Nativity of Christ Memorial Church

The Nativity of Christ is the katholikon, or main church, of Shipka Monastery in the town of Shipka, Kazanlak Municipality. It has been designated a memorial church and cultural monument of national significance in Bulgaria. This historic church is dedicated to the heroes of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and contains an ossuary with the bones of approximately 9,000 Russian and Bulgarian soldiers who died during Bulgaria's War of Liberation.
The church was built between 1885 and 1902 with funds raised through donations, principally in Russia but also in Bulgaria. The project was initiated by Count Nikolay Ignatiev and Olga Skobeleva, mother of the Russian hero Major General Mikhail Skobelev. The church was opened and consecrated on 27 September 1902, coinciding with the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Battle of Shipka in 1877.
Architecturally, the building follows the style of seventeenth-century Russian churches and is richly decorated and painted. It was designed by the Russian architect Antony Osipovich Tomishko. The church and the bell tower adjoining its western façade are adorned with arches, columns, maiolica and gilded details.
Shipka Monastery remained Russian property until 1934, when the Soviet government granted it to Bulgaria in perpetuity. In 1970 it was declared a historical cultural monument and later became part of the Shipka–Buzludzha Historical and Architectural Reserve. The church attracts around 800,000 Bulgarian and foreign tourists each year and is one of Bulgaria's most visited tourist attractions.