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On a rocky promontory of the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, Nessebar is a rich city
museum with more than three millennia of history. From the Middle Ages, when it was one of the most important Byzantine towns on the west coast of the Black Sea, until its capture by the Turks in 1453, Nessebar accumulated monuments of exceptional quality. Its churches, described as a cross between Slav and Greek orthodox architecture, are some of the finest in the area. The Turkish domination enriched the monumental heritage by numerous houses of the
'Plovdiv style'. Its vernacular architecture of wooden houses of the typical Black Sea style complete an urban framework of high quality. Nessebur is an
UNESCO World Cultural Monument.
During the centuries fortified systems have been built which made the peninsula an impregnable fortress. The
walls that can be seen nowadays is Thracian fortification of the first settlement in the viii c. BC, Greek walls as well as Byzantine later ones can also be seen near the city gate.
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Churches
The churches of Nessebar represent the rich architectural heritage of the Eastern Orthodox world and illustrate the gradual development from Early Christian basilicas to medieval cross-domed churches.
St Sophia or the Old Bishopric (Stara Mitropoliya) (v-vi century) known also as the Old Metropolitan,
the ruins of a three-nave basilica with stone columns and two levels of brick arches and a semicircular apse, with three arch windows and a synthronon.
Holy Mother of God Basilica, Virgin of Tenderness (Elèusa)
(vi century) is a three-nave church with three apses and a narthex. The two side aisles have two smaller apses pointing the North and to the South.
John the Baptist (xi century) it is a transitional type between the Early Christian basilicas and the medieval cruciform
churches and it represents the prototype of the churches erected in the following
periods in Nessebar. A cylindrical drum rises above the centre ending with a hemispherical dome. To the East there are three semicircular apses. No narthex can be seen. The Western, the Northern and the Southern facades possess high blind arches. Inside there is a portrait of a donator and fragments St. Marina picture.
St Stephen or the New Bishopric (Nova Mitropoliya) (xi c reconstructed in the xvi-xviii
centuries), known as the New Metropolitan is an important example of the Bulgarian medieval architecture. The church is a three-nave basilica made of rough stone and bricks. At the Eastern side there are three semicircular apses, on the eastern façade, over the arches, glazed saucers were
adopted for the first
time, they became typical decoration of the churches built later. Inside there are 258 mural
paintings and more than 1000 figures dating from 1599. The pictures
represent the life of the Virgin and Christ: 'Holy Mother with the new born child on throne',
'the Assumption', 'Presentation of the Blessed Virgin'. There are many scenes from the lives of St. John Theologian and St. John the Baptist etc.
On the eastern wall of the narthex the 'Last Judgment' was painted In the beginning of xviii c. in
the traditional iconography . Original painted iconostasis in style
'tulip' from xvi c. is well preserved in the church. The throne and the pulpit are from the xviii c. They are decorated with golden woodcarvings.
St Theodore (xiii century). The façade has blind decorative arches with staggered zigzag patterns. Some icons on the iconostasis are preserved.
St Paraskeva (xiii-xiv century) a typical single nave cruciform church
with, in the central part, a drum with a dome. A pentagonal apse is jutting out to the East.
The southern and northern facades are ornamented with richly decorated blind arches with fishbone,
swastikas, checker board made of stone and bricks, round and glazed saucers. Inside
a stone stairway between the naos and the narthex is the evidence of an old bell-tower over the
narthex.
Archangels Michael and Gabriel (xiii-xiv century). It is a single nave cruciform building, its eastern side has three small tripartite apses. The façade is arched.
Christ Pantocrator (xiii-xiv c) a rectangular church with two entrances. On the eastern side there are three small apses. All over the façade there are walled arches. Above them three rows of decorative saucers and four leafed flowers. Frieze of swastikas, made of bricks, passes above the apses on the eastern side. The richly decorated drum has eight
arched windows. The narthex is small and under the floor there is a medieval tomb.
Inside only traces of mural paintings.
the ruins St John Aliturgetos (xiv c) destroyed by the earthquake of 1913.
Its polyhedric apses of white limestone and red bricks perch on the high southern
shore. Arches, niches, ceramic and stone decoration are all decoration elements.
Four pairs of columns support the dome. Various sculptures of animals and birds in heraldic position, acanthus leaves and palmettos. Only small fragments of frescoes can be seen today.
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St Spas (xvii century), although this small church has no architectural value inside
its the walls are almost completely covered with well preserved and restored mural
paintings. On the southern and northern walls there are compositions with scenes from the Gospel. The tombstone of a Byzantine princess Mataissa Cantacuzina is saved in the church. The
Virgin "Platytera" ('More Spacious than the Heavens') is in the apse. On the south wall are
painted: Christening, Transfiguration, Lazarus Resurrection, Entering in Jerusalem, Washing the feet.
Underneath are painted the figures of some saints.
On the northern wall paintings are also in two levels: on the upper level are
represented: the Resurrection, Doubting Thomas, the Ascension, the Descent of the Holy Spirit,
the Assumption, the Birth of Virgin Mary, Presentation of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joachim and St. Anthony. On the lower level are painted the figures of
various saints.
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Houses of The National Revival Period
The wooden houses built in the end of xviii c. and the beginning of the xix c. are well preserved monuments from the National
Revival Period. They have their own original architecture which reveals the development of the typical Black Sea coast house.
Around Ivan Alexander Street there is one of
the most interesting with white washed second
floor and decorated with the so-called shoulder-yoke. Of great interest are the houses around the church St. Archangels Michael and Gabriel, especially the
Nakov’s house and the Vardaliev’s
house (the only example of three-storied
house).
Very famous are the Moskoyani house (1840)
and the house of captain Pavel both
built near the harbour. Notable are also the house of
Jelu Bogdanov, (xix c.), the Chimbulev
house with overhanging jetties from three sides, the
Ivan Markov house (xix c.), the Lambrinov
house (xix c.) with wood carved jetties.
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Archaeological Museum
A collection of Nessebur icons, brilliant examples of Bulgarian iconography dated to
xiii-xix centuries that decorated the iconostases of the numerous Nessebur churches.
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