2015-06-25

【Aiden in English】

        The Christian Orthodox has always been a huge part of the ancient city of Nessebar in Bulgaria. As a matter of fact, Nessebar was the very center of the Orthodox Church between the 13^th and the 19^th century. Nowadays 250 icons, or paintings of Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary, prophets, apostles, evangelists, and numerous saints or angels, have survived. When the Ottoman Empire took control of Bulgaria, Nessebar was able to reserve its religion, keeping its unique culture alive. 

        During the 16^th-17^th century period, an icon-making school was founded in Nessebar and deeply influenced by the major icon-painting centers of Meteora and the island of Crete in Greece. These icons were created by local painters specialized in painting icons. At the same time, they decorated many churches in the area. The icons of “St. Nicholas” and “The Holy Virgin- Mistress of Life” are one of the many icons.

        The Church of Christ Pantocrator was built in the 13^th-14^th centuries and decorated phenomenally with a fine green ceramic frieze, floral motifs, triangular ornaments, circular turquoise ceramics, etc. It has a cruciform dome with three altar niches, a narthex, and a bell tower above the narthex. Four pillars support the dome. Inside the apses are semi-circle and outside a pentagon wall. Facades are segmented by richly decorated blind niches.

        The domed church of St. John the Baptist was built with rubble and crushed stones. It features interior frescoes that span from the 14th to the 17^th century. 

        The Church of St. Stefan was made of stones and bricks in the 11^th century. Interestingly, it hosts 258 interior paintings, three naves, and many marble pillars. Its middle nave rises above the others and is crowned in east the west by frontons. 

        Dedicated to Jesus Christ’s ascension, the St. Spas or Savior Church was built with a two-sloped roof, one nave, and one apse in 1609. The eastern façade was dug in the ground. Paintings on the walls were extremely precious, depicting scenes of Jesus and Holy’s mother. The gravestone of the Byzantine princess Matthias Cantacuzene Palaiologina was preserved in the floor of the church as well.

        A cruciform domed Church of St. John Aliturghetos (Unsanctified) was constructed with three apses and a narthex in the 14^th century. The base of the cruciform part is almost a quadrangular shaped by four columns. Blind niches were decorated with various geometrical patterns of bricks and small stone cubes divide the façade walls (ceramic plastic style). The church has two entrances in the north and the south, which is rare for orthodox religious architecture.

【红霞译文】

        东正教在保加利亚古城内塞巴尔历史上一直占据重要地位，十三～十九世纪年间，内塞巴尔因此一跃而成为东正教中心，如今共计250幅包括耶稣基督、圣母玛利亚、先知先觉、十二使徒、传道士、不计其数的圣人天使神像被保留了下来。奥斯曼帝国统治保加利亚时期，内塞巴尔始终坚持自己的信仰，使得民族文化这块瑰宝得以永放光芒。

        内塞巴尔神像学校成立于十六～十七世纪，深受希腊梅特奥拉和克里特岛修道院宗教绘画的影响，绘出了大量神像并用来装饰当地许多教堂，“圣尼古拉斯”和“圣母玛利亚——生命女神”即为那个时期诸多神像作品之一。

        全能主耶稣基督教堂建于十三～十四世纪，其做工细腻，配以绿色陶瓷带饰、花纹、三角形图案、圆形蓝绿色彩陶等等，十字形房顶加盖三座坛龛，钟楼直立于教堂唯一的前厅之上，四根柱子支撑圆顶，后殿内部呈半圆式，外表则为五边形，教堂正面附带若干个装帧华丽的封闭壁龛。

        圣约翰浸信会是一个用瓦砾和碎石建造的圆顶型教堂，其内部拥有很多十三～十四世纪壁画装饰。

        圣斯特凡教堂建于十一世纪，全部采用石头和砖块建筑而成，引入入胜的是258神像、三个神殿以及若干大理石柱。居中的神殿屋顶高起突出，其东西两侧砌成山墙。

        为纪念耶稣升天，圣救世主教堂于1609年竣工，屋顶斜向两侧，内设一个神殿和半圆形后堂，东墙深入地下。教堂内部展出不少有关耶稣和圣母极为珍贵的圣像，拜占庭帝国马蒂亚斯·康塔屈泽纳·帕列奥罗格公主墓碑也被收藏在教堂底下。

        十四世纪的圣约翰成圣教堂顶部呈十字形圆顶状，共有三个半圆形后殿和一个前厅，底部长方，靠四根柱子固定，外墙正面封闭式壁龛用砖头和碎石分成隔断并装饰几何图案（陶瓷造型），教堂建有南北两个入口，这在东正教建筑上极为罕见。