Sunday, May 25, 2008

The Rotunda of St. George (Свети Георги)


The year 400 AD. That was one thousand six hundred eight years ago. That is 1,608 times as many years as Oscar and Felix have been alive. That is the amount of time it would take to get 268 PHDs. That is 845,164,800 minutes, or 105, 645, 600 batches of chocolate chip cookies.


It was in the fourth century that early Christians built the church of Sveti Georgi, and throughout the centuries since then it has been painted with at least three separate layers of frescoes, painted out during the Ottoman period when the church was converted into a Mosque, but recently uncovered. It is the oldest building in Sofia, now a museum surrounded on several sides by the Sheraton Motel. Talk about the juxtaposition of the old and the new!

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