Church of St Demetrius, Patalenitsa
Encyclopedia
The Church of St Demetrius is a medieval Eastern Orthodox
church in southwestern Bulgaria
. It lies in the village of Patalenitsa
, administratively part of Pazardzhik Municipality
within Pazardzhik Province
. The church was built in the 11th–14th century, with a possible dating to 1091 based on a stone plate inscription, the present location or even existence of which is unclear. Its frescoes, discovered in 1961 and restored in the 1970s, are a work of the 12th–13th century.
Built in the vicinity of an older church, the Church of St Demetrius is a crossed-dome stone building. According to several legends, the church was dug into the ground as the Ottomans conquered Bulgaria, so that it may be protected from desecration. It was only unearthed in the middle of the 19th century, when it was dedicated to Saint Demetrius. It was proclaimed a monument of culture of national importance in 1956.
enlightener Stefan Zahariev from Pazardzhik
, St Demetrius was not the first church in this location. In his description of the Pazardzhik district (kaza
) published in 1870, he writes that a previously existing church in roughly the same place was dedicated to Saint Pantaleon
and had given its name to the village of Patalenitsa. The Church of St Pantaleon was, according to Zahariev, previously an Ancient Greek
sanctuary of Asclepius
. He writes that a column from this church with an inscription dedicated to Asclepius was preserved in the newer village church.
The time of the present church's construction cannot be exactly defined. Scholars such as Atanas Bozhkov are of the opinion that the Church of St Demetrius was built in the early 12th century, while Krastyo Miyatev and Neli Chaneva–Veleva date it to the late 12th or early 13th century. One author has placed its construction in the late 13th or early 14th century and others include the 11th century among the possibilities.
Some publications refer to a marble plate, possibly a gravestone, found in the church and bearing a Medieval Greek
inscription with the following text: "[by] Gregory Kourkouas
, pro[tospatharios
] and duke of Ph[ilippopolis
], indiction
14, 1091". However, while some sources insist the plate is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum
in Sofia
, others claim it is now missing or question the very existence of such a plate. Nevertheless, in the late 19th century the church was known as the Holy Kutruleshtitsa (Света Кутрулещица, Sveta Kutruleshtitsa) to the locals, which may indicate a connection to the name of Gregory Kourkouas from the plate.
Another legend tells of the digging of the church into the ground after the Ottoman
conquest of Bulgaria (14th–15th centuries), so that the Ottomans would not desecrate it. According to that story, the church was buried and forgotten about by the villagers until the mid-19th century, when a local coincidentally rediscovered it while tying his donkey
to a nearby cherry
tree. A different version places the cherry tree on top of the hill under which the church stood. Reportedly, that cherry tree was struck by a thunderbolt, which enabled the villagers to reach the buried gate through the now-hollow trunk. The church was reconsecrated soon thereafter and dedicated to the 4th-century military saint
Demetrius of Thessaloniki.
The church was listed among the architectural monuments of culture of national importance in 1956, and the subsequent discovery of its early murals led to its inclusion on the list of artistic monuments of culture in 1971.
. The church is 9.2 metres (30.2 ft) long and 7.6 m (24.9 ft) wide, and is among the relatively few medieval churches of the crossed-dome type still standing in Bulgaria. It has an octagonal dome and a five-sided apse
. The south facade features three bays with narrow windows attached. The church's floor was originally covered with marble
, though the marble was removed in one of the possibly three rounds of reconstruction that the church underwent. For example, the present narthex
was not added until the final reconstruction some time in the 19th century.
Medieval frescoes used to cover the entirety of the church's interior, though only some 70 fragments survive until today. Until 1961, the existence of a medieval mural layer was unknown because the walls were covered with oil paint in the 1910s. The medieval frescoes were uncovered and restored between 1970 and 1975 by a team under Dragomir Peshev. The dating of the frescoes is as controversial as that of the church itself. Bozhkov places the painting of the murals in the 12th century, while scholars Bistra Nikolova and V. Mavrodinova believe they were created in the 13th century. According to Nikolova, the mural inscriptions in Medieval Greek (as opposed to Middle Bulgarian) are evidence that the frescoes were painted during the Byzantine
rule of Bulgaria (1018–1185). At the time, the region of Patalenitsa would have belonged to the Byzantine bishopric centred at Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv).
Among the biblical scenes painted inside the Church of St Demetrius are the Ascension of Jesus, which adorns the altar vault, as well as the Resurrection of Lazarus and the Transfiguration of Jesus
, which decorate the vault left of the apse. Images of a number of saints have also been preserved, including these of the patron saint
Demetrius, Saint George
riding a white horse, Saint Achillius of Larissa and Saint Nicholas
.
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
church in southwestern Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. It lies in the village of Patalenitsa
Patalenitsa
Patalenitsa is a village in southwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Pazardzhik Municipality within Pazardzhik Province. It lies southwest of Pazardzhik, at the northern foot of the Karkaria ridge of the western Rhodope Mountains, some above sea level...
, administratively part of Pazardzhik Municipality
Pazardzhik municipality
Pazardzhik municipality is the second largest municipality in Pazardzhik Province, after Velingrad. It occupies 640 km² or 14,3% of the province. Its territory encompasses the western-most parts of the Upper Thracian Plain and is famous for its fertility...
within Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province
Pazardzhik Province is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the town of Pazardzhik. It embraces a territory of 4,456.9 km² that is divided into 11 municipalities with a total population of 290,614 inhabitants, as of December 2009.-History:The...
. The church was built in the 11th–14th century, with a possible dating to 1091 based on a stone plate inscription, the present location or even existence of which is unclear. Its frescoes, discovered in 1961 and restored in the 1970s, are a work of the 12th–13th century.
Built in the vicinity of an older church, the Church of St Demetrius is a crossed-dome stone building. According to several legends, the church was dug into the ground as the Ottomans conquered Bulgaria, so that it may be protected from desecration. It was only unearthed in the middle of the 19th century, when it was dedicated to Saint Demetrius. It was proclaimed a monument of culture of national importance in 1956.
History and dating
According to Bulgarian National RevivalBulgarian National Revival
The Bulgarian National Revival , sometimes called the Bulgarian Renaissance, was a period of socio-economic development and national integration among Bulgarian people under Ottoman rule...
enlightener Stefan Zahariev from Pazardzhik
Pazardzhik
Pazardzhik is a city situated along the banks of the Maritsa river, Southern Bulgaria. It is the capital of Pazardzhik Province and centre for the homonymous Pazardzhik Municipality...
, St Demetrius was not the first church in this location. In his description of the Pazardzhik district (kaza
Qadaa
Kaza or caza , meaning "jurisdiction" and often translated "district," is a term for a second-level administrative division in Iraq and Lebanon and for a third-level administrative division in Jordan and the former Ottoman Empire....
) published in 1870, he writes that a previously existing church in roughly the same place was dedicated to Saint Pantaleon
Saint Pantaleon
Saint Pantaleon , counted in the West among the late-medieval Fourteen Holy Helpers and in the East as one of the Holy Unmercenary Healers, was a martyr of Nicomedia in Bithynia during the Diocletian persecution of 303 AD...
and had given its name to the village of Patalenitsa. The Church of St Pantaleon was, according to Zahariev, previously an Ancient Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
sanctuary of Asclepius
Asclepius
Asclepius is the God of Medicine and Healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea...
. He writes that a column from this church with an inscription dedicated to Asclepius was preserved in the newer village church.
The time of the present church's construction cannot be exactly defined. Scholars such as Atanas Bozhkov are of the opinion that the Church of St Demetrius was built in the early 12th century, while Krastyo Miyatev and Neli Chaneva–Veleva date it to the late 12th or early 13th century. One author has placed its construction in the late 13th or early 14th century and others include the 11th century among the possibilities.
Some publications refer to a marble plate, possibly a gravestone, found in the church and bearing a Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek
Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, is the stage of the Greek language between the beginning of the Middle Ages around 600 and the Ottoman conquest of the city of Constantinople in 1453. The latter date marked the end of the Middle Ages in Southeast Europe...
inscription with the following text: "[by] Gregory Kourkouas
Kourkouas
The Kourkouas or Curcuas family was one of the many nakharar families from Armenia that migrated to the Byzantine Empire during the Islamic invasions. They rose to prominence as part of the Anatolian military aristocracy in the 10th century, providing several high-ranking generals and an emperor....
, pro[tospatharios
Protospatharios
Prōtospatharios was one of the highest court dignities of the middle Byzantine period , awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes.-History:...
] and duke of Ph[ilippopolis
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
], indiction
Indiction
An indiction is any of the years in a 15-year cycle used to date medieval documents throughout Europe, both East and West. Each year of a cycle was numbered: first indiction, second indiction, etc...
14, 1091". However, while some sources insist the plate is preserved in the National Archaeological Museum
National Archaeological Museum (Bulgaria)
The National Archaeological Museum is an archaeological museum in the centre of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. It occupies the building of the largest and oldest former Ottoman mosque in the city, Büyük camii , built from stone around 1474 under Mehmed II...
in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, others claim it is now missing or question the very existence of such a plate. Nevertheless, in the late 19th century the church was known as the Holy Kutruleshtitsa (Света Кутрулещица, Sveta Kutruleshtitsa) to the locals, which may indicate a connection to the name of Gregory Kourkouas from the plate.
Another legend tells of the digging of the church into the ground after the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
conquest of Bulgaria (14th–15th centuries), so that the Ottomans would not desecrate it. According to that story, the church was buried and forgotten about by the villagers until the mid-19th century, when a local coincidentally rediscovered it while tying his donkey
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
to a nearby cherry
Cherry
The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium....
tree. A different version places the cherry tree on top of the hill under which the church stood. Reportedly, that cherry tree was struck by a thunderbolt, which enabled the villagers to reach the buried gate through the now-hollow trunk. The church was reconsecrated soon thereafter and dedicated to the 4th-century military saint
Military saint
The military saints or warrior saints of the Early Christian Church are prominent in the history of Christianity...
Demetrius of Thessaloniki.
The church was listed among the architectural monuments of culture of national importance in 1956, and the subsequent discovery of its early murals led to its inclusion on the list of artistic monuments of culture in 1971.
Architecture and decoration
The Church of St Demetrius in Patalenitsa was built of stone, though the dome and side bays also exhibit brickworkBrickwork
Brickwork is masonry produced by a bricklayer, using bricks and mortar to build up brick structures such as walls. Brickwork is also used to finish corners, door, and window openings, etc...
. The church is 9.2 metres (30.2 ft) long and 7.6 m (24.9 ft) wide, and is among the relatively few medieval churches of the crossed-dome type still standing in Bulgaria. It has an octagonal dome and a five-sided apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
. The south facade features three bays with narrow windows attached. The church's floor was originally covered with marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, though the marble was removed in one of the possibly three rounds of reconstruction that the church underwent. For example, the present narthex
Narthex
The narthex of a church is the entrance or lobby area, located at the end of the nave, at the far end from the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper...
was not added until the final reconstruction some time in the 19th century.
Medieval frescoes used to cover the entirety of the church's interior, though only some 70 fragments survive until today. Until 1961, the existence of a medieval mural layer was unknown because the walls were covered with oil paint in the 1910s. The medieval frescoes were uncovered and restored between 1970 and 1975 by a team under Dragomir Peshev. The dating of the frescoes is as controversial as that of the church itself. Bozhkov places the painting of the murals in the 12th century, while scholars Bistra Nikolova and V. Mavrodinova believe they were created in the 13th century. According to Nikolova, the mural inscriptions in Medieval Greek (as opposed to Middle Bulgarian) are evidence that the frescoes were painted during the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
rule of Bulgaria (1018–1185). At the time, the region of Patalenitsa would have belonged to the Byzantine bishopric centred at Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv).
Among the biblical scenes painted inside the Church of St Demetrius are the Ascension of Jesus, which adorns the altar vault, as well as the Resurrection of Lazarus and the Transfiguration of Jesus
Transfiguration of Jesus
The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported in the New Testament in which Jesus is transfigured and becomes radiant upon a mountain. The Synoptic Gospels describe it, and 2 Peter 1:16-18 refers to it....
, which decorate the vault left of the apse. Images of a number of saints have also been preserved, including these of the patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
Demetrius, Saint George
Saint George
Saint George was, according to tradition, a Roman soldier from Syria Palaestina and a priest in the Guard of Diocletian, who is venerated as a Christian martyr. In hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Catholic , Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and the Oriental Orthodox...
riding a white horse, Saint Achillius of Larissa and Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas , also called Nikolaos of Myra, was a historic 4th-century saint and Greek Bishop of Myra . Because of the many miracles attributed to his intercession, he is also known as Nikolaos the Wonderworker...
.