St. George Rotunda

The St. George rotunda was built in Sofia as a public building in the second half of the 4th century. It consists of a round central premises (the so called round chapel), two entrance halls to the west and many small side rooms, which were destroyed during the ruling of the Byzantine emperor Yustinian (527-565). Only the round chapel was used as a church all through the Middle Ages The church was seriously damaged by the invasion of the Huns. It was reconstructed a number of times in X and XI century. During the Turkish Yoke, it was reconstructed and turned into a mosque. From that and some later periods, some of the oldest frescos, which could be seen today in the restored building, have been preserved. In 1469, the relics of St. Joan Rislki were shown, which were later moved to the Rila Monastery.