Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs

The Church of the Holy Forty Martyrs in Veliko Tarnovo is a historical and architectural monument of significance to Bulgaria. It was built and decorated with wall paintings during the reign of the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Asen II in the thirteenth century. Dedicated to the Holy Forty Martyrs, it is associated with the Bulgarian victory at the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230. The church is a rectangular building with three apses, severely damaged in 1327. It was restored and remodelled in the first half of the fourteenth century. It consists of a basilica with six columns, three semicircular apses and a narrow western narthex, together with an annex serving as an ossuary and mausoleum and two galleries built on the southern and northern sides. It contains wall paintings in the northern half of the western side of the narthex. Religious scenes depicted include St Elizabeth Nursing the Infant John and St Anne Nursing, as well as a pictorial calendar representing the months. Tsar Kaloyan, Tsaritsas Anna Maria and Irene, St Sava of Serbia and other members of the royal family and Bulgarian aristocracy were buried in the church. Historic events held there include Prime Minister Stefan Stambolov's wedding in 1888 and Prince Ferdinand I's proclamation of Bulgaria's independence in 1908. The church has been designated a national antiquity and an architectural and structural cultural monument of national significance. It bears the name of the Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and celebrates their feast day on 9 March.