Sveta Petka Samardzhiyska Church

Sveta Petka Samardzhiyska Church sits in a sunken position in the underpass beneath bul. Knyaginya Maria Luiza, next to the TSUM department store, in central Sofia, Bulgaria. The small church is named after St Paraskeva (Petka) and the saddlers (samardzhii) who lived and worked in the neighbourhood and who were its patrons in the Ottoman period. The building is usually dated to the 14th century, though some parts may be from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The church is a single-nave, barrel-vaulted building built partly below ground level. This design was a response to Ottoman rules which prohibited Christian churches from being taller than mosques or visible in public space, so the floor was dug deep into the earth and the roof kept low. As a result, the church survived the centuries of Ottoman rule and the growth of the modern city around it, and it now appears as a small brick structure rising slightly from a pedestrian crossing.

Inside, visitors find frescoes from the 14th to the 17th centuries, including scenes from the life of Christ and saints. Some of the murals were uncovered during conservation in the 20th century. The interior is dark and intimate, with a few icons and candles. It is believed that Vasil Levski, the Apostle of Bulgarian Freedom, was buried in or near the church after his execution by the Ottomans in 1873, although the exact location of his grave is disputed.

The church was reconstructed in the early 20th century, when the surrounding buildings were rebuilt, and later restored again during the construction of the underground passage in the 1970s. It remains an active church, with services on holidays, and continues to be the focus of local devotion. It sits a short walk from the Serdica Archaeological Complex and Banya Bashi Mosque and is easy to combine with them.