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THE CHAPEL

The chapel on the second level holds surviving fragments of frescoes. Those are the church fathers, the Deesis (supplication), the Ascension, the annunciation, the Cruxifixion, the Descent into hell, an archangel, a young martyr and others. The Virgin Mary on the Ascension is amazingly expressive and a remarkable achievement of contemporary church painting. The patron saint Panteleimon was probably depicted in the 11th century.

The painter is still anonymous. The Boyana Master stands for the team that decorated the church and that was trained in the studios of the Turnovo Art School. The frescoes have exceptional artistic merits and perfect technique of execution, profundity of thought and elaborateness, realism and sublety. They were painted by an excellent artist. The Boyana church is the only completely conserved monument in terms of architecture and painting and an example from the Turnovo Art School from the period in question.The painter has painted a whole gallery of illustrious contemporaries.

The world-famous Boyana Church frescoes had a certain impact on the evolution of medevial Bulgarian and European painting. To quote Prof. A. Grabar: ”Boyana is the most valuable contribution to medevial art”.