Saint George's Church ( bg, църква „Свети Георги“, ''tsarkva „Sveti Georgi“'') is a church in Gavril Genovo, a village in northwestern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, part of Georgi Damyanovo municipality,

Montana Province Montana Province ( bg, Област Монтана, transliterated: ''Oblast Montana'') is a province in northwestern Bulgaria, bordering Serbia in the southwest and Romania in the north. It spreads its area between the Danube river and the Balka ...

. It was built in 1873 by the architect Alekso Angelkov of the Slavine Architectural School in the village of Sotochino, today one of the two neighbourhoods of Gavril Genovo. The church, otherwise a minor village parish church, is notable for its use of vernacular Gothic Revival features, a trademark approach of that school which set it apart from other architectural schools of the

Bulgarian National Revival The Bulgarian National Revival ( bg, Българско национално възраждане, ''Balgarsko natsionalno vazrazhdane'' or simply: Възраждане, ''Vazrazhdane'', and tr, Bulgar ulus canlanması) sometimes called the Bu ...

History and authorship

The church's construction can be conclusively dated to 1873 due to an inscription on a slabstone above the south gate. The inscription reads: "18✝73 созида сѧ храмъ сеѝ светаго Георгѝ" ("18✝73 was built

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church of Saint George"). The architect, Alekso Angelkov from Slavine, also constructed the Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral in Pirot (1866–1870) and the Saint George's Church in Bistrilitsa (1890), one of the most elaborately decorated Gothic Revival churches of the Slavine School. The authorship of the Gavril Genovo church has been established thanks to another inscription just above the first one, which reads "Маисторъ Алексі" ("Master Aleksi").

Architecture

Described as a "humble but beautiful village church", in terms of design Saint George's is a simple single-

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

church which follows the typical single-nave design employed by the Slavine School. It has two gates, one from the south and one from the west, and nine relatively large windows which let a lot of light into the interior. The windows are of the more basic design used by Slavine School architects, with a simple sharp-pointed window bay, as opposed to a more complex (and also sharp-pointed) one. Such windows can be typically found on churches in poorer villages within the range of Slavine School activity. Their simplistic appearance is attributed to the limited financial resources of the congregation. The gates are also of a basic yet typical design. Saint George's has a five-sided

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

and at present lacks a dome, though it is not impossible that it had one at some point. The west facade of the church also has six stone corbels; these were installed in order to support a porch (an external

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

), which was either never built or did not survive.Тулешков, p. 33. A characteristic detail of the church is the sharp-pointed window adorning the west side gable; it was hewn out of a single stone and boasts elaborate rosette grating.Тулешков, p. 126.

Decoration and icons

Saint George's Church has exterior stone relief decoration, another trademark feature of the Slavine School. The bays of the two gates are decorated with various ornaments, floral and solar rosettes. The west gate decoration includes a stylized depiction of the

tree of life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A Hist ...

and an archaic image of two birds, one standing atop the other and pecking it, which is a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

symbol of the fight between good and evil.Тулешков, p. 72. Architect Nikolay Tuleshkov finds the appearance of such archaic imagery in the exterior decoration "puzzling". The iconostasis was painted by Petar Mitov, an artist from

Samokov Samokov ( bg, Самоков ) is a town in Sofia Province in the southwest of Bulgaria. It is situated in a basin between the mountains Rila and Vitosha, 55 kilometres from the capital Sofia. Due to the suitable winter sports conditions, Sam ...

, in 1874. Mitov also did one of the icons ("

Synaxis {{For, the moth genus, Synaxis (moth) A synaxis ( el, σύναξις "gathering"; Slavonic: собор, ''sobor'') is a liturgical assembly in Eastern Christianity (the Eastern Orthodox Church and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the ...

of the

Archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

") in the church in 1875, as well as the

crucifix A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...

behind the

altar An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...

in 1874.

Gallery

File:Gavril Genovo-church-2.jpg, West facade File:Gavril Genovo-church-3.jpg, Bell tower File:Gavril Genovo-church-4.jpg, West gate with its archaic relief decoration

References

Sources