The Boyana Church - a monument of the Bulgarian medieval architecture and religious pictorial art

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There was a castle Boyon (Boyanos) in the Middle Ages near where the Church is located. The name was first mentioned in the Byzantine chronicle of Scylitezs-Cedrenus in 1015.Sredets (Today’s Sofia) and Boyana were among the last forts to surender to Byzantine rule when the uprising headed by Peter Dalyan was suppressed in 1040/41. The author of “Strategikon” Cecaumenus described these events. In 1048 Boyana was mentioned again in the chronicle of Scylitzes-Cedrenus, which described the Pecheneg invasion and also in “Daniel’s Interpretation”, Old Bulgarian annals from the second half of the 11th century.

In the 19th century the church figured in the writings of Victor Grigorovich, a Russian Slavicist, Stefan Verkovic, a Bosnian archaelogist, folklorist and ethnographer, and Konstantin Jirecek, a Czech historian.

Prof. Andrei Grabar, an eminent archaelogist and art historian, wrote the first monograph on the Boyana Church.

Note: This gallery includes only photos of the church exterior as it is strictly forbidden to take interior photos, and you should also be aware that visitors are only admitted to the church in small groups, and are only allowed to spend 10 minutes inside - a measure designed to protect the frescos from sudden changes in temperature and humidity.


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