The iron church St. Stephan

The restored St. Stephen's Church in Istanbul opened on January 7, 2018 after a six-year renovation. The iron church St. Stephan in Istanbul was founded on the shore of the Golden Horn. It was built in 1898 on the site of the burnt old wooden church. It was named after the Bulgarian Knyaz Stephan Bogoridi, who had given the place for its construction. As the terrain was unstable, the structure of the church was made of sectional iron plates. The iron elements are with total weight of 500 tones and were delivered by ship from Vienna. The construction of the church cost Bulgaria 1 million francs. It is a three-shipped, cross-shaped basilica with beautiful ornaments. The belfry of St. Stephan Church is 40 meters high and its bells were made in Russia. Two of them are still operating. In the yard of the church, called the Bulgarian Jerusalem, the bodies of Ilarion Makariopolski, Paisii Plovdivski and Exarch Joseph (famous Bulgarian clerics) were buried there. The church St. Stephan is the only Orthodox iron church in the world. Recently, it was placed first among the ten most beautiful churches in Turkey.