Description of the attraction
The Church of St. Nedelya (Sveta Nedelya) is a now inactive Orthodox church, which has been turned into a museum. It is located in Batak and the church got its name in honor of Kyriakia Nicomedia, an early Christian saint martyr, who was tortured by the ruler of Nicomedia Maximian Galerius.
The construction of the church was completed in 1813, and it lasted for 75 days and the inhabitants of Batak acted as craftsmen. The building itself is a cross-domed building made entirely of stone. The doors are carved from oak, and the temple itself is surrounded by high stone walls.
At different times, the church priests were Dimitar Paunov, Ilya Yankov, Peter Popiliev, Neicho Paunov, hieromonk Kirill (spiritual father V. Levsky) and also hieromonk Nikifor. An important fact is that church services in the church were always conducted in the Church Slavonic language and never in Greek. The sermons were delivered by the priests in their native Bulgarian language.
During the April uprising, the last stronghold of the Batash rebels was the Church of the Holy Week. Since 1878, since the liberation of Bulgaria from the rule of the Ottoman Empire, the church is no longer used for worship. It contained the remains of those killed in the Batashkov massacre of 1876, when the Janissaries killed almost 5,000 civilians.
Since 1955, the church has been a state museum, and since 1977 it has been a monument of national historical significance.
