Света София
Also known as Saint Sophia Church Sofia
500
Byzantine
church
Света София stands above the late antique cemetery of Serdica and gave the modern Bulgarian capital its name. The present cross-domed three-nave basilica with transept and two-story narthex was built at the end of the 5th or the beginning…
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Timeline
- 311-313
The first church on the site began as a martyrium shortly after the Edict of Milan and was later extended and paved with mosaics.
- 380-400
A second three-nave basilica with a polychrome mosaic floor was built near the end of the 4th century.
- 400-450
A third three-nave basilica was constructed at the beginning of the 5th century and was probably destroyed in the Hunnic invasion of the mid-5th century.
- 1382
Tsar Ivan Shishman's charter to Dragalevtsi monastery records the basilica giving its name to the medieval city.
- 1450-1818
Under Ottoman rule the basilica served as a mosque, with a caravanserai and a dervish tekke added to the complex.
- 1818-1858
Earthquakes in 1818 and 1858 destroyed parts of the mosque, after which the building was abandoned.
- 1980-1999
A restoration and conservation campaign returned the building to its early Christian character, and the memorial to the Unknown Warrior with its Eternal Fire was set against the southern facade.
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