Bulgarian saints John of Rila (this is the earliest extant portrait of the saint) and Paraskeva (Petka) are painted in the narthex. The hermit St. Ephraim Syriac whose all-seeing eyes illustrate the depth of his feelings is one of the monks depicted there. The saints Varvara and nedelya are on either side of the entrance.

The full-size portraits of the donors, sebastocrator Kaloyan and his wife Dessislava, and of the Bulgarian King Konstantin Assen II and Queen Irina are most interesting. Kaloyan holds a model of the church and presents it to St. Nicholas. The face of Dessislava is subtly modeled and reveals her self-control and finesse. The four conscientiously-painted portraits are among the earliest extant depictions of personages from history.

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