8-century Old Church in Melnik Now Opens for Visitors

The "Sveta Zona" temple, one of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in Bulgaria's Melnik, will open its doors for the public once again.

This is in fact one of the most valuable cultural temples in the region, built in the beginning of the 13 century. The set date for the event is 31 August and the day prior to the official opening of the temple, a holy liturgy will be held in town. 

It was built in quite an inaccessible place, 1,5 km above the town of Melnik, as part of a mediaeval fortress and a monastery, built at the order of the Despot Aleksi Slav.

"We put lots of efforts into restoring the temple. Now Melnik will have one more church in town,'' shared father Nikolay, who serves in the local church. He reminded tourists that there used to be over 70 temples in Melnik, and people even started comparing it to Jerusalem.