Description of the attraction
In the city of Varna there is a church named after St. Nicholas of Mirliki. It is located on the main street in the sea capital of Bulgaria and is, along with the Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the most beautiful religious buildings in the city.
According to legend, the temple was built because of a promise made before God by a Russian sea merchant. During one of his voyages, a violent storm broke out at sea. The frightened merchant turned to Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors and fishermen, with a prayer: if he survives and gets home safely, he will certainly erect a church in Varna in honor of this saint. The promise was fulfilled - the merchant allocated 50,000 rubles for the construction of the temple. Historians say that this is almost the only case when the church was built at the expense of only one person.
The construction of the basilica began in 1859 and continued for several more years. It is not known for certain when the church was consecrated and when the iconostasis was made. For a long time, the walls in the temple remained white. Only in 1961, a group led by professors Nikolai Kozhukharov and Dimitri Gujenov began to decorate the church with frescoes. In 2000, large-scale restoration work was carried out, during which the murals in the altar were restored, new stained-glass windows were inserted into the windows, the vestibule was repaired, etc.
The beautiful monumental Basilica of St. Nicholas is the only sea temple in Bulgaria.
