St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral Храм-паметник „Свети Александър Невски“

St Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Sofia, Bulgaria
April 2012

I need a wide angle lens.. is the mantra i'd been repeating to myself recently
This cathedral is particularly magnificent but because it is situated on a traffic island, it was very difficult getting a good whole shot



Entrance of the cathedral



This is The Cathedral to visit in Bulgaria (Wiki Link)
Built in 19th century, and teeming with amazing paintings all throughout
(photography is of course not allowed in the building)

The guide said the painter (i forget who) laid flat on the scaffolding to paint the ceiling
and faces of Jesus and other characters were 2 metres in diametre so that when viewed from below, they would be lifesize

there were also 2 thrones in the cathedral; one for the (imported) king and one for the Saint
The Saint's throne is smaller because the King is held in higher regard
Our guide was very good, and told us many amusing/interesting facts about Bulgaria
I wasn't a very good tourist though; because I preferred to explore on my own
But some things did stick in my mind:
1. In the cathedral, the guarding marble lions of the thrones have eyes made of agate
2. The left chapel of the cathedral is dedicated to the two brothers, both Saints, who invented the cyrillic script, which I find both familiar and foreign
i'd love to be able to read and speak cyrillic

as we were leaving, dark clouds enveloped the sky



i especially liked how the sunlight was bathing the facade golden while dark clouds loom menacingly above



my fellow tourists on the steps



the cyrillic script..



and as we said goodbye..