Almost every Bulgarian city has a Church named after saints Cyril and Methodius, who created the Cyrillic alphabet and became Orthodox missionaries in Europe. Bulgarians are very proud of their famous ancestors, although they are not exactly their own… But it's such a long story…
The city of Burgas is quite large, by the standards of Bulgaria, so there is a large temple here, in the very center. Almost all the streets lead to it from the sea uphill… Almost every day I pass by...
The history of the Cathedral began with a small wooden Church that stood on this square in 1874. At that time, the Church was led by the priest George Stoyanov, who was one of the first to try to renounce Greek influence in Bulgaria. The authorities did not support him, but rather exiled him to the remote town of Aytos. The priest often came to his native Burgas and in one of these trips, he died. Grateful citizens of the city named the street after him. And after the liberation of the city from the Ottoman yoke in 1894, the citizens decided to build a new large temple on this site and began collecting money. Not only ordinary people took part in this business, but also almost all the noble and wealthy residents of the city.
Construction began in 1896 with the participation of the best domestic and foreign master builders, wood carvers, artists, masons. The Church was built in 1907 as a Cathedral Church. Now the city has grown, but the temple still stands in the historical center and is named after saints Cyril and Methodius.
The author of the project of the temple was the Italian architect Ricardo Toscani, who managed to use the traditional motives of religious architecture in Bulgaria, adding to them his vision of the building's appearance. Thus, the two impressive bell towers on the sides of the facade are more typical of Catholic churches, but their domes and the dome above the main nave clearly bear the features of Byzantine architecture. The dome is supported on walls with twelve Windows.
The walls are built of beautiful gray-green stone. But even under the bright southern sun the Cathedral looks gloomy…
Inside the Cathedral is quite expensive decoration, a large iconostasis. Some icons of this Cathedral are considered miraculous. Bulgarians believe that many people were cured after praying before the face of our lady. I don't take photos inside the Cathedral, because I don't think it is pleasant for the faithful.
There was a fire in the Church in 1953, when a lot of the interior decoration burned down, and the Cathedral was severely damaged. It took almost forty years to fix it up. Now the collection works and on Church holidays there are a lot of people here.