St Sofia Church in Sofia: The Basilica That Named the City

St Sofia Church is the plain red-brick basilica across the street from Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and the city of Sofia took its name from it in the 14th century. The church is free, and under its floor lies a Roman cemetery with more than 50 tombs. Below are its history, the church, the underground museum, the graves outside and the hour I'd go.

St Sofia Church at a glance

St Sofia, Sveta Sofia in Bulgarian, stands on Parizh Street at the western edge of Alexander Nevsky Square. From the cathedral steps it is the red-brick building with tall arched windows, about 1,400 years older than its gold-domed neighbor.

Why the city is named after St Sofia Church

Sofia is named after this church, and the church is named after an idea. Its dedication is to Holy Wisdom, Hagia Sofia in Greek, the same dedication as the great church in Constantinople that Justinian finished in 537.

The Romans called the city Serdica, and after Khan Krum took it into the First Bulgarian Empire in 809, it became Sredets. In the Middle Ages, St Sofia was the seat of the metropolitan bishop, and by the 14th century the town around it had taken the church's name.

The name has a statue too: Sveta Sofia stands near Serdika metro station, about 10 minutes' walk west of the church.

The history of St Sofia Church

St Sofia stands in the middle of what was the eastern cemetery of Roman Serdica. From the 4th century on, Christians built church after church here among the tombs, and the floors of earlier churches still lie under the present one.

In 343, the Council of Serdica, a meeting of bishops from across the empire, gathered in a church on this site. The basilica you see today replaced the earlier buildings in the 6th century, during the reign of Justinian.

Under Ottoman rule, St Sofia became a mosque in the 16th century. A minaret went up and the medieval frescoes were lost. Earthquakes hit in 1818 and 1858, the second one brought the minaret down, and the building was abandoned. A restoration between about 1926 and 1935 brought it back as a church.

What to see inside the church

St Sofia is a cross-shaped basilica with three naves and three altars, about 47 meters long and 20 meters wide. The walls are bare brick, with almost no gilding anywhere.

I like it for exactly that. The bare brick shows the shape of a 6th-century church with nothing added on top.

Look for the icon of Holy Wisdom, the one that carries the church's name. It shows Holy Wisdom as a young Christ, called Christ Emmanuel, seated on a rainbow.

The underground museum and the Roman necropolis

The best part of St Sofia is under the floor. A staircase inside the church takes you down into the museum, which opened in 2013, and the walkways wind through the layers of the site.

They run from the Roman cemetery at the bottom, past the foundations of an earlier church, up to the base of the present basilica. More than 50 tombs survive, some with painted walls.

Look for the painted tomb of Honorius. You see into it through a window cut into its side, onto its painted walls. Silver reliquaries that once held the remains of saints were found down here too.

The people buried here lived in Roman Serdica, whose streets and houses you can walk through for free by Serdika metro station. At €3, the museum is one of the cheapest tickets among Sofia's museums.

Plan on 20 to 30 minutes underground. The lighting is low, so give your eyes a minute at the bottom of the stairs.

Ivan Vazov's grave and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Ivan Vazov's grave

Ivan Vazov, the writer whose name the National Theater carries, lived from 1850 to 1921 and asked to be buried where he could see Vitosha. His grave is a single rough boulder beside the church, with his name cut into it.

The boulder came from the Golden Bridges, the river of stones on Vitosha Mountain, so the mountain he wanted to see is also his gravestone.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Against the church's brick wall burns the eternal flame of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier, created in 1981 for Bulgaria's war dead, with wreaths laid at its foot.

Bronze lions stand guard by the monument, in one of the quietest corners of the center, a few steps from the crowds at the cathedral.

Opening hours, dress code and photos

The underground museum opens daily from 10 AM to 5 PM, so I'd plan the visit inside that window. Mornings and midweek are the quietest times.

This is an active church, so cover your shoulders and knees, keep your voice low and turn your phone to silent. Men take their hats off. In the museum and during services, I'd ask before taking a photo.

How to get to St Sofia Church

St Sofia stands at 2 Parizh Street, immediately west of Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

The closest station on the Sofia metro is SU St. Kliment Ohridski, by Sofia University, about 250 meters from the cathedral. From Serdika, where most lines meet, it is about a 10-minute walk east along Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard, past the gold domes of the Russian Church.

What is next to St Sofia Church

I'd see St Sofia with the three sights below, all within a 10-minute walk.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral stands across the street, free and open daily from 7 AM to 7 PM, with an icon museum in its crypt that costs €10 and closes on Mondays.

The antiques market sets up on the square between the two churches. Stalls sell Soviet pins, medals and icons, and the market at Alexander Nevsky is where I'd browse for 20 minutes on the way between the churches.

The Rotunda of St George is the only church in Sofia older than St Sofia, a red-brick round church from the 4th century in the courtyard behind the Presidency, a short walk west.

Is St Sofia Church worth visiting?

Yes. The church is free, it sits next to the cathedral you are visiting anyway, and €3 buys you a walk through the Roman cemetery under it.

Who it suits best:

• History lovers. Roman tombs, a 4th-century church and a 6th-century basilica sit stacked in one spot.
• Anyone who prefers old brick to gold. Of the two churches on the square, St Sofia is the plain one.
• Travelers on a budget. St Sofia, Alexander Nevsky and the Rotunda all cost nothing to enter, so the €3 museum is the only ticket of the morning.
• First-time visitors. It explains the name of the city in one visit, and it is one of Sofia's best churches within a few steps of two more.

Skip it, or keep it short, if:

• You want painted walls and gold. Alexander Nevsky across the street, or the frescoes of Boyana Church, deliver that.
• You arrive after 5 PM, when the museum, the reason to come, has closed.