“St. Sophia” – Cathedral Church of the Ohrid Archbishopric. It is erected on the remains of an old Christian basilica (unearthed in 1951). The arc Certain traces in the foundations of the original western façade indicate the possibility of having a tower for a bell tower, while traces of the frescoes above the central part of the narthex point to the possibility of caulot. The Time Cathedral Church “St. Sofia “In Ohrid (ⅺ c.) The construction of the Church in its original form can not be accurately determined. There are several assumptions, according to which he was probably built in the time of Samuel, and painted at the time of the Ohrid Archbishop Leo (1037-1056). The original form of the church later suffered quite changes. In 1313-1314 (At the time of Archbishop Gligorius) on the west side, a two-story iconaretex with open porch on the ground floor and gallery of the floor, with two towers with domes from the south and from the north side. It is possible at this time the Church to receive tribunes over the side ships, which indicates the openings from the upper floor of the narthex. Major changes in the church were carried out during the time of Turkish rule, when the dome and vaults over the nave, along with the pillars they carried, were replaced by a new construction. From the north side, an open porch and the church was converted into a mosque. In the 50’s of XX c. Exemption conservation and restoration works of architecture and frescoes have been carried out. It is certain that the frescoes of the church in the altar, the nave (with minor exceptions) and the ground floor of the narthex, originating from the time of the Ohrid Archbishop, which was on the Chief of the Ohrid Archbishopric of 1037 to 1056. At this date, not only one manuscript in the Paris National Library, where the Leo is mentioned as the “St.”. Sofia, but also the identification of Patriarch Eustatius, who died in 1025. This dating finds a certificate in some scenes and figures in the altar, which speak that the frescoes were performed during the crisis of relations between the eastern and western Christian ecumenic, before the definitive schisma (1054). The frescoes are covered with plaster when converting the church into a mosque (the second half of ⅹⅴ c.) And they after 1950 It is cleaned by removing the deposits of lime and mortar on the frescoes. In the main altar prosper of the church, in the lower zone, the largest gallery of bishops and deacons has been painted that has been discovered in the eastern ruling and Byzantine art (60 figures). The leading bishops of the Patriarchates (Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Rome), but the figures of the Constantinople patriarchs dominate. The representations of St. appears in this ensemble. Kiril Thessaloniki, St. Kliment Ohridski and fragment of “St. Sophia” with
Original article in Macedonian language Cyrillic alphabet
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