St Nedelya Church

St Nedelya Church in Batak, Bulgaria, is an Orthodox church with a history extending across the years. The building was erected in 1813 on land specially donated for its construction by Todor Balinov, the village mayor at the time. The church was built in 75 days with the participation of local residents of Batak. Its architects were the master builders Marko Ziso and Petar Chompal from Kostur, who had moved to Bratsigovo.
The church is a cruciform domed building constructed entirely of stone, with oak doors, and is surrounded by high stone walls. Various clergymen served in it over the years, including Dimitar Paunov (Popov), Iliya Yankov, Neycho Paunov (Popov), Petar Popiliev, Hieromonk Kiril, Vasil Levski's spiritual mentor, and Hieromonk Nikifor. The church is known for never having held services in Greek: worship was conducted in Church Slavonic, with sermons in Bulgarian.
St Nedelya is also associated with the April Uprising. During this period it became the last stronghold of Batak's insurgents and the scene of the final stage of the Batak Massacre. Around 2,000 Bulgarians, including women, children and elderly people, were slaughtered and killed in the church by Turkish bashi-bazouks.
After the Liberation in 1878, St Nedelya ceased to be used for worship and instead preserved the bones of those killed in the Batak Massacre. In 1955 it was declared a state museum, and in 1977 it received the status of a national historical cultural monument.