The early-morning sea mist envelops the small temple, making it seem like it is floating. As dawn breaks, the first timid reds tinge the mist blush-pink.
Perched atop an elevation at the edge of Nessebar’s old town, on the Black Sea coast, the Church of St. John Aliturgetos is a burst of rust-colored patterns on a white background that seem to radiate straight out of the red-hued mist—or that, more plausibly, were designed to mimic nature’s colors. To an observer standing across the street from the church and looking out to sea, the effect is stirring.
For decades, passersby could only peek inside the church walls through heavy iron bars, placed at the windows and entrances for their own security: the building was crumbling to pieces. Today, however, visitors no longer need to keep their distance thanks to a restoration effort completed in early November 2018 and supported by the US Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation and the United States Embassy in Bulgaria. Worth over 700,000 US dollars, the recovery has helped secure the structure, reconstruct damaged walls, and preserve the rich facade details and interior decorations. Artistic lighting enhances the building’s elegance and makes its vicinity a pleasant rest stop for evening strollers.
Despite its unmoored appearance at daybreak, St. John Aliturgetos has stood firm through time, air, fire, and water for over seven centuries. To the list, one might add “bad luck.” Legend has it that the church, built in the fourteenth century, was never consecrated because a worker had died at the construction site, and according to the church canon, people cannot worship at a place where someone has been killed. Evidence shows, however, that it was in fact in use and services were held there for centuries. Even so, the name Aliturgetos—“unconsecrated”—stuck.
We don’t know when the church was abandoned, but photographs from the mid-nineteenth century reveal a building in an already-serious state of deterioration. A great fire at the beginning of the twentieth century caused further damage, but the worst was to come in 1913, with the devastating Gorna Oryahovitsa earthquake (a 7.0 magnitude on the Richter scale), when the church’s dome and south and west walls collapsed. Although only the north and east walls have preserved their original appearance to this day, thanks to the latest restoration, which lasted four years and built on earlier preservation work, visitors today can safely enjoy the beauty of one of medieval Bulgaria’s most ornate churches at any time of the day or night.
“This church is an iconic symbol of an ancient place. We agreed to fund this restoration project because Americans believe that preserving and protecting cultural treasures is a shared responsibility. Working together, we continue to strengthen the cultural ties between our two countries through projects like this,” said US Ambassador Eric Rubin at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on November 9, which also featured Bulgarian tourism minister Nikolina Angelkova, deputy culture minister Amelia Gesheva, Nessebar mayor Nikolay Dimitrov, ABF design and construction manager Nikolay Traykov, and other guests.
The US Embassy’s total investment in Bulgarian cultural heritage over the past twenty years exceeds one million US dollars. The restoration of St. John Aliturgetos, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of Bulgaria’s 100 most remarkable tourist sights, is the largest project it has supported to date.
Photo 1: Source: LightfromthePast.com. The image is from 2014, before the restoration. Photos 2 and 3: US Embassy in Bulgaria.
