Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia โ€” cathedral
Image by Michael_Kastelic from Pixabay

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia

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  • 2 min read
  • 42.696ยฐ N 23.333ยฐ E

Interesting facts

  • The foundation stone was laid on 3 March 1882, four years to the day after the Treaty of San Stefano that restored a Bulgarian state.
  • The first design, drawn up by Ivan Bogomolov in 1884โ€“1885, was reworked by Alexander Pomerantsev, whose final plan was completed only in 1898.
  • Its twelve bells span an extraordinary range, from a 12-tonne giant down to a little bell weighing just 10 kilograms.
  • The building measures 73.5 by 52.2 metres, and the roof over the central nave spans 28 metres.
  • With its cross, the central dome rises to about 46.3 metres above the floor.
  • Among the painters of its interior were the Czech-born Ivan Mrkviฤka and the Russian artists Vasily Bolotnov and Nikolay Bruni.
  • Forty-two years passed between the laying of the foundation stone and the consecration on 12 September 1924.
  • The cathedral was declared a cultural monument in 1955, during the communist era.

Why it is worth it

The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is Sofia's great gilded landmark and the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria. It was conceived as a memorial to the Russian soldiers who died in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877โ€“1878, the war that ended Ottoman rule over Bulgaria, and it bears the name of the medieval Russian prince and saint Alexander Nevsky. The foundation stone was laid in 1882, but most of the building went up between 1904 and 1912 to designs by the Russian architect Alexander Pomerantsev; the church was consecrated only in 1924. During the First World War, when Bulgaria and Russia were on opposite sides, it briefly carried the names of Saints Cyril and Methodius instead.

Pomerantsev worked in a Neo-Byzantine idiom: a cross-domed basilica whose mass steps up through a cascade of smaller domes and half-domes to a central gilded dome some 45 metres high, with a 53-metre bell tower on the west side. The building covers about 3,170 square metres and can hold around 5,000 people. Its twelve bells weigh 23 tonnes together, the largest of them about 12 tonnes. From the square the effect is of a mountain of green-copper and gold roofs; the best views come from the corners of the square, where the full stepping silhouette is visible at once.

Inside, the scale softens into gloom and colour. The interior was fitted out with materials gathered across Europe and beyond: Italian marble in several colours, Brazilian onyx and alabaster, mosaics made in Venice, and metalwork gates from Vienna and Berlin. Around the base of the central dome the Lord's Prayer runs in gold letters. The murals and icons are the work of Bulgarian, Russian and other European painters, and royal thrones still stand in the nave. The crypt below holds a museum of Bulgarian Orthodox icons that forms part of the National Gallery.

Getting there

The cathedral stands on Alexander Nevsky Square in central Sofia, less than a kilometre from the city centre. Sofia Airport (SOF) is about 7 km away, and metro line M4 runs from a station beside Terminal 2 into the city. The nearest metro stop to the cathedral is Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", about five minutes' walk; Serdika station is roughly ten minutes on foot.

Plan your visit

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Nearby places

On these lists

The Most Beautiful Places in Bulgaria 16The Most Beautiful Sacred Places in Bulgaria 5The Most Beautiful 19th-Century Sacred Places 7The Most Remarkable 19th-Century Museums 12The Most Beautiful 19th-Century Buildings 28The Most Beautiful Cathedrals 81The Most Remarkable Museums 93The Most Beautiful Churches 186The Most Beautiful Buildings 286The Most Beautiful Sacred Places 623

From the encyclopaedia

The St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral is a Bulgarian Orthodox cathedral in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Built in the Neo-Byzantine style, it serves as the cathedral church of the Patriarch of Bulgaria and it is one of the largest Christian church buildings by volume in the world. It is one of Sofia's symbols and primary tourist attractions. St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia occupies an area of 3,170 square metres (34,100ย sqย ft) and can hold 5,000 worshipers. It is among the ten largest Eastern Orthodox church buildings. It is believed that up until the year 2000 it was the largest finished Orthodox cathedral.

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