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The Church of the Holy Mother of God ((ブルガリア語:църква "Света Богородица"), ''tsarkva "Sveta Bogoroditsa"'') is the popular name of a medieval Eastern Orthodox church located in Asen's Fortress. It lies near Asenovgrad in the Rhodope Mountains of Plovdiv Province, south central Bulgaria. Constructed most likely in the 12th century, it features two stories, of which the upper story is the church proper and the lower story is of unclear function. The rectangular tower over the church's narthex is regarded as the earliest preserved of its kind in the Balkans. Fragments of frescoes are visible on the walls of the church's upper story. ==Location and history== The Church of the Holy Mother of God lies on an elevation near the road from Plovdiv to Smolyan, south of the town of Asenovgrad (medieval ''Stenimachos''). It forms part of a now mostly ruined castle known as Asen's Fortress, of which the church is the best preserved building. The church is dated by most scholars to the 12th century; however, some researchers place its construction in the 11th century and a few others in the 13th century. Though the church is commonly known as the Church of the Holy Mother of God, this may well not have been its actual name. The dedication is alleged based on a partial Medieval Greek inscription in the church, which may have been a donor's inscription. In the early 20th century, the part of the inscription that was still visible was deciphered as "ή παναγία τῆς Πετριζηώτης", equivalent to "or the Mother of God of Petrich". However, this was the name of the main church (''katholikon'') of the nearby Bachkovo Monastery, which makes it more likely that the inscription references the monastery and its relation to the church in Asen's Fortress in some way, rather than providing the name of the church.〔 At the turn of the 20th century, the Church of the Holy Mother of God was the terminus of two rival religious processions organised by the ethnic Greek and Bulgarian communities of Asenovgrad. A Greek procession took place in 1899 and a comparable Bulgarian one was carried out several years later. These processions began after a man claimed to have seen lights and heard chants while passing near the then-abandoned church. Both processions ended with a Divine Liturgy observed at night by the church. After suffering damage during an earthquake in 1904, the church was reconstructed by a team directed by architect Aleksandar Rashenov in 1936.〔 As of 2008, it continues to function as a place of worship.〔 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 the Holy Mother of God, Asen's Fortress」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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