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.

【紅霞譯文】

        東正教在保加利亞古城內塞巴爾歷史上一直占據重要地位，十三～十九世紀年間，內塞巴爾因此一躍而成為東正教中心，如今共計250幅包括耶穌基督、聖母瑪利亞、先知先覺、十二使徒、傳道士、不計其數的聖人天使神像被保留了下來。奧斯曼帝國統治保加利亞時期，內塞巴爾始終堅持自己的信仰，使得民族文化這塊瑰寶得以永放光芒。

        內塞巴爾神像學校成立於十六～十七世紀，深受希臘梅特奧拉和克里特島修道院宗教繪畫的影響，繪出了大量神像並用來裝飾當地許多教堂，“聖尼古拉斯”和“聖母瑪利亞——生命女神”即為那個時期諸多神像作品之一。

        全能主耶穌基督教堂建於十三～十四世紀，其做工細膩，配以綠色陶瓷帶飾、花紋、三角形圖案、圓形藍綠色彩陶等等，十字形房頂加蓋三座壇龕，鐘樓直立於教堂唯一的前廳之上，四根柱子支撐圓頂，後殿內部呈半圓式，外表則為五邊形，教堂正面附帶若幹個裝幀華麗的封閉壁龕。

        聖約翰浸信會是一個用瓦礫和碎石建造的圓頂型教堂，其內部擁有很多十三～十四世紀壁畫裝飾。

        聖斯特凡教堂建於十一世紀，全部採用石頭和磚塊建築而成，引入入勝的是258神像、三個神殿以及若干大理石柱。居中的神殿屋頂高起突出，其東西兩側砌成山牆。

        為紀念耶穌升天，聖救世主教堂於1609年竣工，屋頂斜向兩側，內設一個神殿和半圓形後堂，東牆深入地下。教堂內部展出不少有關耶穌和聖母極為珍貴的聖像，拜占庭帝國馬蒂亞斯·康塔屈澤納·帕列奧羅格公主墓碑也被收藏在教堂底下。

        十四世紀的聖約翰成聖教堂頂部呈十字形圓頂狀，共有三個半圓形後殿和一個前廳，底部長方，靠四根柱子固定，外牆正面封閉式壁龕用磚頭和碎石分成隔斷並裝飾幾何圖案（陶瓷造型），教堂建有南北兩個入口，這在東正教建築上極為罕見。