The Red Church

One of the most remarkable architectural masterpieces of the early 4th century A.D. is the so-called Red Church. Its remains raise about 15 km southwestern direction of Plovdiv, near the small town of Perushtitza. The central and highest part of the church is the four-semi-domed hall, whose huge dome was highly erected. The Red Church was built next to an old heathen sanctuary nearby the key main roads leading from Thrace to the White Sea and from Constantinople to Western Europe. It is believed that its place was connected to a popular Christian cult to the martyrs. Archeologists believe that once it waas a huge church with luxuriously decorated walls and stunning marble floors – a very refined church, described nowadays as one of the masterpieces of the early Christian architecture in Europe. The nice frescoes in the church were of the greatest interest.