Description of the attraction
The Church of the Holy Seven Numbers is located in Sofia. In the past, the building was known as the Black Mosque, which was built in 1528 during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. The Black Mosque was a square structure with a dome covered with lead. According to legend, the building was the work of the famous architect Sinan. Later, a different name was assigned to the mosque - the Mehmed Pasha Mosque, despite the fact that his participation in the construction of the building is not mentioned in any source.
The proposal to re-equip the mosque into a renovated Orthodox church came in 1901 from A. N. Pomerantseva. This event was due to the fact that Bulgaria got rid of the oppression of the Ottoman Empire more than half a century ago and since then the mosque has remained abandoned. Prime Minister P. Karavelov also joined in the implementation of the proposed idea. The project of rebuilding the temple belonged to the architects Momchilov and Milanov. They supplemented it with a bell tower and four domes. During the reconstruction, the architects dismantled the old madrasah, as well as the black granite minaret, which gave the mosque its name. The traditional for the architecture of Bulgaria, the temple took on the corner domes, belfry and narthex.
The restructuring of the mosque and all the related work took only a year for the specialists, and on July 27, 1903, the temple was consecrated in the name of the Seven Numbers - the enlighteners of Bulgaria and the Slavic first teachers - Methodius, Cyril and five of their disciples (Naum, Gorazd, Clement, Angelarius and Savva).
Excavations carried out during the redevelopment of the former mosque revealed the foundations of an early Christian church, the construction of which, in turn, dates back to the 5th century. Traces of an ancient Roman temple - Asklepion - dedicated to the ancient Roman god of healing were also found here.
