site.btaApril 7, 1933: St Nedelya Cathedral Reconsecrated Following Reconstruction after Biggest Terrorist Attack in Bulgarian History

On April 7, 1933, St Nedelya Cathedral in downtown Sofia was reconsecrated following reconstruction. The repair works began in June 1927, after a bombing attack on April 16, 1925 badly damaged the building, killing over 150 and injuring 500 people. 

That was the biggest terrorist attack in Bulgarian history and the deadliest in Europe until 1981. It was carried out by an extreme left group of the Bulgarian Communist Party militants. Most of the victims were members of the political and military elite.

After the bombing, the board of trustees commissioned architect Nikola Lazarov to rebuild the church. By the spring of 1933 an almost new, central-domed temple was built, 30 m long, 15.50 m wide and 31 m high (with the dome). The surviving two-row gilded iconostasis was returned to the church. Hung under the dome of the bell tower were eleven bells, of which eight had been presented by Prince Dondukov-Korsakov in 1879, two had been made in Serbia, and one had been cast in Bulgaria.