site.btaSeptember 12, 2024: 100 Years Since Consecration of St Alexander Nevsky Memorial Cathedral

On September 12, 2024, Sofia's St Alexander Nevsky Memorial Cathedral, the largest Orthodox cathedral in the Balkan Peninsula, marks the 100th anniversary of its consecration (September 12 to 14, 1924). Bishop Gerasim of Melnik, the Secretary General of the Holy Synod, Thursday told BTA that the centenary of the Cathedral’s consecration will be celebrated on November 23, on the feast day of St. Alexander Nevsky. 

Patriarch Daniil, the Metropolitan of Sofia, bishops, members of the Holy Synod, clergy and guests of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Bulgarian Patriarchate, will officiate a holy liturgy on November 23 in the Patriarchal Cathedral, Bishop Gerasim said. 

"Thanks to the campaign for the Patriarchal Cathedral’s restoration and with the help of the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, we have managed to prepare a project for the structural strengthening of the building. It is a large-scale project and requires the approval of the National Institute of Immovable Cultural Heritage and the Ministry of Culture. The project, like the Patriarchal Cathedral building itself, is grand and complex to implement. Thankfully, the Patriarchal Cathedral is remarkable for its architecture and was beautifully designed and built by the architect Alexander Pomerantsev, considered a genius of his time. The people who built the Cathedral put the best materials, their craftsmanship and even a piece of their heart and soul to build the Patriarchal Cathedral of Bulgaria in this unique way. It is the main symbol of the restored Bulgarian State after the Liberation [from Ottoman rule in 1878]. The St Alexander Nevsky  Patriarchal Cathedral, then and now, is the most beautiful and impressive cathedral in the Balkans," Bishop Gerasim said.   

The Mixed Choir at the Patriarchal Cathedral will give a concert on the Cathedral’s anniversary. Bulgaria's first Orthodox film, Don't Close Your Eyes, will be premiered, its screening will relate to the celebration of the centenary of the Patriarchal Cathedral. The film is based on the novel by the Bulgarian Orthodox religious writer and screenwriter Martin Ralchevsky.

Consecration

On September 12, 1924, the consecration of the Memorial Cathedral began at a ritual in Sofia. Since the temple has three thrones, the consecration took place on three consecutive days, September 12, 13 and 14. On September 12, the rite of consecration of the main altar’s throne was performed by Metropolitan Maxim of Plovdiv. On September 13, the north altar of Sts Cyril and Methodius was consecrated by Archbishop of Chisinau and Khotyn Anastasius. On September 14, the south altar was consecrated in the name of Saint Boris I by Metropolitan Stefan of Sofia. The solemn consecration was attended by honorary delegates from many European countries. The consecration also marks the 200th anniversary of the transfer (August 30, 1724) of the relics of St. Alexander Nevsky from the city of Vladimir to the newly founded St. Petersburg. His relics were placed in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. 

BTA's archive bulletins of September 1924 read: “On the 12th of this month, the largest cathedral church in the Balkan Peninsula, known by the name of St Alexander Nevsky, will be consecrated. This cathedral church was built to commemorate the liberation of the Bulgarian people from Turkish rule by the troops of the Emperor Alexander II the Liberator and those of King Carol I of Romania. This cathedral church occupies the best position in the heart of Sofia. From the top of the belfry one can see a large part of the Sofia field, together with the villages, the Lyulin Mountain, Vitosha, Murgash and part of Rila. The church has extensive galleries at the altar, and 99 tombs in the basement prepared as a kind of pantheon for the most famous men of the country. The roof is made of copper; the big dome, the dome of the belfry, the crosses on them are gold-plated. The church interior was painted by the most distinguished Russian and Bulgarian artists. The belfry has twelve bells, the largest of them weighing 12,000 kg. The large church accommodates 6,000 church-goers. The magnificent monument church is an excellent and eternal sign of the gratitude of the Bulgarian people to their liberators." 

Construction Process 

The decision to build the cathedral was taken by the Constituent National Assembly in 1879, convened in the old capital of Veliko Tarnovo (Tsarevgrad Tarnov), as an expression of national gratitude for the liberation activities that led to the restoration of Bulgarian statehood. The chairman of the assembly was Exarch Antim I and the deputy chairman, Petko Karavelov.

The original idea of Petko Karavelov was to build the cathedral in Tarnovo, but according to Prince Alexander of Battenberg, the place of a national cathedral, which would remind of all those who made their contribution to the Bulgarian freedom, was in the actual capital (Sofia), although it was yet to establish its importance in the young state. 

A Construction Committee was set up with Bishop Clement of Branitsa (Vasil Drumev) as chairman. To raise funds, the Committee printed the Constitution in 40,000 copies and began selling them among the people for BGN 0.50.

The first stone was laid on February 19, 1882. Konstantin Jireček described the event in his diary: "On Friday, at 11:30 a.m., in cloudy weather and a little rain, the ceremonial laying of the foundation stone of the St. Alexander Nevsky Church took place... at the place of the former military Turkish barracks behind St. Sophia [Church]."

This Vitosha granite, a monolith-morena, is preserved in the crypt of the memorial cathedral, intended for the pantheon of eminent and meritorious Bulgarians. Since 1966, the crypt has been reconstructed into a Medieval Bulgarian Icons Gallery, a branch of the National Art Gallery in Sofia. Visitors can see the valuable Bulgarian icons and frescoes from the 12th-19th centuries.

Two texts were laid in the cathedral's foundations: one engraved on a metal plate and the other, written on parchment. They commemorate the events of the Russo-Turkish War of Liberation of 1877-1878.

Construction only began in 1904, after the necessary resources had been raised through state subsidies and voluntary donations. Despite the long time until the start of construction works, the funds raised amounted to BGN 1,900,000 in 1904 and reached BGN 2,100,000 at the end of 1906. The architect was Prof. Alexander Pomerantsev, assisted by architects Alexander Smirnov and Alexander Yakovlev.

Architecture

The temple is a five-aisled cruciform basilica with multiple domes and a gilded central one. Its interior is divided into three parts: narthex (with two chapels), central part and altar (with three thrones). Viewed from the outside, the length of the cathedral is 72 m and the width is 55 m. Its height is 50.52 m and the roof bridge is 28 m.

Despite the scale and complexity of the construction, it was completed in a record time of eight years. The interior of the memorial cathedral is impressive for its masterly execution of the columns, arches, capitals, friezes, architectural elements and rare types of building materials used for their decoration. Highly artistic frescoes, icons and other paintings are the work of 20 Russian and 30 Bulgarian artists, some of the best artists of both countries at the time.

The bells of the temple were made in Moscow and given to Bulgaria as a gift in 1911. There are 12 of them with a total weight of 23 tons. The largest of them weighs 12,132 kg, its diameter is 2.70 m and the height is 2.80 m. The two largest bells, the 12-ton and the 6-ton ones, have artistic decoration, relief icons and inscriptions. All the bells are rung by hand.

The name of the Memorial Cathedral

The name of the Memorial Cathedral has stirred controversy since the First World War. 

Alexander Nevsky was a Novgorod prince and saint. In 1240 he recorded an impressive victory in the battle on the Neva River, after which the prince was given the name Nevsky. Soon after, Nevsky renounced secular life and was given the monastic name Alexius. The Russian saint is the namesake of Alexander ll the Liberator, in whose honour the memorial cathedral was built.

During the First World War, in which Russia fought against the Bulgarian army, King Ferdinand proposed to rename the cathedral "Saints Cyril and Methodius". The proposal was approved and accepted by the government of Vasil Radoslavov after heated debates. After Bulgaria's defeat in the war, all wartime decisions were revised. St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral continued to exist with its original name shortly after the act of renaming. The first celebratory ringing of the bells took place in the capital earlier - after the victory of the Bulgarian army that led to the capture of the fortress of Edirne in 1913.