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Church of the Holy Trinity, Ogradishte, Bukovets

The village of Ogradiste is removed from the list of settlements in Bulgaria in 1960. Currently the former village is a quarter of Bukovets. The church „St. Trinity“ is a memory of the time when the village existed independently and has needed its own church.

There are no data about the history of this temple. It knows only that its frescoes are associated with the Samokov School of Painting and that the preserved in the altar images of St. Cyril and St. Methodius are close or exact replica of an icon of Stanislav Dospavski. The depictions of Cyril and Methodius are featured with an exceptional realism and eye for detail. Of the two figures is better preserved this of St. Methodius, holding a scroll with the Cyrillic alphabet. The image of St. Cyril is partially destroyed but left thereof still stays a fragment depicting a table piled with books. The Holy brothers are depicted in realistic betrayed interior – a room with lighted windows.

Above the door of the nave are reserved partial images of two figures with triangular halos. The triangular nimbus is very curious element. It denotes God the Father as a symbol of the Holy Trinity (the patron of the church). It symbolizes the all-seeing eye. Its origin is ancient and is connected to the sign of dedication and awareness. The symbol is used by the Masons. In the Bulgarian church paintings is rare – the closest example comes from the medieval church in the village of Gorna Verenitsa (near Montana) for which is known that is painted by the master Yanachko Stanimirov from Breze in 1948. Yanachko Stanimirov is the handyman who decorated the churches St. Paraskeva“ in Breze and Assumption of Virgin Mary“ in monastery of Iskrets.

The church was one nave and one apse with a small narthex and an outdoor portico. It is constructed by hewn stones. Perhaps its western facade was also painted. Today this temple is with collapsed roof, which is fatal for the murals.

The altar of the church is preserved in construction. It is known that the icons and the altar gates were brought in the church The Holy Annunciation in the village of Rebrovo. Nevertheless, still can be seen the elegant wooden layout of the altar wall.

The church is one of the few monuments in the territory of Svoge municipality for which no preservation actions are given. The frescoes in it clearly stand out from all other monuments in the Iskar Gorge and must be preserved.

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