Photo: Travel: Bulgaria: Sofia: Churches: St Nicholas

St Nicholas the Miracle Maker, Sofia, Bulgaria

This is commonly known as The Russian Church on account that it was built in 1914 for a Russian "diplomatic agent". There used to be a mosque on this site, but it was destroyed shortly after the liberation. The small church is of typical Russian medieval design, and the onion dome colorful exterior immediately betrays its origins. The interior walls are plastered with murals although it is hard to see anything in the smoke-infested permanent semi-darkness.

My last visit to this church was hilarious. The sign near the entrance announces that photography is forbidden but a small note attached to the cashier's window inside asks for a small donation if one wants to take pictures. When I asked about paying, the woman incredulously asked me what I was going to photograph. She did not believe that I just wanted pictures of the interior. "There's nothing to photograph," she insisted, and then just refused my money and told me to go ahead with the pictures. Of course, I could not take any decent ones without a tripod: it was just way too dark. As I fumbled around, the casher and the janitor woman eyed me with obvious disapproval but not because of the camera --- they did not like that Christina was not Bulgarian. "Are there no decent Bulgarian women left that you should bring a foreigner here?" one of them eventually inquired. I was so dumbfounded, I could not come up with a snappy retort.

So no quality pictures (and the next time I went in hoping for better light, I was told photography is totally verboten), but insults are always free.