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The Church of St Nicholas ((ブルガリア語:църква „Свети Никола“), ''tsarkva „Sveti Nikola“'') is a small medieval Eastern Orthodox church in the southwestern Bulgarian town of Sapareva Banya, which is part of Kyustendil Province. Originally either the property of a local notable or attached to a larger church, it was constructed anytime from the 11th to the 14th century. The church was built using red bricks and white mortar. Architecturally, it is of a simple Byzantine cross-in-square design, with a single nave and apse. The frescoes in the interior are only scarcely preserved. It was reconstructed in 1937 after falling into ruin, and it was listed as a monument of culture of national importance in 1968. ==History== Scholars disagree on the possible period of the church's construction; assessments range from the 11th–12th, through the 12th–13th, to the 13th–14th century. In an article in the ''Bulgarian Church Review'' magazine from 1898, the local priest Mihal Popov was cited as saying that a stone from the church altar was unearthed during excavations. The priest believed that the stone, which reportedly had the date 1160 inscribed on it, was sent to the National Archaeological Museum in the capital Sofia.〔〔 Due to its diminutive size, the Church of St Nicholas was probably not constructed as an independent church. A legend links the church to the name of an unidentified local feudal lord named Nikola (Nicholas) as his final resting place, though archaeologist Nikola Mavrodinov considers it more likely that it was possibly a chapel or a cemetery church attached to a larger place of worship. The larger church was perhaps pulled down during the early Ottoman rule of Bulgaria (post-14th century). While the Church of St Nicholas was not destroyed, its renovation was prohibited by the Ottomans, thus it gradually fell into ruin.〔 In his 1931 study, Mavrodinov also writes that at the time, the church lacked a roof. He references a story about a group of Circassians that were settled in Sapareva Banya on the order of the Ottoman authorities after the Crimean War (1853–1856). According to that story, the Circassians sought to pull down the church's roof. However, one of them fell to his death inside the church, so they fled in horror.〔〔〔 The church was thoroughly reconstructed in 1937 by a team under architect Rashenov.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Church of St Nicholas, Sapareva Banya」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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