The Saint Sofia Church was built on the site of several earlier churches from the fourth century, and places of worship dating from the days when it was the necropolis of the
Roman town of
Serdica. Serdica was a significant city in the early Christianity, as the place of the
Council of Serdica around 343 CE, attended by 316 bishops. In the second century, it was the location of a Roman theatre. Other churches were built and destroyed during conflicts with
Goths,
Huns and others for the next few centuries. As a contemporary structure of the
Hagia Sophia church in
Constantinople, the Saint Sofia Church, with the cross design of its current basilica, two towers and one tower-cupola, is believed to have been built during the reign of Byzantine Emperor
Justinian I (527–565 CE). The Saint Sofia Church (often abbreviated as St. Sophia) came under control of a
metropolitan bishop in the
Second Bulgarian Empire (12th to 14th centuries). Notably, the capital of the country Sofia was named after the church in the 14th century. The 12th-century
frescoes were destroyed, replaced with
minarets, and the church was converted to a mosque in the 16th century during
Ottoman Bulgaria. The mosque was abandoned in the 19th century, because two earthquakes destroyed one of the minarets. Restoration of the basilica began about 1926 by
Bogdan Filov and was completed about 1935. The Saint Sofia Church is now one of the most valuable pieces of
Early Christian architecture in
south-eastern Europe. The present building is a cross basilica with three altars. The floor of the church is covered with complex Early Christian ornamental or flora and fauna-themed mosaics. The Saint Sofia Church stands in the middle of an ancient necropolis and many tombs have been unearthed both under and near the church. Some of the tombs feature frescoes. Because Saint Sophia represents
Holy Wisdom, icons within the church depict Sophia as
Christ Emmanuel, a young figure of Christ seated on a rainbow. The church also displays icons of historical saints, including
St. George and
St. Vladimir. ==Gallery==