The St. Ivan Rilski Chapel (St. John of Rila Chapel, bg, Параклис Свети Иван Рилски) at the

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 Macedon ...

n base

St. Kliment Ohridski Saint Clement of Ohrid (Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian: Свети Климент Охридски, ; el, Ἅγιος Κλήμης τῆς Ἀχρίδας; sk, svätý Kliment Ochridský; – 916) was one of the first medieval Bulgarian ...

Livingston Island Livingston Island (Russian name ''Smolensk'', ) is an Antarctic island in the Southern Ocean, part of the South Shetlands Archipelago, a group of Antarctic islands north of the Antarctic Peninsula. It was the first land discovered south of 60 ...

in the

South Shetland Islands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 195 ...

is the first

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

edifice in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, the southernmost Eastern Orthodox building of worship in the world (cf.

Trinity Church, Antarctica Holy Trinity Church (russian: Церковь Святой Троицы) is a small Russian Orthodox church on King George Island near Bellingshausen Station, a Russian research station in Antarctica. It is one of the eight churches on Antar ...

), and one of eight churches on Antarctica.

History

The chapel was named after patron of the Bulgarians, St. Ivan Rilski. It was built with the assistance of the Bulgarian Antarctic scientific team, whose research season from the beginning of the winter until the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. During this time, the base employs a total of between 12 and 15 people, geologists, biologists, doctors, meteorologists, botanists and others.The project for the first Eastern Orthodox chapel in Antarctica is ready
. Church Gazette. 16–30 April 2002. (in Bulgarian) The three

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...

s of the 3.5 by 3.5 m building were laid on 9 December 2001 by deacon Lyubomir Bratoev, who participated in the tenth Antarctic expedition the next year. The chapel was shipped in pieces totaling three cubic meters and three tons, via a Spanish ship. The completed chapel was consecrated on 9 February 2003.Consecrating the Bulgarian chapel in Antarctica
. Standard News Daily. 9 February 2003. (in Bulgarian) The chapel’s

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

was donated by Nikola Vasilev, ex-Vice Premier of Bulgaria who worked as a doctor at the Bulgarian base in the 1993/94 season, while the roof cross was donated by the Bulgarian artist Dicho Kapushev. The chapel features an

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

of Jesus Christ the Bridegroom by the Bulgarian artist Georgi Dimov, and an icon of St. Ivan Rilski donated by President

Georgi Parvanov Georgi Sedefchov Parvanov ( bg, Георги Седефчов Първанов, ) (born 28 June 1957) is a Bulgarian historian and politician who was President of Bulgaria from 2002 to 2012. He was elected after defeating incumbent Petar Sto ...

of Bulgaria, who visited and lit a candle in the chapel on 15 January 2005. St. Ivan Rilski Chapel was provided with new premises in the 2011/12 season, situated on the northeast slopes of

Pesyakov Hill Pesyakov Hill ( bg, Песяков хълм, ‘Pesyakov Halm’ \pe-sya-'kov 'h&lm\) is the ice-free hill rising to 36 m next south-southwest of the 1988 buildings of St. Kliment Ohridski Base on Bulgarian Beach, Hurd Peninsula on Livingston Is ...

nearer to the main buildings of the Bulgarian base.

Maps

Isla Livingston: Península Hurd.
Mapa topográfico de escala 1:25000. Madrid: Servicio Geográfico del Ejército, 1991. (Map reproduced on p. 16 of the linked work) * L.L. Ivanov. St. Kliment Ohridski Base, Livingston Island. Scale 1:1000 topographic map. Sofia: Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria, 1996. (The first Bulgarian Antarctic topographic map, in Bulgarian) * L.L. Ivanov et al. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich Island, South Shetland Islands (from English Strait to Morton Strait, with illustrations and ice-cover distribution). Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Sofia: Antarctic Place-names Commission of Bulgaria, 2005 * L.L. Ivanov
Antarctica: Livingston Island and Greenwich, Robert, Snow and Smith Islands
Scale 1:120000 topographic map. Troyan: Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2009. * Antarctica, South Shetland Islands, Livingston Island: Bulgarian Antarctic Base. Sheets 1 and 2. Scale 1:2000 topographic map. Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre Agency, 2016. (in Bulgarian)
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).
Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated. * L.L. Ivanov. Antarctica: Livingston Island and Smith Island. Scale 1:100000 topographic map. Manfred Wörner Foundation, 2017.

References

External links

Creations by the icon painter Georgi Dimov even at the South Pole
Sega Daily, 22 February 2003. (in Bulgarian) * Ivanov, L. and N. Ivanova
''The World of Antarctica''.
Generis Publishing, 2022. pp. 24–30.
2014 Bulgarian edition of the book
* Ivanov, L
General Geography and History of Livingston Island.
In: ''Bulgarian Antarctic Research: A Synthesis''. Eds. C. Pimpirev and N. Chipev. Sofia: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 2015. pp. 17–28. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Ivan Rilski Chapel Churches completed in 2003 Chapels in Antarctica Outposts of Antarctica Bulgaria and the Antarctic Christian organizations established in 2003 Livingston Island 21st-century Eastern Orthodox church buildings Outposts of the South Shetland Islands 2003 establishments in Antarctica

History

See also

Maps

References

External links